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Coping in a human-dominated landscape: trade-off between foraging and keeping away from roads by moose (Alces alces)

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Abstract

Roads fragment moose habitat and cause increased mortality through moose–vehicle collisions. Previous studies have found that moose avoid areas near roads. In late winter, when moose face depleting food resources elsewhere, moose may be more prone to use areas near roads for foraging. However, this presumed trade-off between foraging and keeping away from roads has not previously been investigated. We sampled positions from global positioning system-collared moose in late winter from a high-density moose population in Southern Norway that is heavily influenced by human infrastructure. We combined data on moose positions with detailed field surveys of food abundance at sites that were, respectively, intensively used or sparsely used by moose. The probability that a site was intensively used increased with increasing abundance of high-quality browse and also with increasing distance to the nearest road. This indicates that moose trade-off foraging against keeping away from roads. We also found that spatio-temporal movements in relation to roads were influenced by variation in perceived human-derived risk; moose moved closer to smaller roads (low traffic volume) than to major roads (higher traffic volume) and closer to roads at night than at day. Males moved closer to roads than females. In conclusion, moose clearly exhibited behavioural adaptations to cope with roads and traffic in the study area. Because availability of high-quality forage substantially influenced habitat use, it may be an option to establish artificial feeding sites during winter to keep moose away from the roads.

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Acknowledgments

We thank V. M. Kristiansen and G. O. Strætkvern for assistance in the field. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on a previous draft of the paper. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration provided financial support for the study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

This study complies with Norwegian law; immobilisation, handling, GPS-collaring and follow-up of GPS-collared individuals were done with permission from, and in accordance with, the ethical standards provided by, the Directorate for Nature Management and the National Animal Research Authority of Norway.

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  1. Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432, Ås, Norway

    Katrine Eldegard, Jo Trygve Lyngved & Olav Hjeljord

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  1. Katrine Eldegard
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  2. Jo Trygve Lyngved
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Correspondence to Katrine Eldegard.

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Communicated by P. Acevedo

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Eldegard, K., Lyngved, J.T. & Hjeljord, O. Coping in a human-dominated landscape: trade-off between foraging and keeping away from roads by moose (Alces alces). Eur J Wildl Res 58, 969–979 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-012-0640-4

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