Wildlife in Forest Ecosystems: Game Damage vs. Conservation

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Biodiversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2024 | Viewed by 2574

Special Issue Editors

Department of Game Management and Wildlife Biology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: human-wildlife conflict; game management

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: forest

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

European landscapes have faced dramatic changes over the last 100 years, especially in recent decades. Moreover, forest ecosystems are affected by ongoing global climate change which significantly modifies the structure of forest stands, tree species composition, and consequentially habitat conditions for a wide range of wildlife. Those changes have indeed exposed the winners and losers of wildlife species. On the one hand, wild ungulates have successfully increased their numbers in human-dominated landscapes with substantial negative impacts on forest stands associated with tree regeneration, bark stripping, or fraying damage. The population increase has not only been concerned with native species such as roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), or red deer (Cervus elaphus), but also introduced ones, especially sika (Cervus nippon nippon) or fallow deer (Dama dama). On the other hand, mentioned changes negatively affected protected wildlife species, such as forest grouses including black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) and Western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) or owls, and many other species.

Therefore, the main aim of this Special Issue is to focus on particular aspects of forest management which can significantly affect game damage to forest ecosystems or the conservation of endangered wildlife species in European conditions in a period of ongoing climate change.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Damage to forest caused by browsing, barks stripping, and fraying;
  • Wild boar rooting;
  • Tree seedlings and sampling protection;
  • Ungulate preferences of tree species and habitats;
  • The impact of wildlife on forest soils;
  • The impact of wildlife on forest ecosystems;
  • Forest management methods used for wildlife conservation;
  • Factors influencing the effect of wildlife on forest ecosystems;
  • Nature conservation vs. wildlife;
  • Methods of forest management for tree regeneration protection;
  • The impact of introduced ungulates on forest stands.

Dr. Jan Cukor
Dr. Jakub Drimaj
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • wild ungulates
  • game damage
  • bark stripping
  • forest management
  • wildlife conservation

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 4311 KiB  
Article
The Effectiveness of Tannin on the Amount of Damage to Forest Trees and Stands Caused by Red Deer in the Western Carpathians
by Marek Štefanec, Pavol Hlaváč, Róbert Sedmák, Tibor Lebocký, Mojmír Ivan and Rudolf Kropil
Forests 2024, 15(9), 1499; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15091499 - 27 Aug 2024
Viewed by 608
Abstract
Damage caused by cloven-hoofed game and wild animals is a serious problem in Slovakia and neighboring countries. In 2022, the damage to forests in Slovakia was estimated at a level of almost EUR 2.9 million. Despite several implemented measures, the situation is so [...] Read more.
Damage caused by cloven-hoofed game and wild animals is a serious problem in Slovakia and neighboring countries. In 2022, the damage to forests in Slovakia was estimated at a level of almost EUR 2.9 million. Despite several implemented measures, the situation is so severe that successfully restoring some trees in some heavily attacked stands is impossible. This paper deals with the preventive elimination of damage caused by red deer in forest stands by the biological method of applying tannin-based mineral licks. Specifically, licks containing tannin obtained from the edible chestnut were used for testing. Several positive effects are attributed to tannins in developing livestock and animal fitness status. To date, however, the question of using tannins as biological agents for the possible protection of forest stands has not been addressed. Therefore, red deer damage was assessed at two localities with similar natural conditions in the central part of the Western Carpathians to explore such a possibility. After the initial sample measurement of the bark-stripping damage caused by the red deer in the autumn, mineral licks with tannin were placed in one selected study area over the winter. The levels of and differences in forest damage by deer between areas with the application of licks with tannin and without tannin were detected in spring of the following year. In the location treated with tannin, the number of damaged sample plots decreased, and the mean plot damage did not increase (no statistically significant differences were registered in mean plot damage between autumn and spring). Meanwhile, in the control location, the total amount of bark-stripped area doubled, mainly due to a statistically significant increase in mean plot damage between autumn and spring. Based on this, we conclude that tannin had a significant preventive effect and considerably reduced the extent of bark stripping. Such promising results indicate that tannin licks can effectively mitigate the problem of bark-stripping damage in areas heavily attacked by red deer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wildlife in Forest Ecosystems: Game Damage vs. Conservation)
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13 pages, 3875 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Wild Boar Rooting on Epigeic Arthropods in Oak Forests
by Jakub Špoula, Dominik Stočes, Jakub Drimaj and Ondřej Mikulka
Forests 2024, 15(7), 1169; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15071169 - 5 Jul 2024
Viewed by 647
Abstract
The distribution of wild boar (Sus scrofa L.) on almost all continents brings with it a number of negative impacts, the intensity of which depend on the local population density. One of these impacts is the rooting of the soil surface as [...] Read more.
The distribution of wild boar (Sus scrofa L.) on almost all continents brings with it a number of negative impacts, the intensity of which depend on the local population density. One of these impacts is the rooting of the soil surface as part of their foraging behavior, which represents an ecologically valuable disturbance to the forest ecosystem. In this study, conducted in 2022 and 2023, we placed 50 pitfall traps across 10 plots at 10 model sites to compare epigeic arthropod communities in areas affected by wild boar rooting with those unaffected by rooting activity. Our findings demonstrate the presence or absence of rooting is a highly significant factor in shaping arthropod epigeic community assemblies. Rooted plots predominantly hosted species from the taxons Araneae, Carabidae, Elateridae, and Diplopoda, whereas plots without rooting were significantly associated with the taxons Tenebrionidae, Opiliones, Gryllidae, and Geotrupidae. Diptera, and Staphylinidae were not affected by wild boar rooting activity. Throughout the study, a decreasing trend in species diversity was observed. Wild boar rooting notably impacted the composition of epigeic assemblages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wildlife in Forest Ecosystems: Game Damage vs. Conservation)
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11 pages, 2628 KiB  
Article
Comparative Understory Development in Fenced and Unfenced Beech Forest Stands in the Southern Alps
by Ernesto Renato Bovio, Jacopo Richard, Simone Iacopino, Thomas Campagnaro and Tommaso Sitzia
Forests 2024, 15(7), 1088; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15071088 - 23 Jun 2024
Viewed by 667
Abstract
This study examines the impact of ungulate browsing on the understory dynamics of the Cansiglio Forest, the only European beech high forest in the Southern Limestone Alps. Utilizing seven pairs of fenced versus unfenced forest stands established over two decades, we assessed how [...] Read more.
This study examines the impact of ungulate browsing on the understory dynamics of the Cansiglio Forest, the only European beech high forest in the Southern Limestone Alps. Utilizing seven pairs of fenced versus unfenced forest stands established over two decades, we assessed how fencing affects understory structure and tree regeneration. Significant differences were found in cover, height and vascular species composition in both tree regeneration and shrub layers. Fenced areas showed a significantly higher number and greater average height of young trees, supporting the hypothesis that ungulate browsing negatively impacts tree regeneration. Despite previous studies attributing the lack of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) regeneration primarily to red deer (Cervus elaphus Linnaeus, 1758) browsing, our findings did not show a significant association of this species with fenced conditions. While Rubus abundance was higher inside fenced areas, overall vascular species richness did not differ. Our results highlight the evident effects of ungulate browsing and suggest the need to consider other factors influencing forest regeneration and understory development. Future research should establish additional study replicates, balanced across diverse site and stand structure conditions, to further explore these dynamics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wildlife in Forest Ecosystems: Game Damage vs. Conservation)
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