Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Ericaceous shrubs, such as bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), cowberry (V. vitis-idaea), and heather (Calluna vulgaris), dominate the understory in Swedish forests. Their important role of providing forage for wild deer is well established. Human-wildlife conflicts arise when there is a shortage in forage forcing deer to switch to feeding on young production trees. Due to current forestry practices involving dense planting of coniferous trees under short-rotation regimes, there has been a steady decline in the appearance of these shrubs. Here, I identified the role of various forestry-related factors, such as basal area and forest age, as well as soil characteristics and cervid browsing pressure, on the annual production of biomass of the ericaceous shrubs by collecting data on the biomass proportion produced over the last growing season under different forest conditions. While the annual growth of the shrubs was highly affected by the forest’s basal area and time since clear-cutting, the effect of cervid browsing pressure did not show any significant influence. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the impact on the annual growth between Scots pine- (Pinus sylvestris) and Norway spruce- (Picea abies) dominated forest stands. Shrubs found in spruce forest stands were significantly more negatively affected by basal area and time since clear-cutting than in pine stands. Soil characteristics also differed significantly between both forest types. My findings suggest that in order to secure long-term forage availability for wild deer, which leads to reduced conflicts with forest owners, forestry practices including the planting of coniferous trees, especially spruce, in dense monocultures, have to be avoided.