Årsrapport GPS-märkta älgar och inventeringar i brandområdet 2024-2025: fördelning, reproduktion, livsmiljö, bärris och spillning

We are now in our fifth year of following moose movement, habitat selection and reproduction in the Ljusdal study area around Kårböle. The study area is special in two respects that affect moose directly and thus differ from other study areas: the fire field around Kårböle and a high density of brown bear, as well as the presence of wolves. As in other study areas, we see that the moose population in Ljusdal includes stationary and migratory moose where individual moose have different strategies: some have completely separate summer and winter ranges, others have ranges that overlap partially, and a few seem to have almost completely overlapping ranges. Of the 30 moose we were able to follow during the period March 2024-2025, 33% were stationary (i.e. moose that have moved only a short distance between their winter and summer ranges or not at all). Twenty moose (16 cows, 4 bulls) were migratory moose that varied in the distance they moved between seasons. Most stayed within a 10-30 km radius of their winter range. But we were also able to follow some real long-distance migrants! Migratory moose included both cow and bull moose, while all stationary moose this year were cows. In 2024-2025, we were only able to follow four bull moose - which is a very small sample. Thus, averages of different calculations are sensitive to variations between individual bulls. On average, the home ranges of bulls were larger than those of cows, and summer ranges were on average 2-4 times larger than winter ranges.Of the 30 moose we were able to track, we located 22 moose (20 cows, 2 bulls) within the fire area while eight moose never moved into the fire area. On average, moose spent 102 days in the fire area, and stationary cows stayed almost twice as long as migratory cows. Most moose used the area mainly during the vegetation period (May - October). Three of the 26 cows that had calves gave birth in the fire area (or the immediate vicinity). A total of 43 calves were born in the study area (mean calving date May 19) of which 50% were born as twin calves and 42% as singletons. We were also able to document two calvings of triplets – which was particularly exciting and has added new elements to how we carry out the calf survival monitoring. During the calving season, we always monitor closely the movement patterns of the GPS-marked cows and do field checks to document not only the number of calves born but also the predation of calves. During the summer of 2024, calf survival from birth to the start of the hunt ranged between 56-63% (24/43 and 27/43, respectively, because we were unable to observe four calves to two cows during the fall check). Overall, summer calf survival was higher in summer 2024 compared to the years before. As in previous years, young and pine forests are the most important and most utilized habitats. The regrowth of bilberry, lingonberry and heather varied within the fire area, and the pellet count inventory showed a different distribution of moose inside and outside the fire area. Findings of pellets by red deer, roe deer and grouse was low during the inventory done in May 2024.An important reason why the study area in Ljusdal works so well is the close cooperation with all interested parties, as well as our close collaboration with both the Scandinavian Brown Bear Project and the Scandinavian Wolf Project Skandulv. There is a lot of public interest, and the website https://wram.slu.se has many different users. The authors are solely responsible for the content of the report.