One of the largest challenges humanity faces today is reducing CO₂-emissions to mitigate climate change. Part of the solution might be to increase the use of wood products. To do this, the efficiency of forestry has to be improved. In Sweden, a large obstacle for improving the efficiency of forestry is moose, or rather the damages its browsing causes on Scots pine. The aim of this study was to investigate how stand size and stand isolation affects the intensity of moose browsing damage on Scots pine. In addition, effects from tree density, stand age, and interactions between the different factors were investigated. This was done by using data from forest companies and field data collected from 29 Scots pine stands in central Sweden. The data were analysed in a multiple regression analysis, selecting the model that best explained variation in browsing damage. Results show that browsing damage was lower in more isolated stands. Stand size, however, did not have an effect on browsing damage. The factors stand age and Scots pine density had positive effects on the amount of browsing damage, but effects from stand age decreased with increasing pine density. In total, 77% of the variance in browsing damage was explained by the best model. In order to decrease browsing damage on Scots pine, I suggest that land owners take coordinated action to avoid creating large areas of young pine stands within the same area.

Moose in Utah represent the southernmost naturally occurring populations of moose in the world. Concerns over possible numeric declines and a paucity of baseline data on moose in the state prompted the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to initiate a study of moose demography in collaboration with Utah State University. The objectives of this study were to 1) determine reproductive rates of moose in Utah and the factors which influence them, and 2) combine aerial count data from multiple management units within the state to identify factors which influence interannual variation in population growth rates. We constructed generalized linear models to relate maternal body condition and age to reproductive success. We found that body condition (P = 0.01) and age (P = 0.02) contributed significantly to the probability of pregnancy and the best model describing this relationship was nonlinear. Body condition also related positively to subsequent calving (P = 0.08) and recruitment (P = 0.05), but model selection suggested the relationship for these metrics was best described by linear models. A meta-analysis of moose reproductive rates in North America suggested that reproductive rates declined significantly with latitude (P ≤ 0.01), i.e. as populations approached their southern range limit. We used Bayesian state-space models to combine moose count data from different management units to estimate statewide population dynamics between 1958 and 2013. This approach incorporated uncertainty in population counts arising from observation error. Population density and warm winter temperatures negatively influenced population growth rate with a high degree of confidence; 95% Bayesian Credible Intervals for these variables did not overlap zero. Short-term projections of moose abundance in the state suggested that the population will likely remain stable despite projected increases in winter temperature. Results from this study will aid managers in achieving management objectives as well as future decision making. The unique characteristics of the population also have application toward understanding the dynamics of populations of cold-adapted species at their southern range limit.

A study was conducted on the North Slope of the Uinta Mountains from January, 1972 through June, 1974, to determine the effects of three simulated levels of moose utilization on the crude protein content, phosphorus content, digestibility and vigor of willow plants. A comparison was also made on the crude protein content, phosphorus content and digestibility of current year's versus past years' willow growth. Finally, the validity of direct and indirect population enumeration methods was compared for the possible development of a standardized moose survey technique. Clipping caused a highly significant increase in crude protein and phosphorus content between treatment levels. There was also a highly significant increase in digestibility between years. Plant vigor comparisons were confounded by additional sources of mortality and the effects of environmental variables. A comparison of the nutrient content and digestibility of 1 t o 5 year-old willow growth showed that crude protein content, phosphor us content and digestibility decreased with increasing twig age. Additional factors are discussed which indicate that the carrying capacity of the winter range is larger than previously described. A poor correlation was found be tween direct aerial moose observations and indirect population estimates from pellet-group counts.

This dissertation is a political and environmental history of winter in the colonial Northeast during some of the coldest years of the Little Ice Age. Unlike conventional histories of Atlantic encounters and environmental change, which overwhelmingly concern the warmer half of the year, this dissertation asks how encounters and ecological change functioned in the colder half of the year. Indians and English settlers adapted differently to the vicissitudes of climate change in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, respectively creating winter spaces of power within the varied landscapes of the Maritime Peninsula. This dissertation takes a broad geographical view of the Northeast and incorporates political ecology into the history of early America, stressing the importance of conflicts over access to long-distance travel routes and wild resources, both along the coasts and in the vast uplands. Using captivity narratives, diaries, letters, treaty minutes, and war records, it recovers the ways that winter knowledge and winter technologies both inhibited and facilitated colonialism in the Northeast. Over the course of the seventeenth century, settlers transformed winter ecologies along the coasts and isolated indigenous people in cold conditions. In response, Native Americans increasingly spent longer winters in the interior uplands, dividing themselves into family hunting bands, drawing sustenance and power from wild environments that colonists could not reach, and launching winter raids upon vulnerable English towns. The last quarter of the seventeenth century, one of the coldest periods of the last millennium, presented comparative advantages to mobile Indians, whose snowshoes kept them afloat in times of deep and long lying snows. In the early eighteenth century, however, the English systematically adopted this same indigenous technology to use against Native Americans, disrupting the activities of family hunting bands and raiding parties. English patrols on snowshoes penetrated Native Americans’ winter hunting grounds as never before, and with this winter strategy, colonial leaders attempted to impose a new political ecology in the greater Northeast. Conquest of the northern uplands was incomplete, however, leading to slow and sparse settlement in the interior and leaving ample opportunities for indigenous people to return to their winter lands.

Darbo objektas. VĮ Rokiškio miškų urėdijos Vyžuonos girininkijos elninių žvėrių populiacijos, jų valdymas, įtaka miško atkūrimui, bei miško želdinių apsaugos priemonės ir jų efektyvumas. Darbo tikslas. Įvertinti VĮ Rokiškio miškų urėdijos Vyžuonos girininkijos elninių žvėrių populiacijas, jų gyvenamą aplinką bei poveikį miškui. Darbo metodai. Literatūrinės loginės analizės ir sisteminės atrankinės apskaitos. Darbo rezultatai. Vyžuonos girininkijos miškuose gyvena šie elniniai žvėrys: Taurieji elniai ( tankis 10,6 vnt.../1000ha.); Briedžiai (tankis 2,4 vnt.../1000ha.); Stirnos (tankis 80 vnt.../1000ha.) Atsižvelgiant į poveikį miško želdiniams bei žėliniams laupant žievę, elninių žvėrių gausą reikėtų išlaikyti nepakitusią. Elninių žvėrių naudojimas yra per mažas. Pagrindinė rūšis turėtų būti taurusis elnias, šalutinė – stirna, nepageidautina rūšis turėtų būti briedis. Miško želdiniai bei žėliniai nuo elninių žvėrių galimo neigiamo poveikio yra saugomi. Vyžuonos girininkijoje dažniausiai naudojama apsaugos priemonė yra repelentai. 2009 - 2010 metų žiemą saugomas plotas sudarė 44,9 ha. / Object of work. Rokiskis Forest Enterprise Forestry Vyžuonų game deer population management, the influence of forest regeneration and forest plantations, protection measures and their effectiveness. Purpose of work. To evaluate the population of the cervines , their surroundings and their influence to the forest. The methods of work. The logical analyses of the literature and systematic rating. The work results. Cervines living in the forests of the forestry Vyzuona are: Red deer (density 10,6 units/1000 ha) Moose (density 2,4 units/1000 ha) Hind (density 80 units/1000 ha) Considering the influence to sprouts and young growth the population should stay consistent. The use of the cervines is too low. Main species should be red deer, secondary hind, moose should be unacceptable. The forest sprouts and young growth have been protected from negative effects or cervines. In the forestry of Vyzuona mainly the repellents are used for the protection. In the year 2009-2010 the protected area was 44.9 ha.

Utvecklingen av drönare går snabbt och användningsområdena blir allt fler. En idé som har framkommit handlar om att montera en värmekamera på en drönare och flyga över skogen för att inventera älgar. Tanken är att få fram en inventeringsmetod som är billig, flexibel och som har större noggrannhet än traditionella älginventeringsmetoder. Tillsammans med ett projekt som drivs och finansieras av Skogsstyrelsen har detta kandidatarbete genomförts som ett första steg i utvecklingen av inventeringsmetoden. Målet med kandidatarbetet har varit att undersöka de grundläggande faktorerna flyghöjd och flyghastighet vid inventering med värmekamera på drönare, samt hur djuren påverkas av drönarens närvaro, för att lägga grunden för en fortsatt utvecklig av en fullskalig inventeringsmetod. Undersökningen har genomförts i hägn under kontrollerade former för att säkerställa att det har funnits älgar inom ett område som var begränsat. Djurens reaktion på drönarens närvaro observerades i takt med att drönaren flög allt närmare. Flyghöjds- och flyghastighetstestet genomfördes genom att värmekameran spelade in en filmsekvens medan drönaren flög på 60 m, 90 m och 120 m höjd, samt med hastigheten 2,5 m/s och 5 m/s på varje höjd, filmerna analyserades sedan manuellt i efterhand. Resultaten visar att vid inventering i gles äldre lövskog är det möjligt att se älgarna med värmekameran vid en flyghöjd på 120 m och med en flyghastighet på 5 m/s. Vid flyghöjder på över 80 m störs inte djuren av drönarens närvaro och vid lägre höjder på ner till 40 m så reagerar djuren men de visar inga tecken på att ta till flykt.

For several decades, Moose population (Alces alces) in Sweden has been growing considerably. This increase has resulted in a greater impact and damage in trees, especially in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) which is the basis of Swedish forestry and, therefore the economical losses are considerable. For this reason, for several years, to know Moose feeding behaviour and to look for measures to reduce it is impact on forestry have marked the guidelines of research. The Moose damages the pine mainly in winter, when there are no herbaceous plants and deciduous trees to eat. This project has focused on reducing the moose damage from a biodiversity point of view, following a line similar to the "Optimal forage theory". According to this theory, a moose selects the food according to the composition and the richness of the species. Results have conducted to relation plant-richness with Moose Browsing Damage on Scots pine and with more abundance of trees around a Scots pine, Moose Browsing Damage decreases considerably. In this project I also study the association between Moose activity and the plant-richness. Both (Moose Browsing damage on Scots pine and Moose activity) were tested with Shannon´s and Simpson´s index, two biodiversity indexes. The amount of different plants species nearby a Scots pine were measured and studied, as well. Also, I did the Pearson´s coefficient as an initial relationship between the variables (and observed if it is negative or positive) and ANOVA analysis. Although the conclusions weren´t as clear as I expected, in my opinion this study offered another tool to reduce the before mentioned impact.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects on the Swedish moose populationof a new moose management system introduced in 2012. To this end, the size of thepopulation had to be measured. The methodology used was an empirical version of theGordon–Schaefer bioeconomic model previously employed to estimate Sweden’s wildboar population. The Effort variable for the model was modified in that traffic accidentsrelative to traffic density served as a proxy for it. The study investigated years for whichdata was available, namely 2004–2017. Nineteen out of Sweden’s 21 Counties wereincluded in the study. The result produced extremely high population estimates,suggesting that the model could not be directly transferred from wild boar to moose.Nonetheless, although the study’s population estimates in absolute terms are unrealistic,their relative sizes indicate that moose populations were somewhat smaller in 2017 thanin 2012 – the latter year being when the new management system was introduced.However, the trend line shows that, over a longer period, the moose population hasincreased in Sweden, and 2017 may just be a temporary deviation from that trend. Itappears, therefore, that Sweden’s latest moose management system does not have thedesired effect on its moose population.

Die Broschüre informiert über die Bestandsentwicklung von 100 gefährdeten oder extrem seltenen Moosarten, für deren Erhalt Sachsen eine besondere Verantwortung trägt. Neben der historischen und heutigen Verbreitung sind die Lebensraumansprüche der Arten sowie aktuelle Gefährdungsfaktoren und notwendige Schutz- und Pflegemaßnahmen aufgeführt. Die Informationen geben Naturschutzbehörden, Planungsbüros und Umweltverbänden die Möglichkeit, die Moose bei Arten- und Biotopschutzmaßnahmen sowie bei Umweltplanungen stärker zu berücksichtigen.

Moose (Alces alces) have been re-established in much of the historic range in the northeastern United States. Recently the southern edge of the species ranges has been extended southward into southern New England and northern New York from established populations in northern New England. The southern expansion raised questions as to the ability of this northern species to cope with higher temperatures, areas densely populated by humans, and different forest types further south. In light of these recent developments, we conducted a literature search on moose in the northeastern United States and distributed a questionnaire and conducted phone interviews with biologists responsible for moose management across the region to determine the status and management of moose in New England and New York. Furthermore, in 2006 we initiated a study on the home ranges, movements, and habitat use of moose in Massachusetts. We captured and collared moose with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars to track their movements in the Commonwealth. The surveys and interviews with the state biologists revealed that moose populations appeared to be stabilizing in southern New England. However, the moose population continued to grow in northern New York. Moose populations in northern New England were managed with an annual fall harvest, but moose hunting was not allowed in southern New England or New York. Throughout the region moose vehicle collisions were a major concern (>1,000 occur each year) including several that resulted in human fatalities. The collaring study has revealed the importance of maintaining a variety of forest cover types, age classes, and wetland habitats to meet the seasonal needs of moose, including early successional habitats created by logging that appear to be important for moose. Mean home range sizes were 64.9 km2 (SE = 12.9) and 73.3 km2 (SE = 9.4), respectively, for females and males in central Massachusetts, and 164.5 km2 (SE = 62.6) for males in western Massachusetts. Moose often interacted with roads and human development on the uplands, but used less developed areas of their home ranges. This demonstrates the importance of preserving the integrity and connectivity of the forested landscape of Massachusetts.