Large Herbivores in European Alpine Ecosystems: Current Status and Challenges for the Future

Abstract

The mountain ecosystems of Europe are facing rapid changes in landuse including an increasing use of mountain areas for tourism andtransport, and a decrease in the extent of small-scale agriculturesuch as transhumance (Breitenmoser 1998; Fig.21.1. All of these changesmay have an impact on the landscape structure and on the flora andfauna. As most National Parks and other protected areas are in mountainareas, the protection of ecosystems with their plant and wildlifehas to be undertaken in the face of an increasing human pressure.During the last decades of the twentieth century, most of the largeherbivores increased in number as a direct result of human actions(such as the reintroduction of ibexCapra ibex L.)or by natural changesin the size and dynamics of populations (Figs. 21.2–21.4). The introduction/reintroduction of an abundant and diverse fauna is perceived as mainlypositive, especially by conservationists, tourists and hunters. However,it may be asked how mountain areas will react to the concomitantaction of natural and human-made processes, especially in relationto specific areas of interest such as plant-herbivore relationships,interactions between wild and domestic herbivores, the role of largepredators, the impact of wild herbivores on the landscape and thepotential impacts of climate change on the population dynamics ofungulates.