Large herbivores in coastal dune management: do grazers do what they are supposed to do?

After some decades of rather sparse and more or less ad-hoc nature management (e.g. local shrub-cutting, sod-cutting, mowing), the manager of the Flemish coastal nature reserves [Nature Department (Coastal Zone Management Cell) of AMINAL, Ministry of the Flemish Community] decided to introduce a more coherent and relatively large-scale nature management approach. Since the mid-nineties, several large areas were cleared from scrubs and in the larger nature reserves different herbivore species were introduced. On historical grounds and based on general management expectations, several ungulate s... Mehr ...