Fredrik Widemo

In my research group, we integrate research, environmental monitoring, and teaching on wildlife and its management, with a primary focus on plant-animal interactions in temperate and boreal forests. We combine natural and social science to examine how wildlife interacts with ecosystems and people, and how these interactions are shaped by management. This includes the co-management of wildlife, forests, and agricultural land, alongside broader questions about hunting and the use of wildlife as a resource.

We examine which ecosystem services wildlife provides and how management measures can enhance these services and reduce ecosystem disservices. This includes examining how different interests can be balanced, and how they are balanced in practice, within wildlife management. Over many years, I have also conducted detailed studies of how hunting is carried out to provide benefits, regulate wildlife populations, and reduce damage.

In my projects, I bring together researchers with complementary expertise in animal ecology, forest science, and the social sciences to examine the connections between ecological processes and management decisions. These collaborations span departments and faculties within SLU and involve national and international research partners.

My projects in research and environmental assessment are run in close collaboration and ongoing dialogue with authorities and stakeholders such as hunters, forest owners, and farmers.

Our research focuses on animal–plant interactions and their management in temperate and boreal forests.

Impacts from wildlife on landscapes and land use
Ungulates provide game meat and opportunities for recreation, while grazing and browsing affect biodiversity and agricultural and forestry production. We examine how these effects alter opportunities for land use and how management can balance different ecosystem services, often using moose and moose management as model systems.

In my projects Moose Forage in the North and Future Yields, we study how grazing and browsing affect vegetation, forest regeneration, and forest development, and how these effects depend on forage availability, ungulate communities, and silviculture. We use Heureka to examine future implications for forestry and ecosystem services. Within Browsing Biodiversity, we investigate how grazing and browsing by ungulates can compensate for reduced grazing by domestic livestock, through studies of plants, invertebrates, and fungi.

Impacts of landscapes and land use on wildlife
Changes in climate, land use, and ungulate communities affect the resources available to wildlife. Building on the completed research programme Beyond Moose, we are expanding our studies of resource use and competition between species, partly using data from Ungulate Reference Areas. In my projects Moose Quality in the North and Moose Forage in the North, we link diet selection and movements to individual body condition. We examine how forage availability, climate, and management affect resource use, body condition, and reproduction in ungulates.

We also examine how harvest strategies affect population size, body condition, and reproduction, including the importance of harvest levels and the age and sex composition of the harvest. In my project Reproductive Timing in Medium-Sized Mammals in a Changing World, we study the timing of reproduction in seven species, the influence of climate, and how the species are managed. Our research on life histories and population dynamics provides knowledge to inform decisions, from the development of management plans to legislation on hunting seasons.

Adaptive management of wildlife
To monitor population development and evaluate management actions, we develop and validate monitoring methods and population models that estimate densities and forecast the effects of harvest. We use national management data and observations from our reference areas.

In our research on adaptive governance and management, we combine ecological and social monitoring, primarily within the co-management of wildlife, forests, and agricultural land. Through repeated surveys, we follow the objectives, attitudes, and actions of hunters, forest owners, and farmers. This includes commissioned evaluations of the Swedish moose management. We examine how objectives are formulated and how trust and perceived conflicts affect implementation, learning, revision of strategies, and the fulfilment of objectives. In my project Multiple Choice in Forestry, we examine how forest owners’ objectives, attitudes, and perceived constraints influence their choice of silvicultural practices and adaptation to factors such as wildlife damage.

These questions also extend to other wildlife and to hunting as a management measure, e.g. in Reproductive Timing. In the project Working Towards a Sustainable Targeted Seal Hunt, we contribute studies of hunters’ attitudes, hunting ethics, and factors affecting participation. This work complements studies of the effects of targeted hunting on seal behaviour, coastal fisheries, and fish stocks.

We also work with game meat as a resource and its role in society’s preparedness for food shortages, in collaboration with Norwegian researchers. Building on my research on lead ammunition, we aim to connect this work with questions of food safety and alternatives to lead ammunition within a One Health perspective.

Successful co-management of multi-species systems will require more extensive monitoring and methods adapted to a wider range of species. Meeting these needs calls for close interaction between research, environmental monitoring, and management. As deputy coordinator of the environmental monitoring programme Wildlife (Vilt), with primary responsibility for ungulates, I work to ensure that monitoring of wildlife and its effects on the landscape is fit for purpose and of high quality.

Much of this work involves coordinating activities within SLU and between SLU and government authorities, often acting as a catalyst for collaboration. These collaborations connect my work in environmental monitoring with my role as a senior lecturer with extension responsibilities in wildlife–forest interactions.

I also coordinate assignments in wildlife monitoring and assessment commissioned by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. These include evaluating the objectives and monitoring methods of the Swedish moose management system, and developing models to estimate and forecast population densities of ungulates.

Citizen science offers further opportunities to broaden participation in environmental monitoring. I see its growing role as important both for the development of the Wildlife programme and for democratisation in wildlife management.

I also lead the environmental monitoring programme Ungulate Reference Areas, where we monitor ungulate populations, forage availability, and how ungulates use forage in fourteen reference areas across Sweden. The work is funded by the Forest Damage Centre.

I have 30 years experience of teaching ecology and zoology at undergraduate, Master’s, and doctoral levels, and of leading courses and modules.

I am the course leader and principal lecturer for Wildlife Management and Implementation. The course focuses on adaptive wildlife management in relation to other natural resources, particularly ecosystem services from agriculture and forestry.

Within the Master’s programme Conservation and Management of Fish and Wildlife, I lead the ungulate module of Fish and Wildlife Management and share responsibility for the Human Dimensions course with the Department of Forest Economics. Across these courses, I connect ecological and social perspectives on management, including ethics. My contribution to Human Dimensions focuses on adaptive governance.

I also teach annually on ecological disturbances in forests and on biodiversity and ecosystem services at SLU, and on conservation biology at Lund University.

I have also developed and led doctoral courses, including Monitoring Forest Damage, and teach scientific writing to doctoral students and supervisors.

I have successfully supervised three PhD students to completion as main supervisor and four as co-supervisor. I currently serve as main supervisor for three PhD students and as co-supervisor for one.

I have previously mentored two postdoctoral researchers as main mentor and five as co-mentor. I currently mentor one postdoctoral researcher as main mentor and two as co-mentor.

My pedagogical training covers university teaching, supervision, assessment, and equality. I am a Docent in Animal Ecology at Uppsala University in 1999 and in Biology at SLU in 2019. I continue to develop my teaching through course development, supervision, and education for practitioners. In these settings, I adapt activities and feedback to participants’ different backgrounds and prior knowledge.