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After decades of capitalizing the wood resource in the forest, the current economic challenges and climatic hazards encourage the forest-wood sector to intensify logging. This process, accompanied by a proactive forestry policy (National Forest-Wood Plan 2016-2026), advocates an increase in timber harvests and an early renewal of forests.
In this context, the herbivory pressure exerted by wild ungulates on forest species induces a growing risk of disturbance. This brake acts in the first place on the renewal phase of the forest and then on the development of the forestry routes.
Our work concerns the study of the demographic parameters (survival, growth) of different forest species in order to characterize their capacity of resistance and resilience to the effects of herbivores. This knowledge is intended to feed models of growth dynamics of forest stands but also to build tools to help diagnose the forestry impact of ungulates at multiple scales (stand, massif, region). It is a question of proposing elements of judgement necessary to accompany the renewal of the forest in compatibility with the forestry objectives, the environmental functions of the forest but also the climate issues.

For more information:

•    Mårell, A., Hamard, J.-P., Pérot, T., Perret, S., Korboulewsky, N. 2018. The effect of deer browsing and understory light availability on stump mortality and sprout growth capacity in sessile oak. Forest Ecology and Management 430:134-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.08.015

•    Laurent, L., Mårell, A., Balandier, P., Holveck, H., Saïd, S., 2017. Understory vegetation dynamics and tree regeneration as affected by deer herbivory in temperate hardwood forests. iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry 10:837-844. https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor2186-010

•    Laurent, L., Mårell, A., Korboulewsky, N., Saïd, S., Balandier, P. 2017. How does disturbance affect the intensity and importance of plant competition along resource gradients? Forest Ecology and Management 391:239-245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.02.003

•    Bideau, E., Maublanc, M.L. Picot, D., Hamard, J.P., Ballon, P., Gerard, J.F. (2015). Short-term browsing by roe deer has little effect on survival and growth of sessile oak seedlings. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 31(1) : 40-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2015.1054873