CENTRE ON THE PROBLEMS OF ECOLOGY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF FORESTS

RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

K. A. Smirnov, K. O. Larionov Methods for Estimating the Wood-Twig Fodder Reserves for Forest Ungulates // Forest Science (Lesovedenie). 2012. No 4. С.56-60.

Two methods for estimating the winter reserves of wood-twig fodder for elk in the southern taiga - the method of calculating the mean diameter of shoots gnawed and the method of calculating all annual shoots with the determination of their mass - are considered. These methods were used simultaneously in a 100-110-year-old birch forest and a 80-100-year-old spruce forests on round plots with an area of 5 m2. The number of feeding shoots within a plot and their mass were calculated using regression models. A power function was applied as approximate one; it showed a high degree of adequacy of the obtained and observed results. Annual shoots of the regrowth and undergrowth in winter feeding of elk amounted to about 35%. The rest part of food is branches with an age of younger than 6 years. The results obtained by the proposed methods can differ by 30%. Specific features and disadvantages of both methods are considered.

Ungulate dendrophages, methods for estimating wood-twig fodder, state of fodder resources, regression models of fodder reserve estimation..

webmaster