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

Oeser, Julian (author), Kowalczyk, Rafał (author), Kuijper, Dries P. J. (author), Neumann, Wiebke (author), Reiner, Rudolf (author), Seidl, Rupert (author), Senf, Cornelius (author), Bluhm, Hendrik (author), Bonnot, Nadège (author), Börger, Luca (author), Jerina, Klemen (author), Pagon, Nives (author), Černe, Rok (author)

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.

• Language: English
• Keywords: forest ecology, ecology
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 14 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 10, iss. 7
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-188685
• UDC: 630*15:630*4(4)
• ISSN on article: 2397-334X
• DOI: 10.1038/s41559-026-03096-0
• COBISS.SI-ID: 282898947
• Publication date in RUL: 25.09.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Nature ecology & evolution
• Shortened title: Nat. ecol. evol.
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers Ltd, part of Springer Nature
• ISSN: 2397-334X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 526458649

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: gozdna ekologija