Abteilung:

Forschungseinheit:

Biodiversität

Wildtiere

Projektleitung:

Senn Josef

Projekt-No.:

Projekt-Titel:

Projekt-Ziele:

Projekt-Dauer:

3.02.1250

Silver fir and the mountain forest – ungulate conflict:

Do browsing ungulates drive forest landscape changes in the Alps?

The project will focus on the silver fir Abies alba as a model species, because silver fir is highly preferred by browsing ungulates yet thought to be vital for the protection function of mountain forests. The project will reveal the underlying historical factors, which determine the present distribution and abundance of the silver fir in Alpine mountain forests. The data obtained with this project will allow evaluating the role of browsing ungulates in relation to the other site factors driving regeneration dynamics of silver fir. Integrating these data into stand development models will for the first time allow estimating long-term impacts of browsing ungulates on the structure of mature stands, and hence assessing the risk of unwanted developments that may hamper the protection function of Alpine mountain forests. The project will further make possible to evaluate the methods that at present are widely used for monitoring browsing impacts, and which presently obviously lack a sound data basis. The project will provide a solid conceptual fundament and a data basis to forest managers to evaluate impacts of browsing ungulates on later stand structure and function.

2002 - 2006