Abstract
This study investigated the impact of small rodents on young trees during three growing seasons (2018–2020) in the Czech Republic. Tree damage by small rodents, the quantity and quality of herbaceous plant biomass and the species composition of small mammals were monitored at two sites in European beech forest plantations. The number of trees damaged during three growing seasons correlated positively with fibre content and negatively with nitrogen content in herbaceous plant biomass. The importance of winter precipitation is reflected in the positive correlation with nitrogen content in herbaceous plant biomass. The observed tree-gnawing damage correlated positively with the abundance of one rodent species only—the bank vole. The highest damage occurred after the concurrence of a dry winter and a higher number of voles. Given current climate variability, this situation could become more common in the future. Gnawing may be a limiting factor for the successful restoration of trees with thin bark—in our case, European beech. In addition, the proportion of this woody species should be increased to achieve a more stable and closer composition in the Czech Republic.
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Acknowledgements
The study was supported by grant NAZV QK1820091 (Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic). We would like to thank the native English-speaking editors at Proofreading International Limited for their help with the English language corrections of the manuscript.
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The study was supported by grant NAZV QK1820091 (Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic).
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JS conceived the topic and research and conducted the field work; MH, LČ LP and MD conceived the research and conducted the field work; and JŠ conceived the research and analysed the data. All the authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript.
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Suchomel, J., Heroldová, M., Šipoš, J. et al. Bark gnawing of forest trees by voles during the growing season. Eur J Forest Res 140, 1431–1440 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-021-01410-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-021-01410-y