Moose in our neighborhood: Does perceived hunting risk have cascading effects on tree performance in vicinity of roads and houses?
Abstract Like large carnivores, hunters both kill and scare ungulates, and thus might indirectly affect plant performance through trophic cascades. In this study, we hypothesized that intensive hunting and enduring fear of humans have caused moose and other forest ungulates to partly avoid areas nea...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6414e81838174191b812948e4c742c51 2023-05-15T13:13:26+02:00 Moose in our neighborhood: Does perceived hunting risk have cascading effects on tree performance in vicinity of roads and houses? Anne C. Mehlhoop Bram Van Moorter Christer M. Rolandsen Dagmar Hagen Aksel Granhus Rune Eriksen Thor Harald Ringsby Erling J. Solberg 2022-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8795 https://doaj.org/article/6414e81838174191b812948e4c742c51 EN eng Wiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8795 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-7758 2045-7758 doi:10.1002/ece3.8795 https://doaj.org/article/6414e81838174191b812948e4c742c51 Ecology and Evolution, Vol 12, Iss 4, Pp n/a-n/a (2022) Alces alces browsing human impacts roads tree recruitment trophic cascade Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8795 2023-02-19T01:45:47Z Abstract Like large carnivores, hunters both kill and scare ungulates, and thus might indirectly affect plant performance through trophic cascades. In this study, we hypothesized that intensive hunting and enduring fear of humans have caused moose and other forest ungulates to partly avoid areas near human infrastructure (perceived hunting risk), with positive cascading effects on recruitment of trees. Using data from the Norwegian forest inventory, we found decreasing browsing pressure and increasing tree recruitment in areas close to roads and houses, where ungulates are more likely to encounter humans. However, although browsing and recruitment were negatively related, reduced browsing was only responsible for a small proportion of the higher tree recruitment near human infrastructure. We suggest that the apparently weak cascading effect occurs because the recorded browsing pressure only partly reflects the long‐term browsing intensity close to humans. Accordingly, tree recruitment was also related to the density of small trees 5–10 years earlier, which was higher close to human infrastructure. Hence, if small tree density is a product of the browsing pressure in the past, the cascading effect is probably stronger than our estimates suggest. Reduced browsing near roads and houses is most in line with risk avoidance driven by fear of humans (behaviorally mediated), and not because of excessive hunting and local reduction in ungulate density (density mediated). Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Ecology and Evolution 12 4 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Alces alces browsing human impacts roads tree recruitment trophic cascade Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
Alces alces browsing human impacts roads tree recruitment trophic cascade Ecology QH540-549.5 Anne C. Mehlhoop Bram Van Moorter Christer M. Rolandsen Dagmar Hagen Aksel Granhus Rune Eriksen Thor Harald Ringsby Erling J. Solberg Moose in our neighborhood: Does perceived hunting risk have cascading effects on tree performance in vicinity of roads and houses? |
topic_facet |
Alces alces browsing human impacts roads tree recruitment trophic cascade Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Abstract Like large carnivores, hunters both kill and scare ungulates, and thus might indirectly affect plant performance through trophic cascades. In this study, we hypothesized that intensive hunting and enduring fear of humans have caused moose and other forest ungulates to partly avoid areas near human infrastructure (perceived hunting risk), with positive cascading effects on recruitment of trees. Using data from the Norwegian forest inventory, we found decreasing browsing pressure and increasing tree recruitment in areas close to roads and houses, where ungulates are more likely to encounter humans. However, although browsing and recruitment were negatively related, reduced browsing was only responsible for a small proportion of the higher tree recruitment near human infrastructure. We suggest that the apparently weak cascading effect occurs because the recorded browsing pressure only partly reflects the long‐term browsing intensity close to humans. Accordingly, tree recruitment was also related to the density of small trees 5–10 years earlier, which was higher close to human infrastructure. Hence, if small tree density is a product of the browsing pressure in the past, the cascading effect is probably stronger than our estimates suggest. Reduced browsing near roads and houses is most in line with risk avoidance driven by fear of humans (behaviorally mediated), and not because of excessive hunting and local reduction in ungulate density (density mediated). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Anne C. Mehlhoop Bram Van Moorter Christer M. Rolandsen Dagmar Hagen Aksel Granhus Rune Eriksen Thor Harald Ringsby Erling J. Solberg |
author_facet |
Anne C. Mehlhoop Bram Van Moorter Christer M. Rolandsen Dagmar Hagen Aksel Granhus Rune Eriksen Thor Harald Ringsby Erling J. Solberg |
author_sort |
Anne C. Mehlhoop |
title |
Moose in our neighborhood: Does perceived hunting risk have cascading effects on tree performance in vicinity of roads and houses? |
title_short |
Moose in our neighborhood: Does perceived hunting risk have cascading effects on tree performance in vicinity of roads and houses? |
title_full |
Moose in our neighborhood: Does perceived hunting risk have cascading effects on tree performance in vicinity of roads and houses? |
title_fullStr |
Moose in our neighborhood: Does perceived hunting risk have cascading effects on tree performance in vicinity of roads and houses? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Moose in our neighborhood: Does perceived hunting risk have cascading effects on tree performance in vicinity of roads and houses? |
title_sort |
moose in our neighborhood: does perceived hunting risk have cascading effects on tree performance in vicinity of roads and houses? |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8795 https://doaj.org/article/6414e81838174191b812948e4c742c51 |
genre |
Alces alces |
genre_facet |
Alces alces |
op_source |
Ecology and Evolution, Vol 12, Iss 4, Pp n/a-n/a (2022) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8795 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-7758 2045-7758 doi:10.1002/ece3.8795 https://doaj.org/article/6414e81838174191b812948e4c742c51 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8795 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
4 |
_version_ |
1766258357317926912 |