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Denne rapporten oppsummerer resultatene fra analyser av elgens forflytnings- og trekkmønster og leveområder for 12 GPS merka elger i Stabbursdalen nasjonalpark i Porsanger kommune i 2018. Ut fra GPS-elgenes posisjoner ble det analysert forflytningsmønster, trekkdistanser, trekkruter og tidspunkt for vår- og høsttrekket, leveområdestørrelse i løpet av året og i jakttida og bruken av ulike habitatkategorier i løpet av året. I tillegg ble elgens forflytningsmønstre i forhold til inndelingen i bestandsplanområder og jaktfelt i regionen analysert. Totalt sett gir studien viktig innsikt i elgens arealbruk og kan bidra til bedre forvaltning og bevaring av elgbestanden og å sikre furuskogen i Stabbursdalen.

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Denne rapporten presenterer analyser av påkjørsler av hjort i kommunene Fjord, Stranda og Sykkylven kommuner i Møre og Romsdal. Arbeidet ble initiert i forbindelse med Sunnhjort prosjektet (2014-2019), hvor målet har vært å utvikle kunnskap om hjortens arealbruk som grunnlag for hjorteforvaltningen i regionen. I rapporten presenteres det analyser av påkjørselspunkter og hvilke faktorer som påvirker risiko for slike hendelser. I tillegg er det presentert risikokart for påkjørsler av hjort i studieområdet. Analysene er ment som et grunnlag for eventuelle tiltak langs aktuelle veistrekninger i kommunene.

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Supplemental feeding of cervids during winter is a widespread management practice, but feeding may increase the risk of disease transmission. Therefore, legal regulations to limit supplemental feeding are often implemented when dealing with severe infectious diseases, such as chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids. However, it is currently unclear whether these regulations result in decreased spatial clustering and aggregation as intended. Supplemental feeding is expected to restrict the movement of cervids. Therefore, a ban on feeding may also result in wider space use and a risk of geographic spread of disease. The space use of 63 GPS-marked red deer (Cervus elaphus) was investigated before (n = 34) and after (n = 29) the implementation of a legal regulation aimed at limiting the supplemental feeding of cervids during winter in a CWD-affected region of Nordfjella, Norway. Snow depth was the main determinant of the space use for red deer. A moderate reduction in the number of GPS positions in spatial clusters was evident during periods of deep snow once the ban was in place. Sizes of core areas (Kernel 50%), home ranges (Kernel 95%), and dispersion (MCP 100%, number of 1 km2 pixels visited per deer) declined from January to March and with increasing snow depth. Dispersion (number of 1 km2 pixels visited per deer) did not depend on snow depth after the ban, and red deer used larger areas when snow depth was high after the ban compared to before. The ban on supplementary feeding had no effect on size of core areas or home ranges. Several potential factors can explain the overall weak effect of the ban on space use, including the use of agricultural fields by red deer, other anthropogenic feeding, and landscape topography. This study highlights that snow depth is the main factor determining space use during winter, and it remains to be determined whether the moderate reduction in spatial clustering during deep snow after the ban was sufficient to lower the risk of disease transmission.

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Many wild animals perceive humans as predators, and human disturbance,especially in the form of hunting, triggers antipredatory behavior among prey.Yet, knowledge of how game species react to different types of human distur-bance and adapt to repeated disturbances is limited. We investigated howdisturbance in the form of a solitary human approacher (stalker) impactedbehavior (flight response and short-term habitat use) of 28 GPS-collared reddeer (Cervus elaphus) in two populations with contrasting population densitiesin Norway. We studied how the behavioral response differed: (1) with season(pre-hunting vs. hunting); (2) by consecutive approaches within a day;(3) among replicated experiments within the same season; and (4) betweentwo regions with contrasting densities of red deer. The average flight initiationdistance (FID) increased by 15% during the hunting season, and consecutiveapproaches within the same day caused the red deer to move 49% longerdistances. Flight initiation distance was longer in the high-density population,while escape distance was longer in the low-density population. Red deermoved out of their weekly home range after 52% approaches, and after theonset of hunting season, time spent outside the home range increased by 89%.Red deer preferred denser resting sites after the disturbance and animal siteshad shorter sighting distance and higher canopy cover than control plots.Tree density and canopy cover at animal sites increased at the onset of huntingseason, from first to second approach within day, and after replicated experi-ments within season. Our results suggest that red deer preferred dense restingsites, especially in the hunting season. However, these animal sites had thesame amount of the favorable forage plant bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), indi-cating no clear food–cover trade-off in selection of habitat. Our study showedthat onset of hunting initiates stronger fear responses in red deer, which mayin turn affect red deer distribution and harvesting efficiency

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Simple Summary Chronic Wasting Disease is a deadly infectious disease affecting cervids that was discovered in Norway in 2016. CWD can transmit through environmental reservoirs and aggregation and spatial clustering of animals may affect transmission. Deer usually forage on scattered forage, but anthropogenic food sources are often concentrated in space, leading to spatial aggregation. We determined what caused red deer to revisit the same locations in the environment, and the extent to which this was caused by anthropogenic food sources. We document that the most visited sites were indeed anthropogenic, which opens potential avenues to disease mitigation. Abstract Herbivores like cervids usually graze on widely scattered forage, but anthropogenic food sources may cause spatial revisitation and aggregation, posing a risk for transmission of infectious diseases. In 2016, chronic wasting disease (CWD) was first detected in Norway. A legal regulation to ban supplemental feeding of cervids and to fence stored hay bales was implemented to lower aggregation of cervids. Knowledge of further patterns and causes of spatial revisitation can inform disease management. We used a recently developed revisitation analysis on GPS-positions from 13 red deer (Cervus elaphus) to identify the pattern of spatial clustering, and we visited 185 spatial clusters during winter to identify the causes of clustering. Anthropogenic food sources were found in 11.9% of spatial clusters, which represented 31.0% of the clusters in agricultural fields. Dumping of silage and hay bales were the main anthropogenic food sources (apart from agricultural fields), and unfenced hay bales were available despite the regulation. The probability of the clusters being in agricultural fields was high during winter. It may be necessary to find other ways of disposing of silage and enforcing the requirement of fencing around hay bales to ensure compliance, in particular during winters with deep snow.

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kunnskap om hjortens arealbruk på indre Sunnmøre til grunnlag for hjorteforvaltningen i regionen. Rapporten tar også for seg påkjørsler av hjort i studieområdet og det er gjennomført analyser av risiko for påkjørsler. Rapporten oppsummerer resultatene fra prosjektet og diskuterer disse i lys av hjorteforvaltningen.

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Denne rapporten oppsummerer Sørhjort – merke- og utviklingsprosjekt for hjort i Agder og Telemark (2015-2019). Prosjektets mål har vært å utvikle kunnskap om hjortens arealbruk på Sørlandet og i Telemark til grunnlag for hjorteforvaltningen i regionen. Rapporten presenterer resultatene fra prosjektet.

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Partial migration is common in a large variety of taxa in seasonally variable environments. Understanding the mechanisms underlying migration is important, as migration affects individual fi tness. Migratory herbivores bene fi t from delayed forage maturation and hence higher food quality during migra- tion and at their summer range, termed the forage maturation hypothesis (FMH). The link between diet quality and rumination time allows migrants eating a higher quality diet to spend less time on rumination, and they can thus allocate more time to additional feeding. However, such an argument implicitly assumes that deer are energy maximizers, while studies have reported also time minimization strategies under risk of predation. Male and female distributions are limited by different factors linked to both body size differ- ences and reproductive strategies, but there is no study investigating differences in activity pattern accord- ing to the individual migratory patterns for male and female deer. We here unify the FMH with the hypotheses predicting sex-speci fi c time allocation strategies. To test predictions of sex-speci fi c activity of resident and migratory red deer ( Cervus elaphus ), we analyzed activity data of 286 individuals that were fi tted with GPS collars from a population in western Norway. While migrants were more active during the migration itself, we found no differences in activity pattern between migrant and resident deer during the main growth season, neither in terms of proportion of daily time active nor in terms of daily mean movement speed, thus rejecting that deer were energy maximizers. Overall, we found that females were more active during the main growth season even after controlling for body size differences. These patterns are consistent with patterns predicted from sexual segregation theory linked to the reproductive strategy hypothesis. Our study highlights how the understanding of migration can be advanced by considering it in the context of different reproductive strategies of males and females.

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1. Population-level management is difficult to achieve if wildlife routinely crosses administrative boundaries, as is particularly frequent for migratory populations. However, the degree of mismatch between management units and scales at which ecological processes operate has rarely been quantified. Such insight is vital for delimiting functional population units of partially migratory species common in northern forest ecosystems. 2. We combined an extensive dataset of 412 GPS-marked red deer (Cervus elaphus) across Norway with information on the size and borders of two administrative levels, the governmental level (municipality) and landowner level (local management units, LMUs), to determine the timing and scale of mismatch between animal space use and management units. We analysed how landscape characteristics affected the use of management units and the timing and likelihood of crossing borders between them, in an effort to delineate more appropriate units in various landscapes. 3. Median municipality size could potentially cover 70% of female and 62% of male annual ranges, while only 12% and 4% of LMUs were expansive enough to accommodate migratory routes in females and males, respectively. Red deer migrate along elevational gradients and are more likely to find both suitable lowland winter habitat and higher summer habitat within management units with variable topography. Consistent with this, the likelihood of border crossing decreased with increasing diversity of elevations. 4. Synthesis and applications. We demonstrate a considerable mismatch between animal space use and management units. Far-ranging movements and frequent administrative border crossings during autumn migration coincides with the period of active management (hunting season). Our study also highlights that, due to extensive movements of males, coordination of management aims may provide a more realistic avenue than increasing sizes of local management units. A more general insight is that the degree of mismatch between range use and management units depends on the season and landscape type. This needs to be accounted for when delimitating functional population units of migratory populations.

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De tørre og varme værforholdene med mye vind langs kysten på Vestlandet og i Trøndelag vinteren 2014 førte til en kraftig uttørking av en del plantearter, og det ble observert store områder med inntørka og død vegetasjon. Uttørkingen omfattet spesielt arter med vintergrønne blader (tyttebær), samt løvfellende planter der den overjordiske stengelen er levende (blåbær, og røsslyng). Slike fenomen omtales gjerne som klimastress og viser at planter i nordlige områder kan være sårbare for ekstreme værhendelser, spesielt høye temperaturer vinterstid. Blåbær er ei viktig plante for mange arter, fra store beitedyr til små insekter, og er en basisplante i mange næringskjeder. Endringer i blåbærlyngens biomassse kan derfor ha konsekvenser for mange andre arter...

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Denne rapporten oppsummerer en beitekartlegging gjennomført på Søre-Sunnmøre. Hensikten har vært å utføre en kartlegging av viktige vinterbeiteområder for hjort i kommunene Ørsta, Volda, Hareid, Sande, Herøy og Ulstein. Våre resultater viser at totalt sett var blåbærlyng den mest utbredte av lyngartene, men at det er forskjell mellom områdene i mengde tilgjengelig. Blant trea var bjørk, einer, furu, gran, gråor og rogn de mest utbredte og tilgjengelige artene, men de produserer høyst ulikt antall skudd pr flate. Rogn var hardest beita av trea og blåbæra av lyngen. Det var til dels betydelig variasjon mellom områdene (blokkene) i beitefrekvens, men det var også en betydelig variasjon innen områdene. Resultatene viser at beitetrykket totalt sett er moderat i de undersøkte områdene, men det er en variasjon både mellom og innad i de undersøkte områdene. Enkelte områder er utsatt for et så høyt beitetrykk at man kan forvente en endring både i vegetasjonsstrukturen og beiteproduksjonen på sikt på disse lokale områdene. I de enkelte områdene kan det være fornuftig å redusere beitetrykket på kort sikt for å øke produksjonen av beite. Det er imidlertid en rekke faktorer som påvirker beiteproduksjonen og som har direkte effekt på tilgangen på vinterbeite for hjorten. Utviklingen i skogbilde og driftsnivå i skogbruket vil skape viktige rammer for beiteproduksjonen, sammen med den aktuelle bestandstettheten av hjort.

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Denne rapporten oppsummerer status for "Merke- og utviklingsprosjekt hjort " Nordmøre og Sør-Trøndelag" etter de to første åra. Rapporten er første delrapport for prosjektet og den gir en oppsummering av foreløpige resultater etter to år av prosjektet (2006-2007) og etter en sesong med merking (2007).