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18 December 2015 Are Reintroduced Wisents a Threat to Mountain Forests?
Marcin Baraniewicz, Kajetan Perzanowski
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Abstract

The diet of wisents (Bison bonasus) inhabiting the Carpathians, studied during a snow-cover period, consisted of 46.8% of woody species consumed in the following manners: debarking (86.3% of dry mass), gnawing (12.6%) and browsing (1.1%). The top two species consumed were the common ash (39.5%) and fir (22.9%). Of the 23 consumed tree and shrub species, 19 species were debarked and 10 were browsed. Fallen trees, cut tree branches and logs of seven woody species were gnawed. The proportion of consumed woody species was positively correlated with snow depth. When ground flora were available, the percentage of twigs and tree bark in the wisent diet decreased, and brambles provided 99.1% of the consumed ground flora dry mass. Access to timber remnants at logging sites and non-valuable species like the willow or aspen may significantly reduce debarking of economically important tree species.

© Finnish Zoological and Botanical Publishing Board 2015
Marcin Baraniewicz and Kajetan Perzanowski "Are Reintroduced Wisents a Threat to Mountain Forests?," Annales Zoologici Fennici 52(5–6), 301-312, (18 December 2015). https://doi.org/10.5735/086.052.0505
Received: 16 April 2015; Accepted: 30 August 2015; Published: 18 December 2015
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