Food for fitness? Insights from 24 Norwegian moose populations for proactive monitoring and preventing overabundance.
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| Title: | Food for fitness? Insights from 24 Norwegian moose populations for proactive monitoring and preventing overabundance. |
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| Authors: | Wam, Hilde Karine1 (AUTHOR) hilde.wam@nibio.no, Felton, Annika M.2 (AUTHOR), Felton, Adam2 (AUTHOR), Spitzer, Robert3 (AUTHOR), Wallgren, Märtha3,4 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Ecosphere. Dec2025, Vol. 16 Issue 12, p1-20. 20p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Biological fitness, *Resource availability (Ecology), Moose, Surplus (Economics), Cervidae, Foraging behavior |
| Geographic Terms: | Norway |
| Abstract: | Cervid (Cervidae) populations that are overabundant with respect to their food resources are expected to show declining physiological and reproductive fitness. A proactive solution to such declines is to integrate the monitoring of food resources with animal harvesting strategies, but there are few studies available to guide managers regarding which food resources to monitor and how to do so. In this study, we used a large, rare data set that included detailed absolute measures of available food quantities and browsing intensity from field inventories, to test their relationship with fitness indices of moose Alces alces in 24 management units in four regions across Norway. We found that calf body mass and calves seen per cow during the autumn hunt were strongly and positively related to the availability of tree forage, especially the species most selected for by the study moose (e.g., rowan [Sorbus aucuparia] and sallow [Salix caprea]). The strength of the correlations varied between regions, apparently being stronger where the moose were closer to being overabundant or had a legacy of past overabundance. As expected, the intensity of browsing on the three most common tree species, that is, birch (Betula spp.), rowan, and pine (Pinus sylvestris), was also negatively and strongly related to the fitness. We discuss how our approach to food monitoring can facilitate a management that proactively adjusts densities of moose, and possibly other cervids, to trends in food availability and browsing intensity, thereby avoiding detrimental effects of overabundance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Ecosphere is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | GreenFILE |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: 8gh DbLabel: GreenFILE An: 190405468 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Food for fitness? Insights from 24 Norwegian moose populations for proactive monitoring and preventing overabundance. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wam%2C+Hilde+Karine%22">Wam, Hilde Karine</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> hilde.wam@nibio.no</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Felton%2C+Annika+M%2E%22">Felton, Annika M.</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Felton%2C+Adam%22">Felton, Adam</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Spitzer%2C+Robert%22">Spitzer, Robert</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wallgren%2C+Märtha%22">Wallgren, Märtha</searchLink><relatesTo>3,4</relatesTo> (AUTHOR) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Ecosphere%22">Ecosphere</searchLink>. Dec2025, Vol. 16 Issue 12, p1-20. 20p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Biological+fitness%22">Biological fitness</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Resource+availability+%28Ecology%29%22">Resource availability (Ecology)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Moose%22">Moose</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Surplus+%28Economics%29%22">Surplus (Economics)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cervidae%22">Cervidae</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foraging+behavior%22">Foraging behavior</searchLink> – Name: SubjectGeographic Label: Geographic Terms Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Norway%22">Norway</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Cervid (Cervidae) populations that are overabundant with respect to their food resources are expected to show declining physiological and reproductive fitness. A proactive solution to such declines is to integrate the monitoring of food resources with animal harvesting strategies, but there are few studies available to guide managers regarding which food resources to monitor and how to do so. In this study, we used a large, rare data set that included detailed absolute measures of available food quantities and browsing intensity from field inventories, to test their relationship with fitness indices of moose Alces alces in 24 management units in four regions across Norway. We found that calf body mass and calves seen per cow during the autumn hunt were strongly and positively related to the availability of tree forage, especially the species most selected for by the study moose (e.g., rowan [Sorbus aucuparia] and sallow [Salix caprea]). The strength of the correlations varied between regions, apparently being stronger where the moose were closer to being overabundant or had a legacy of past overabundance. As expected, the intensity of browsing on the three most common tree species, that is, birch (Betula spp.), rowan, and pine (Pinus sylvestris), was also negatively and strongly related to the fitness. We discuss how our approach to food monitoring can facilitate a management that proactively adjusts densities of moose, and possibly other cervids, to trends in food availability and browsing intensity, thereby avoiding detrimental effects of overabundance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Ecosphere is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1002/ecs2.70476 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 20 StartPage: 1 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Biological fitness Type: general – SubjectFull: Resource availability (Ecology) Type: general – SubjectFull: Moose Type: general – SubjectFull: Surplus (Economics) Type: general – SubjectFull: Cervidae Type: general – SubjectFull: Foraging behavior Type: general – SubjectFull: Norway Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Food for fitness? Insights from 24 Norwegian moose populations for proactive monitoring and preventing overabundance. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Wam, Hilde Karine – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Felton, Annika M. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Felton, Adam – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Spitzer, Robert – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Wallgren, Märtha IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 12 Text: Dec2025 Type: published Y: 2025 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 21508925 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 16 – Type: issue Value: 12 Titles: – TitleFull: Ecosphere Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
