Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Factors predicting moose body condition in Sweden were investigated by means of dressed
weight from shot animals and combining a range of potential explanatory variables from
public national databases. There were significant differences between regions, sexes and
age-classes with considerable variation between years and moose populations. Population
sex ratio (male:female) and ungulate species richness (number of sympatric ungulate
species present) were highly relevant in the models for the northern region, while densities
of other ungulates (red deer, fallow deer, roe deer, wild boar) and human disturbance were
significantly correlated with moose body mass in southern Sweden. Calf weights seemed to
be mainly associated with abiotic factors like latitude and altitude and also with land use
proportions such as available area of transitional habitat (wood-shrub, including young
forests and clear-felled areas). Adult moose weights, in turn, were significantly correlated
with interspecific variables and population sex ratio. Variation between moose populations
was high. As a general trend, relationships in northern Sweden were mostly explained by
fewer variables with higher consistence between age-classes. My results indicate that
predictability is decreased by climate change creating complexity in food availability, and
that managers should try to improve moose sex ratio and continue developing multispecies
management approaches in order to maintain a Swedish moose population of high quality.