Winter feeding site choice of ungulates in relation to food quality

Sammanfattning: Supplementary feeding is a widespread practice in Sweden. In most cases, this is done in order to increase ungulate densities for hunting purposes. Forest regimes can also provide a high amount of natural food which influences densities. But high densities are not unproblematic and can cause several problems, e.g. increases in traffic accidents or browsing damages. In order to offset some of the problems while maintaining a high population, diversionary feeding has been proposed. In this study, I test the hypothesis that the type of supplementary feed influences the animals choices and degree of utilization, assuming that concentrate selectors (moose (Alces alces) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)) utilize willow to a greater extent than the intermediate feeders (red- and fallow deer (Cervus elaphus and Dama dama, respectively)) and wild boar (Sus scrofa), which mostly utilize the silage. A second focus of this study is to provide more information on when and where animals in the study area feed on supplementary fodder and why they choose a certain location over another. Öster Malma, the study area, has populations of five different ungulate species. The hypotheses here are that the habitat type surrounding a feeding site influences its attractiveness and the amount of natural browse in the vicinity plays a role. Based on my findings in this study, willow is not an applicable feed item for diversionary feeding. Silage was utilized much more – especially by fallow deer. Furthermore, a difference in diurnal activity was found between roe deer and the other species: roe deer was less nocturnal than the other four ungulate species. I also found some evidence that moose prefer feeding sites with forest cover. I hypothesize that competition for the resources between the species occurs and that fallow deer is a strong competitor.