The moose population in Sweden is one of the highest in the world. The population have positive impacts on humans but also cause problems such as browsing damages and collisions with traffic. To manage this population in an adaptive and ecological sound way, the managers need to have as much information as possible. The aim of this study was to improve the description of Sweden’s moose management areas regarding available forage for moose. This is done by describing the heterogeneity of the landscape within the moose management areas, which is done by using different landscape indexes. The heterogeneity indexes is then used to analyze if correlation exists between the variation of the landscape and firstly data that describes the available food, secondly data that indicates the moose population density. Multiple regression analysis were done in order to find a model with the indexes that best explains the variation in available forage and moose population indicators. The results in this study showed a positive correlation between number of moose shot per 1000 hectares and patch richness awhile a negative correlation was found between number of moose shot per 1000 hectares and edge density. Results also showed a negative correlation between both edge density and the patch richness in the landscape with the presence of rowan, sallow, aspen and oak (RASE). Further developments of indexes that describe landscape heterogeneity is needed, but this study may indicate that knowledge of the variation in the landscape might provide useful information on the prerequisites for the Swedish moose population.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-160389 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Nilsson, Gustaf |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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