Sweden’s great moose migrations featured on global UN map
Wildebeest, antelopes and Mongolian gazelles are already included. Now the swimming moose of Junsele are being added to the UN map of ungulate migrations. The aim is to conserve migration worldwide, and researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) are contributing moose data.
The migrating moose that swim cross the Ångerman River to reach their summer ranges have gained international attention through the slow TV programme The Great Moose Migration. Researchers at SLU have tracked their movements, as well as those of other moose in Sweden, using GPS collars. Several migration routes, some over 100 kilometres long, are now presented on the map of large ungulate migrations on the Global Initiative on Ungulate Migration (GIUM). This interactive online map is a collaboration hosted by the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and shows population movements along with related factsheets. The maps can be used in land-use planning, infrastructure development and conservation decision-making.
– It feels very positive and important to be part of the wider research community and to spread awareness that Sweden still has animals migrating long distances through landscapes influenced by humans, says Wiebke Neumann, a moose researcher at SLU.
Tool for management
Not only moose, but thousands of species around the world undertake demanding migrations to areas suited to particular stages of their life cycle. However, the landscapes they move through have often been altered by human activity, including growing populations, infrastructure, agriculture and forestry. In many parts of the world, animal migration is considered a threatened phenomenon. The maps in the Atlas of Ungulate Migration are tools to guide development and management so that moose and other animals can continue migrating for generations to come.
– Moose in Sweden have migrated in the same way for thousands of years. Although their starting points and destinations remain the same, their movements are influenced by factors such as roads and hydroelectric dams. Whether it is wildebeest in the Serengeti or moose in Sweden, we need to raise awareness so that natural migratory behaviour is preserved, says Göran Ericsson, dean of the Faculty of Forest Sciences, SLU.
SLU’s moose research and the Atlas of Ungulate Migration
Researchers at SLU have collected movement data from over 950 moose fitted with GPS collars since 2003.
Some of these migrations are now featured on the UN’s map of migratory ungulates, the Atlas of Ungulate Migration.
Over 90 researchers and experts from around the world have so far contributed to the maps. To date, there are 43 migration maps representing 26 different species across five continents.
Contact
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PersonWiebke Neumann Sivertsson, researcherDepartment of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies
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PersonGöran Ericsson, Dean, Professor of Wildlife EcologyDepartment of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies