Twig selection on mountain birch Betula pubescens by winter-feeding willow grouse Lagopus lagopus in a subarctic forest
In a subarctic forest at Kvaløya, northern Norway, willow grouse Lagopus lagopus fed at snow level by clipping bits of twigs from mountain birch Betula pubescens during winter. Birch has two types of twigs ending in a terminal bud: long twigs with a smooth bark, and short twigs with rings of thicker...
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29838 https://doi.org/10.1002/wlb3.01065 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/29838 2023-09-05T13:20:53+02:00 Twig selection on mountain birch Betula pubescens by winter-feeding willow grouse Lagopus lagopus in a subarctic forest Klemetsen, Anders Smalås, Aslak 2023-02-06 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29838 https://doi.org/10.1002/wlb3.01065 eng eng Wiley Wildlife Biology Klemetsen, Smalås. Twig selection on mountain birch Betula pubescens by winter-feeding willow grouse Lagopus lagopus in a subarctic forest. Wildlife Biology. 2023;2023(3) FRIDAID 2129365 doi:10.1002/wlb3.01065 0909-6396 1903-220X https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29838 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2023 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2023 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1002/wlb3.01065 2023-08-16T23:06:45Z In a subarctic forest at Kvaløya, northern Norway, willow grouse Lagopus lagopus fed at snow level by clipping bits of twigs from mountain birch Betula pubescens during winter. Birch has two types of twigs ending in a terminal bud: long twigs with a smooth bark, and short twigs with rings of thicker bark. The grouse selected ringed twigs above smooth twigs despite a surplus of smooth twigs in the forest. Ringed twigs had more bark cm−1 of twig length and a higher relative bark/wood ratio than smooth twigs. Smooth twigs had growth nodes that increased in diameter inwards from the tip. Because of the non-linear relation between the area and the circumference of a circle, the bark/wood ratio decreased for each node. Although being able to clip much thicker twigs, 90% of smooth twigs clipped by grouse were ≤ 2 mm in diameter. It is concluded that willow grouse fed optimally on birch in winter by selecting twigs to minimize fibrous wood intake. Article in Journal/Newspaper Kvaløya Northern Norway Subarctic University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Norway Wildlife Biology 2023 3 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
description |
In a subarctic forest at Kvaløya, northern Norway, willow grouse Lagopus lagopus fed at snow level by clipping bits of twigs from mountain birch Betula pubescens during winter. Birch has two types of twigs ending in a terminal bud: long twigs with a smooth bark, and short twigs with rings of thicker bark. The grouse selected ringed twigs above smooth twigs despite a surplus of smooth twigs in the forest. Ringed twigs had more bark cm−1 of twig length and a higher relative bark/wood ratio than smooth twigs. Smooth twigs had growth nodes that increased in diameter inwards from the tip. Because of the non-linear relation between the area and the circumference of a circle, the bark/wood ratio decreased for each node. Although being able to clip much thicker twigs, 90% of smooth twigs clipped by grouse were ≤ 2 mm in diameter. It is concluded that willow grouse fed optimally on birch in winter by selecting twigs to minimize fibrous wood intake. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Klemetsen, Anders Smalås, Aslak |
spellingShingle |
Klemetsen, Anders Smalås, Aslak Twig selection on mountain birch Betula pubescens by winter-feeding willow grouse Lagopus lagopus in a subarctic forest |
author_facet |
Klemetsen, Anders Smalås, Aslak |
author_sort |
Klemetsen, Anders |
title |
Twig selection on mountain birch Betula pubescens by winter-feeding willow grouse Lagopus lagopus in a subarctic forest |
title_short |
Twig selection on mountain birch Betula pubescens by winter-feeding willow grouse Lagopus lagopus in a subarctic forest |
title_full |
Twig selection on mountain birch Betula pubescens by winter-feeding willow grouse Lagopus lagopus in a subarctic forest |
title_fullStr |
Twig selection on mountain birch Betula pubescens by winter-feeding willow grouse Lagopus lagopus in a subarctic forest |
title_full_unstemmed |
Twig selection on mountain birch Betula pubescens by winter-feeding willow grouse Lagopus lagopus in a subarctic forest |
title_sort |
twig selection on mountain birch betula pubescens by winter-feeding willow grouse lagopus lagopus in a subarctic forest |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29838 https://doi.org/10.1002/wlb3.01065 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Kvaløya Northern Norway Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Kvaløya Northern Norway Subarctic |
op_relation |
Wildlife Biology Klemetsen, Smalås. Twig selection on mountain birch Betula pubescens by winter-feeding willow grouse Lagopus lagopus in a subarctic forest. Wildlife Biology. 2023;2023(3) FRIDAID 2129365 doi:10.1002/wlb3.01065 0909-6396 1903-220X https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29838 |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2023 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/wlb3.01065 |
container_title |
Wildlife Biology |
container_volume |
2023 |
container_issue |
3 |
_version_ |
1776201506331033600 |