Browsing damage by moose in Swedish Boreal Forest

The browsing damage by moose ( Alces alces) is an actual and real problem that is happening in Swedish boreal forests nowadays. The browsing can be done for different types of cervids like roe deer, moose and goats, but we will focus on the browsing damage by moose because it is the main browser on pine stand and is causing the biggest problem in Sweden due to the high moose population that currently exist. The moose is the biggest species in the deer family and one of the most spread species in Sweden. We performed our study in fifteen plantation areas of Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) in Gävleborg county, Sweden. Some of these plantations have a natural origin, whereas others have been created by human. The increase of browsing damage by moose have several consequences including effects on the ecological community and huge economic consequences, as the forest companies are losing, billions of Swedish crowns per year because of the browsing damage on the pine trees. The aim of this study was to investigate how the browsing damage by moose on Scots Pines varies depending on the density of the different deciduous tree species. Some of the most important results that I obtained were a negative relation between the number of deciduous trees and the browsing damage in Scots pine, the positive relation between the number of damaged deciduous trees very close to the Scots pine studied and the browsing damage in Scots pine and finally, the positive relation between the old browsing damage and new browsing damage in Scot pine. In general, I can conclude that when the number of deciduous trees increases in an area, the browsing damage in Scot pine decreases