About me

A lifelong interest in biology made me choose an education in Forestry. Following graduation from the former Royal School of Forestry (Skogshögskolan) in Stockholm in 1979, I worked several years as a Conservation Officer at the County Administrative Board in Västerbotten County, northern Sweden, primarily with issues of forest protection.

Over time, I became increasingly interested in a career in research and applied for a position as a PhD student at SLU. In 1992, I defended my thesis on moose browsing on pine. Since then, I have divided my time between research and teaching. In 2001, I became Associate Professor and since 2012 I have been Senior Lecturer/Extension Specialist in Wildlife Ecology with focus on forest ungulates.

We follow browsing pressure by measuring tree height and by counting the number of browsed and available shoots. Photo: Anne Edenius.

Research and area of expertise

My research revolves around the relationships between browsing, forest regeneration and forest damage. My area of expertise is the management of forest ungulate species and the amount of produced forage associated with land use.

Ungulate species such as moose and roe deer affect tree regeneration and thus the composition of forest trees. A high browsing pressure may lead to forest damage and long-term impacts on forest productivity. By selective browsing on species, such as rowan, aspen and oak, ungulates affect the habitats of many species associated with old trees. Forest ungulate species are important as games species, and they attract a growing interest by tourists.

My research mainly focuses on the effects of forest ungulate browsing on tree regeneration and tree re-establishment, their food preferences and the relationship between browsing, forestry, and forage quality and quantity.

Current research

1. Thematic programme Forest and Wildlife (Skog och Vilt): How to create forage for controlling browsing pressure and minimising forest damage through proper forest management.
How should we manage the forest to minimise forest damage by forest ungulates? We can, by proper management, maintain high forest yields and create forage for ungulates at the same time as we minimise browsing damages on pine and other trees.

This programme is run in collaboration with the forest industry, government agencies and SLU.

2. Continuous monitoring of Sweden’s wildlife
We continuously monitor the population of many ungulate species (moose, deer, red deer, fallow deer and wild boar). Through inventories of dropping, browsing pressure and forest damage, we follow the populations’ development and effect on a landscape level. We focus on southern Sweden, which has the highest number of ungulate species. The inventories provide a basis for improved management of Sweden’s forest ungulates.

My research group

Göran Ericsson, Navinder Singh, Joris Cromsigt, Wiebke Neumann, Holger Dettki, Anders Kagervall, Per Ljung

Other close research colleagues:
Sveaskog: Ronny Lövstrand
Holmen AB: Peter Christoffersson
Södra: Göran Örlander, Johan Frisk
Swedish Forest Agency: Christer Kalén, Jonas Bergqvist
SkogForsk: Roger Bergström, Märta Wallgren

Extension

Within the thematic programme Forest and Wildlife, I collaborate with the forest industry (Sveaskog och Holmen AB) and such agencies as the Swedish Forest Agency and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Sveaskog has tested different forest management practices on a landscape scale that SLU was involved in designing and then evaluated.

I took part in developing proposals of cost effective and quality assured inventory methods, for the new moose management practices in Sweden.

In project HEUREKA, we collaborate with the Department of Forest Resource Management at SLU, for the development of a planning tool to calculate the effects on biodiversity in different forest management scenarios. The tool has been used for assessing forests for nature conservation in Örebro County.

Teaching

I teach about inventory methods of forest ungulates as part of the course Fish, Wildlife and Census Techniques, 15 ECTS, at SLU.

Other professional activities

I am deputy coordinator with responsibility for wildlife issues in the Forest Programme within SLU’s operational area Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. I am also responsible for my department’s internal communication.

Read more

Detailed CV
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, SLU
Animal ecology and ecosystem functioning
Cooperation and extension at SLU
Environmental monitoring and assessment
Forest Programme

Selected publications

Edenius, L., Bergman, M., Ericsson, G. & Danell, K. 2002. The role of moose as a disturbance factor in managed boreal forests. Silva Fennica 36(1): 57-67.

Bergström, R. & Edenius, L. 2003. From twigs to landscapes – methods for studying ecological effects of forest ungulates. Nature Conservation 10:203-211.

Bergqvist, G., Bergström, R. & Edenius, L. 2003. Effects of moose (Alces alces) rebrowsing on damage development in young stands of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). Forest Ecology and Management 176: 397-403.

Edenius. L. & Ericsson, G. 2007. Aspen demographics in relation to spatial context and ungulate browsing: implications for conservation and forest management. Biological Conservation 135: 293-301.

Edenius, L., Ericsson, G., Kempe, G., Bergström, R. & Danell, K. 2011. The effects of changing land use and browsing on aspen abundance and regeneration: a fifty year perspective from Sweden. Journal of Applied Ecology 48: 301-309.

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