Investigating the potential use of fenced reserves and extirpated natives to aid the restoration of the Caledonian Pine Forest.

The Caledonian Pine Forest, that once covered much of the Scottish Highlands, was initially reduced from its maximum extent, approximately 6000 yrs BP, as a result of a cooling and increasingly wet climate. However, since 1500 anthropogenic habitat destruction has reduced what was left to mere remnants of semi-natural woodland scattered over the Highlands, often in small isolated pockets. Alladale and its surrounding area have a documented history of woodland exploitation, particularly in the 1600s for ships and buildings. This habitat is of even greater conservation concern as high deer and sheep densities prevent woodland regeneration through browsing. Two solutions have been used to deal with this problem, culling and deer exclusion fencing. In this study I have primarily considered the use of wild boar as a conservation management tool to control bracken, break up dense vegetation and scarify the ground to create germination niches. The primary elements of the research are:

1.    The use of landscape scale fenced reserves for habitat restoration.
2.    Habitat preference and foraging strategy of wild boar in a space limited area.
3.    Whether it is possible to adequately manipulate foraging strategy and habitat preference with supplementary feed.
4.    The implications of stocking density on habitat modification rate.
5.    The implications of habitat alteration on questing tick (Ixodes ricinus) ecology.
6.    The wider a) economic, b) social and c) environmental implications of the use of wild boar in the Highlands of Scotland.

The results of this work, population modelling and spatial technologies will all be used to consider the importance of the scale of fenced reserves in achieving restoration ecology goals. This will be especially focused around the scale of enclosure required for a managed wolf population to survive natural stochastic population variation and the potential for them to control the deer population at low densities.