Moose contributes to global warming by preventing trees from seizing carbon. This has been reported by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
“Deer are the engineers of the forest ecosystem and have a strong influence on everything from species composition to the availability of nutrients in the forest. An adult animal can eat up to 50 pounds of biomass every day during the summer,” said Gunnar Austrheim, one of the authors of the new study.
Deer love to eat young deciduous trees such as birch, mountain ash and willow. Therefore, the young saplings that usually sprout in the forest after the logging company clears the land never have a chance to grow. When the seedlings develop into mature trees, they trap CO2 in their stems, leaves and roots. In fact, deer absorb this possible carbon dioxide storage source creating a greenhouse effect on Earth.
To find out, scientists conducted a comparative study. They created 47 matched sites in areas cleared over the past three years. One area on the farm was fenced off to prevent deer from eating the seedlings that grew after the trees were cut. The second half was open to deer, but marked so researchers could go back and monitor the situation.
Eventually, scientists found that deer benefited Norway’s timber industry by eating deciduous trees and destroying their competitors, leaving only coniferous trees. On the other hand, this same behavior is bad for the climate because deer eat 10 percent of what the Norwegian timber industry harvests, which already follows very strict environmental regulations.