Hirven Alces alces resurssinvalinta useilla mittakaavan tasoilla – puista, taimikoista- ja elinpiireistä maisemiin ja ja ja alueisiin

Abstract

To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Helsinki, for public critisism in auditorium 108 (ls B3), Metsätieteiden talo (Viikki campus, Latokartanonkaari 7, Helsinki) on March 24 th 2017, at 12 o´clock noon. ABSTRACTThe Moose is a valuable game animal in Fennoscandia but also the most severe pest in forest plantations. In this thesis, I examined factors that affect the habitat selection of moose and moose damage at multiple scales. At the plot level, browsing increased with an increasing number of artificially regenerated pines and deciduous trees taller than pines. The damage risk was the highest in plantations with heavy soil preparation.Moose summer home ranges had more fertile sites than the overall study area. Within summer ranges moose, selected non-pine-dominated habitats and mature forests and avoided human settlements. Winter ranges contained more pine-dominated plantations and other young successional stages, more pine dominated peatland forests and less human settlements and agricultural fields. Within winter ranges, moose used more non-pinedominated plantations and mature forests and less human-inhabited areas than expected. At the home range level, there were no significant differences between sexes, but within home ranges males and females used different habitats during both seasons.The occurrence of damage in nearby landscape decreased the probability to find a landscape without damage and predicted an increase in the number of damaged plantations. Increased food-cover adjacencies of mature forests and plantations increased damage. An increasing proportion of inhabited areas and the length of connecting roads decreased the number of damage at the landscape sizes of 1 km 2 and 5 km 2 . Moose-damaged stands were concentrated in SW and eastern Lapland in Peräpohja Schist Belt and Lapland's Greenstone Belt with nutrient-rich bedrock. There was less damage in landscapes with an abundant amount of pine-dominated thinning forests. Moose damage plantations were located more on fertile bedrock and soils than undamaged ones. Regenerating Scots pine on fine-grained soils derived from nutrient-rich rocks and naturally occupied by Norway spruce might increase damage risk.