Increasing forest disturbance enhances habitat suitability for Europe’s large herbivores

Forest disturbances have increased in many regions, but how they impact habitat suitability for wildlife remains poorly understood. Here, by combining tracking data on 3,069 individuals of four ungulate species (European bison, moose, red deer and roe deer) with satellite-based maps, we perform a continental, multi-decadal assessment of large herbivore responses to forest disturbance. Despite strong intraspecific variation, all species show an increased selection of disturbed areas for ≥35 years after disturbance. Although the patterns closely reflect species-specific foraging strategies, all species selected more strongly for smaller disturbance patches, depending on the availability of alternative foraging habitats (grasslands and croplands). Model projections across the species’ range extents show positive but regionally varying effects of forest disturbances on habitat suitability between 2000 and 2023. Our findings indicate that forest disturbances can attract large herbivores and that the recent increase in forest disturbances improved habitat suitability for our study species across Europe, highlighting the importance of considering long-term disturbance-related dynamics for wildlife and forest management. Given expected future increases in disturbance, resulting habitat improvements could amplify conflicts with forestry, but also contribute to restoring large herbivores and their ecological functions.

University of Białystok
Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania
Bayerische Landesanstalt für Wald und Forstwirtschaft
Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research
University of Szczecin
University of Aveiro
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung
University of Inland Norway
Universität Freiburg
Swansea University
Halmstad University
Office Français de la Biodiversité
Vytautas Magnus University
Mammal Research Institute
Forstliche Versuchs- und Forschungsanstalt Baden-Württemberg
University of Life Sciences in Lublin
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
University of Oslo
Nationalparkverwaltung Berchtesgaden
Warsaw University of Life Sciences
Fondazione Edmund Mach
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Museum and Institute of Zoology
University of Sopron
Université de Toulouse
University of Zagreb
University of Ljubljana
Aarhus University
Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald
Universität Zürich
Universität Ulm
Technische Universität München
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences