Use of pellet group counts in determining density and habitat use of mooseAlces alces in Finland

In Finland, monitoring of the moose Alces alces population has been based o n moose sighting cards and on aerial or ground censuses. However, considera ble criticism has been levelled at these techniques, and there is an increa sing need for alternative census methods in monitoring and managing moose p opulations. In this study, pellet group counts were carried out to determin e the density and habitat use of moose in a wintering area in central Finla nd. Pellet group counts were made using both strip and plot sampling proced ures. Estimates of moose density depended significantly on the sampling pro cedures and on the parameters used. Moose density estimates based on plots were twice those based on strips. Different plot intervals in plot sampling gave similar results. Both sampling procedures gave similar results concer ning the habitat use of moose. The highest pellet group densities were obse rved in young Scots pine Pinus sylvestris dominated thinning stands where w inter food availability is considerably high. Because food is a limiting fa ctor in winter, pellet group numbers should obviously well reflect moose ha bitat affinity, which can be classified in terms of forest stand characteri stics. Pellet group counts could possibly be used to estimate population de nsities for moose management. However, it would appear that the plot method , which up to now is the widely used method, overestimates moose densities. Because of the great variation in the results, other possible sources of e rror in the parameters used should also be taken into account in order to i mprove the accuracy of the method to be applied.