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Moose recruitment in relation to bilberry production and bank vole numbers along a summer temperature gradient in Norway

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Abstract

The plant stress hypothesis states that plant stress factors other than herbivory improve herbivore performance due to changes in the content of nutritive or defensive compounds in the plants. In Norway, the bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) is important forage for the bank vole (Myodes glareolus) in winter and for the moose (Alces alces) in summer and autumn. The observed peaks in bank vole numbers after years with high production of bilberries are suggested to be caused by increased winter survival of bank voles due to improved forage quality. High production of bilberries should also lead to higher recruitment rates in moose in the following year. We predict, however, that there is an increasing tendency for a 1-year delay of moose indices relative to vole indices with decreasing summer temperatures, because low temperatures prolong the period needed by plants to recover in the vole peak year, and thus positively affect moose reproduction also in the succeeding year. In eight out of nine counties in south-eastern Norway, there was a positive relationship between the number of calves observed per female moose during hunting and a bilberry seed production index or an autumn bank vole population index. When dividing the study area into regions, there was a negative relationship between a moose-vole time-lag index and the mean summer temperature of the region. These patterns suggest that annual fluctuations in the production of bilberries affect forage quality, but that the effect on moose reproduction also depends on summer temperatures.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dag Svalastog and Gudmund Westereng for assistance in vole trapping in Gjerstad and Fuggdal, respectively, and Terje Gobakken and Ole Wiggo Røstad for making Fig. 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, NO-1432, Ås, Norway

    Vidar Selås, Geir A. Sonerud & Olav Hjeljord

  2. Faun Naturforvaltning AS, NO-3870, Fyresdal, Norway

    Lars Erik Gangsei

  3. The Norwegian Association of Hunters and Anglers-Akershus, Sentrumsgården, 2022, Gjerdrum, Norway

    Helge B. Pedersen

  4. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Gaustadalleen 21, NO-0349, Oslo, Norway

    Erik Framstad

  5. Department of Natural Resource Sciences and IT, Nord-Trøndelag University College, Service Box 2501, NO-7729, Steinkjer, Norway

    Tor Kristian Spidsø

  6. Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1172 Blindern, NO-0318, Oslo, Norway

    Øystein Wiig

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  1. Vidar Selås
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  2. Geir A. Sonerud
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Correspondence to Vidar Selås.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Table 2 Number of local newspaper reports where the seed production of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) was evaluated to be below average, average or above average, given for each county and year
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Selås, V., Sonerud, G.A., Hjeljord, O. et al. Moose recruitment in relation to bilberry production and bank vole numbers along a summer temperature gradient in Norway. Eur J Wildl Res 57, 523–535 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-010-0461-2

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