Artikel-Suche

Graf, R. F. & K. Bollmann

Ansprüche des Auerhuhns an die Landschaft und das Waldbestandsmosaik.

2008

105

33–43

Key words
(von 1994 bis 2006 vergeben)

Lebensraum, Habitatwahl, Waldstruktur, Forstwirtschaft, Bestandesentwicklung, Artenschutz

Schlagwort_Vogelart
(wissenschaftlich)

Tetrao urogallus

Schlagwort_Vogelart
(deutsch)

Auerhuhn

Schweiz, Alpen, Voralpen, Graubünden, St. Gallen

deutsch

Abhandlung

Western Capercaillie habitat at different spatial scales. – Past actions to stop the decline of Western Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus may have failed because they concentrated on improving forest structure in single stands. Important population processes, however, act at much larger scales. We investigated Capercaillie habitat at different spatial and temporal scales, with the main aim to identify the factors that affect Capercaillie populations at the larger scales of forest stand mosaics and entire landscapes. At the landscape scale, we developed a habitat model that identified presently and historically occupied habitats successfully. This model has then been used for spatial priority setting in the Swiss Capercaillie action plan and as a spatial basis for analyzing large-scale (meta-)population dynamics. At the scale of forest stand mosaics, we found a clear positive relationship between Capercaillie population trend and the amount of open forest: the more open forest, the higher the chance for finding a stable population. Therefore, actions for habitat improvement have to be coordinated also at the scale of stand mosaics. Information on forest structure derived from new remote sensing data may help to assess and monitor habitat suitability on large enough areas in the future. Our results emphasize the importance of the large spatial scales for the development of Capercaillie populations. Also, we provide methods and tools that allow to incorporate multi-scale habitat requirements of Capercaillie in conservation concepts.