Moose-tree interactions: rebrowsing is common across tree species.

Background: Plant strategies to resist herbivory include tolerance and avoidance. Tolerance strategies, such as rapid regrowth which increases the palatability of new shoots, can lead to positive feedback loops between plants and herbivores. An example of such a positive feedback occurs when moose (Alces alces) browse trees in boreal forests.

Experimental icing affects growth, mortality, and flowering in a high Arctic dwarf shrub.

Effects of climate change are predicted to be greatest at high latitudes, with more pronounced warming in winter than summer. Extreme mid-winter warm spells and heavy rain-on-snow events are already increasing in frequency in the Arctic, with implications for snow-pack and ground-ice formation. These may in turn affect key components of Arctic ecosystems.

Endoparasites in a Norwegian moose (Alces alces) population - Faunal diversity, abundance and body condition.

Many health surveillance programs for wild cervids do not include routine parasite screening despite evidence that gastrointestinal parasites can affect wildlife population dynamics by influencing host fecundity and survival. Slaughter weights of moose in some regions of Norway have been decreasing over recent decades but any role of parasites has not yet been considered. We investigated parasite faunal diversity of moose in Hedmark, SE Norway, by faecal analysis and identification of adult abomasal and caecal nematodes during the autumn hunting season.

Behavioural responses to thermal conditions affect seasonal mass change in a heat-sensitive northern ungulate.

Background: Empirical tests that link temperature-mediated changes in behaviour (activity and resource selection) to individual fitness or condition are currently lacking for endotherms yet may be critical to understanding the effect of climate change on population dynamics. Moose (Alces alces) are thought to suffer from heat stress in all seasons so provide a good biological model to test whether exposure to non-optimal ambient temperatures influence seasonal changes in body mass. Seasonal mass change is an important fitness correlate of large herbivores and affects reproductive success of female moose.

Gastrointestinal nematodes of moose (Alces alces) in relation to supplementary feeding.

Winter supplementary feeding of wildlife is controversial because it may promote parasite and disease transmission by host aggregation. We investigated the effect of winter supplemental feeding of Scandinavian moose (Alces alces) on gastrointestinal (GI) parasite infection in two counties of southern Norway by comparing fecal egg counts of moose using, and not using, feeding stations between January 2007 and March 2010. We identified three different GI nematodes based on egg morphology.

Reproductive success and failure: the role of winter body mass in reproductive allocation in Norwegian moose.

A life history strategy that favours somatic growth over reproduction is well known for long-lived iteroparous species, especially in unpredictable environments. Risk-sensitive female reproductive allocation can be achieved by a reduced reproductive effort at conception, or the subsequent adjustment of investment during gestation or lactation in response to unexpected environmental conditions or resource availability. We investigated the relative importance of reduced investment at conception compared with later in the reproductive cycle (i.

What determines variation in home range size across spatiotemporal scales in a large browsing herbivore?

1. Most studies of intraspecific variation in home range size have investigated only a single or a few factors and often at one specific scale. However, considering multiple spatial and temporal scales when defining a home range is important as mechanisms that affect variation in home range size may differ depending on the scale under investigation.

Forage quantity, quality and depletion as scale-dependent mechanisms driving habitat selection of a large browsing herbivore.

1. Mechanisms that affect the spatial distribution of animals are typically scale-dependent and may involve forage distribution. Forage quality and quantity are often inversely correlated and a much discussed trade-off is whether or not to select for high-quality forage at the expense of forage abundance.

Demographic side effects of selective hunting in ungulates and carnivores.

Selective harvesting regimes are often implemented because age and sex classes contribute differently to population dynamics and hunters show preferences associated with body size and trophy value. We reviewed the literature on how such cropping regimes affect the demography of the remaining population (here termed demographic side effects). First, we examined the implications of removing a large proportion of a specific age or sex class.