Moose Browsing on Scots Pine in Relation to Stand Size and Distance to Forest Edge

We studied moose (Alces alces (L.)) browsing on Scots pine Pinus sylvestris (L.) in young forest stands of different sizes (1, 10 and >100 ha) and at different distances from old forest edges (5, 20, 100 and 400 m) in single areas in both northern and in soutbern Sweden. In both of our study areas, damage was neither significantly related to stand size nor to distance to edge. In the southern area damage was significantly higher in glades within (<0.1 ha) mature forest than in the young forest stands. However, most of the variation in browsing intensity on pine was due to differences between stands, irrespective of size and distance to forest edge. Using stepwise multiple regressions 30-40% of the variation in damage could be explained (...)