Wild herbivores in forests: four case studies

TL;DR

This paper models the interactions between wild herbivores and vegetation in four Italian mountain parks, providing insights into ecosystem dynamics and potential conservation measures based on simulations with real data.

Contribution

It introduces a mathematical model applied to specific ecosystems, offering new understanding of herbivore-vegetation interactions and ecosystem sensitivity in protected areas.

Findings

Ecosystems are highly sensitive to environmental changes.

Potential for herbivore extinction under adverse conditions.

Sensitivity surfaces suggest preventive conservation measures.

Abstract

A three population system with a top predator population, i.e. the herbivores, and two prey populations, grass and trees, is considered to model the interaction of herbivores with natural resources. We apply the model for four natural mountain parks in Northern Italy, three located in the Eastern Alps, two of which in the Dolomites and one in the Julian Alps, and one in the Maritime Alps, Northwest Italy. The simulations, based on actual data gathered from contacts with rangers and parks administrators, field samplings and published material, provide useful information on the behavior of the vegetation-wild herbivores interactions and the possible medium-long term evolution of these ecosystems. At the same time they show that these ecosystems are in a very delicate situation, for which the animal populations could become extinguished in case of adverse environmental conditions. The determination of the so called sensitivity surfaces support our findings and indicate some possible preventive measures to the park admistrators.