Elevation affects both the occurrence of ungulate browsing and its effect on tree seedling growth for four major tree species in European mountain forests

Key message

In European mountain forests, the growth of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.), sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus L.), European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) seedlings is more strongly affected by ungulate browsing than by elevation. But, the constraint exerted by ungulates, in particular the probability for seedlings to be browsed, increases with elevation for most species.

Keywords
Ungulate browsing; Climate change; Elevational gradient; Plant–herbivore interactions; Mountain forests; Attractant-decoy hypothesis

Publication
Bernard, M., Barrere, J., Morin, X. et al. Elevation affects both the occurrence of ungulate browsing and its effect on tree seedling growth for four major tree species in European mountain forests. Annals of Forest Science 81, 13 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13595-024-01226-x

Share this article
https://rdcu.be/dBkKK

Data and/or Code availability
Data are archived in the following Zenodo repository: https://zenodo.org/records/10370097

Handling Editor
Erwin Dreyer