Thorny Shrubs Limit the Browsing Pressure of Large Herbivores on Tree Regeneration in Temperate Lowland Forested Landscapes

Lubomir Salek, Jaromir Harmacek, Lucie Jerabkova, Osman Topacoglu and Ivo Machar
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Lubomir Salek: Department of Forest Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, 165 00 Praha 6—Suchdol, Czech Republic
Jaromir Harmacek: Faculty of Science, Department of Development and Environmental Studies, Palacky University Olomouc, 771 47 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Lucie Jerabkova: Department of Geography, King’s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK
Osman Topacoglu: Faculty of Forestry, Department of Forest Engineering, Kastamonu University, 37000 Kastamonu, Turkey
Ivo Machar: Faculty of Science, Department of Development and Environmental Studies, Palacky University Olomouc, 771 47 Olomouc, Czech Republic

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 13, 1-14

Abstract: Thorny shrubs are considered as an important driver in the natural development of temperate forest structures, particularly in European lowland forests. We assessed the current role of thorny shrubs in the regeneration of deciduous tree species under heavy browsing pressure in a central European temperate forested landscape. The study’s military training area offered a unique opportunity to investigate the processes in which deciduous tree seedlings grew under thorny shrubs and in the close vicinity of thorny shrubs in a landscape with a high density of large herbivores (red deer and sika deer). We assessed the number of seedlings, species composition, seedling height, and degree of browsing damage, and their relationship to study plots elevation, thorny shrub species, coverage, and height. The regenerated tree seedlings were mostly detected as common ash ( Fraxinus excelsior ) and wild cherry ( Cerasus avium ). The species of thorny shrubs were blackthorn ( Prunus spinosa ), hawthorn ( Crataegus sp .), and wild rose ( Rosa sp .). We found that the thorny shrubs protected the tree seedlings from browsers to a large extent. However, the effects of thorny shrubs on the tree seedlings’ characteristics varied among the shrub species. While results revealed significant effects of hawthorn and wild rose on the tree seedlings’ abundance and survival, blackthorn’s negative effect of shading the tree seedlings outweighed its protective role. These results indicated a possible mechanism that enabled the regeneration of deciduous tree species under large herbivore pressure. These results can be applied in the landscape planning and forest management of deciduous tree regeneration and forest restoration in temperate forested lowland landscapes, where high densities of large herbivores (without the presence of large predators) usually occur.

Keywords: browsing; red deer; military training area; forest regeneration; sika deer; thorny shrubs; Vera’s theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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