«Ungulates eat the trees of the future»

In many Swiss forests, and especially in protection forests, there is a lack of tree regeneration. One reason is the impact of red deer, chamois and roe deer, which browse on tree saplings or rub their antlers against young trees. Andrea Doris Kupferschmid of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL explains why this is so and what it means in view of climate change. Terms with * are explained in the glossary below. Ms Kupferschmid, what is the impact of wild ungulates on Swiss forests?. When roe deer, red deer and chamois browse the shoots of young trees or eat entire trees seedlings, this is called browsing. However, the animals do not browse all tree species equally, but selectively pick out those that they like.
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