ABSTRACT
It is widely appreciated that forest composition, structure, and function are determined by biogeographic history, climate and soils, and are further modied by past land use and management history, natural disturbance regimes, invasive species, and pathogens. Ungulate herbivores also exert profound changes on forest systems. In recent decades, reports have highlighted the role of hyper abundant ungulate herbivores in altering forested landscapes (Gill 1992; Ammer 1996; Healy 1997; McShea et al. 1997; Horsley et al. 2003; Rooney and Waller 2003; Côté et al. 2004). There are cases where ungulate herbivory changed nutrient cycling (Pastor and Cohen 1997) or gave rise to indirect effects on wildlife communities (deCalesta 1994; Augustine and deCalesta 2003; Martin et al. 2011; Nuttle et al. 2011). In contrast, controlled grazing by large-primarily domestic-grazers is one of the most important management tools in European conservation management (Hester et al. 2000). Controlled grazing is sometimes aimed at maintaining or reestablishing the structure and composition of traditional agro-forest systems, such as the garrigue of the Mediterranean region, the intensive wood pasture systems of the temperate forest zone, and the graminoid-dominated tundra shaped by grazing of semidomesticated reindeer of North-Scandinavia (Bergmeier et al. 2010). In these communities, both the insufcient and too much grazing pressure (e.g., Bråthen et al. 2007) can threaten conservation or
CONTENTS
4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 69 4.2 The Historical and Ecological Context of Forest Ungulates .......................................... 71 4.3 Contemporary Role of Ungulates in the Landscape .......................................................72 4.4 Six Principles of Restoration of Landscapes with Ungulates ........................................ 74
4.4.1 Consider all Elements of the System ..................................................................... 74 4.4.2 Understand How Restoration Might Change Landscape Carrying Capacity ....75 4.4.3 Incorporate Landscape Variability into Measures of Restoration Success ......77 4.4.4 Recognize Nonforest Food Sources ......................................................................77 4.4.5 Include Social Dimensions .....................................................................................77 4.4.6 Integrate Natural Disturbance into Restoration Planning ................................ 78
4.5 Conclusion: Sustainable Browsing Pressure .................................................................... 79 References ....................................................................................................................................... 79
management objectives. The use of grazers in conservation management is based on both the direct experiences of practitioners and careful scientic research that demonstrates an increase in biological diversity or forest regeneration in response to increased grazing, up to some optimal level (Mitchell and Kirby 1990; Wallis deVries 1998; Ristau and Horsley 1999; Buttenschøn and Buttenschøn 2013). The role of ungulate herbivores in forest ecosystems is highly complex, as they can have both detrimental and benecial effects.
