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Data from: Habitat selection of moose in Sweden in managed boreal forests with Pinus contorta and Pinus sylvestris

Neumann, Wiebke1; Stenbacka, Fredrik1; Widemo, Fredrik1; Ball, John1; Bodlund, Maria1; Ericsson, Göran1

Research facility: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Published Mar 25, 2026 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6djh9w1gt

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Mar 25, 2026 version files 25.22 MB

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Abstract

Human land use can leverage exotic species to increase financial benefits. However, the use of exotic tree species may affect ecosystem functioning, including the habitat use and movement behaviour of animals, their ecological impacts, and their interactions with human land use. The native pine of Sweden is Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). In 1920, the Swedish forestry introduced the North American Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) to Sweden to increase timber production. We used a two-year data set from GPS-collared adult moose (Alces alces) to examine the annual and seasonal habitat selection of this large keystone herbivore in a managed forest landscape with a relatively higher percentage of Pinus contorta compared to other Swedish boreal regions. Compared to other studies, a central departure point in this work was our focus on whether moose exhibited different selection between the native Pinus sylvestris stands and the exotic P.  contorta stands.

We found no evidence that moose avoided stands of P. contorta within forest landscapes. Instead, our results show that young stands of both P. sylvestris and P.  contorta were a highly preferred habitat for moose year-round, and that selection for P. contorta forests depended on the proportion of P. contorta at the landscape level and the season. Our work also reveals a diverse selection of forested habitats in almost all seasons, reflecting the differing needs of moose during different times of the year. Despite being rare in our system, we suggest our findings can have important implications for forestry – P. contorta is often planted in the belief that these forests are less likely to be browsed by moose than are native P. sylvestris forests. Our results do not indicate that the current distribution of different P. Contorta stands have a limiting effect on how moose distribute across the landscape matrix.