Scottish upland moorland dominated by heather Calluna vulgaris is the primary habitat for red grouse Lagopus lagopus scoticus, and has been declining since the 1940s. At the same time red grouse numbers have also fallen. We compared land cover change on sites managed for grouse shooting (1945–1990), and on sites which were managed for grouse in the 1940s but on which management had stopped by the 1980s. Land cover type for sites (N = 229) containing >10% heather cover in the 1940s were examined during the 1940s, 1970s and 1980s. Grouse management existed on 49% of sites in the 1940s, a number which had fallen to 20% by the 1980s. In the 1940s there were no significant differences in land cover type between areas that were managed for grouse, and areas that were not. However, differences emerged during the 1970s and 1980s; areas where grouse management had ceased by the 1980s showed an expansion in woodland cover from 6% in the 1940s to 30% in the 1980s, and a reduction in heather cover from 53 to 29%. In areas where active grouse management had been maintained, woodland increased from 3 to 10% and heather decreased from 51 to 41% during the same period. These changes may be, in part, a consequence of government agricultural and forestry policy. When profitable, grouse management reduces the attractiveness of such subsidies and thereby results in a slower loss of heather.

From a study area in Aust-Agder, southern Norway, game reports from 1920–1978, supplemented with autumn counts carried out during 1968–1984, were used to determine whether the autumn population size of capercaillie Tetrao urogallus showed no increase, a slight increase or a strong increase compared to the population size the previous year. Based on the mast depression hypothesis, it was predicted that adverse weather conditions should have less influence on the reproduction and thus also on the autumn population size in postmast years of bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus than in other years, because of a higher food quality and therefore also a higher body condition of the birds. In a logistic regression model, only the bilberry index and the June–September temperature of the previous year contributed significantly to explain the status of the capercaillie population. A negative effect of high summer temperatures in the previous year was highly significant when analysing post-mast years separately, possibly because bilberry plants were less depressed after a high seed crop if summer temperatures and thus primary production were high. Only when years with high bilberry production were analysed separately, did I find effects of weather conditions which could be assumed to have direct impacts on breeding success, such as snow conditions in spring and precipitation in early summer.

The seasonal composition of and the annual variation in the diet of the brown bear Ursus arctos in the Pasvik Valley, northeastern Norway, were estimated based on the analysis of 137 bear scats. The importance of moose Alces alces and reindeer Rangifer tarandus in the diet was given special attention, because results from Russia suggest that brown bears are generally more carnivorous in the north. Ungulates, especially adult moose, comprised the most important food item for bears in the Pasvik Valley during spring and summer, contributing 85 and 70% of the Estimated Dietary Energy Content (EDEC), respectively. During autumn, when the bears have to build up fat reserves and increase lean body mass for hibernation, berries were the most important food item, contributing 49% of the EDEC, but ungulates were still important, contributing 30% of the EDEC. Insects and vegetation were of low importance in all seasons. The proportion of ungulates in the diet of brown bears in the Pasvik Valley was considerably higher than farther south in Scandinavia, and this regional difference is important concerning bear and moose management in northern areas.

In Europe, waterfowl hunting is a popular recreational activity, especially in waterfowl staging and wintering areas, but also in breeding areas such as Finland. This paper gives an account of hunting disturbance, timing of autumn migration and refuge use in Anas species in eutrophic wetlands in central Finland (63°N, 27°E) during 1995–1999. Based on the timing of migration, duck species may be divided into early and late migrants. In two lakes (total area 2.2 km²) which were monitored on a weekly basis during 1995–1998, numbers of late migrants, i.e. mallard Anas platyrhynchos, teal Anas crecca and wigeon Anas penelope, increased towards the opening of hunting season on 20 August, whereas shoveler Anas clypeata, pintail Anas acuta and garganey Anas querquedula migrated early, and peak numbers of these species occurred already in the beginning of August. Consequently, in Finland's inland lake area, hunting disturbance relates differently to early and late migrating species. Immediately after the opening of the season the numbers of dabbling ducks collapsed and the average numbers in the wetlands were only 9.3% of the numbers present at the end of the protection period in 1995–1998. A corresponding decrease in numbers occurred in 13 lakes (total area 8.5 km²) in the Finnish inland lake district in 1999. After the beginning of the open season numbers of wigeon, teal and mallard decreased in unprotected areas, but increased in a refuge area. In Finland, refuge areas with high-quality foraging and moulting habitats for waterfowl are few, so a network of waterfowl reserves could mitigate the effects of hunting disturbance.

We studied seasonal migration of individually radio-collared moose Alces alces in a partially migrant population in northern Sweden. First, to investigate habitat selection at the level of individuals, we examined use vs availability of habitat characteristics within seasonal ranges. Second, to investigate what habitat characteristics migrants use to select these seasonal ranges, we contrasted the characteristics of summer and winter ranges of individual migrants. Third, to investigate why some moose migrate whereas others do not, we contrasted the snow conditions and the composition of the vegetation in the seasonal ranges of 36 migrant and 30 resident moose. At the level of habitat selection within a range, moose selected areas which had less mire, clear-cut and field habitats, as well as less snow. At the level of the entire range, migrants and residents had rather similar range compositions and differed only in migrants having less field habitats in their winter ranges; the proportion of Scots pine Pinus sylvestris stands, Norway spruce Picea abies stands, mire, deciduous, and clear-cut forest habitats did not differ, nor was there a difference in snow depth. Similarly, within the group of migrants, we detected no differences in habitat composition or snow depth between the summer ranges they just left, and the winter ranges they moved to. Snow quality (as indexed by the depths to which moose sank) did not differ between the two seasonal ranges of migrants, but calves sank less deeply in ranges of migrants than in ranges of residents, suggesting that snow quality may play a role in the selection of ranges by moose or their decision to migrate/remain resident. Thus, habitat composition and snow depth were important at lower levels of habitat selection, but differences among home ranges were not dramatic. The observation that snow quality differed significantly between ranges of residents and migrants suggests that future studies of migration might profitably investigate snow quality.

During cold spells in Denmark and The Netherlands in January–February 1996, and in Belgium in January 1997, ice buildup on plastic neckbands on pinkfooted geese Anser brachyrhynchus was observed, affecting 15–31% of the marked geese in the areas. Ice started to form at effective temperatures of approximately -5°C, but broke off after 1–6 days, despite temperatures remaining below the freezing point. During the subsequent months, there was no detectable difference in body condition, assessed by an abdominal profile index, of geese which had experienced no, light or heavy icing of neckbands, respectively. Furthermore, during the subsequent spring and autumn there was no significant difference in resighting rates of geese with and without neckband icing.

A study of nine enzyme systems in liver and kidney samples of red deer Cervus elaphus from three sites in North Germany and reanalysed allelic structures at two polymorphic gene loci (IDH, SOD) from eight sites in Germany, Scotland, France, Austria and Hungary (a total of 1,252 animals) have revealed two opposite genetic profiles. For IDH the presence of a biallelic major polymorphism is suggested, and for SOD a biallelic minor polymorphism. It is assumed that the three North German red deer populations at Harz, Lüneburger Heide and Soiling descend from one former population. The comparison of the allelic structures at the SOD gene locus of German, French, Austrian and Hungarian red deer populations provides evidence for a clinal decrease of this rare allele from north to south as well as an analogous clinal differentiation within the populations. For the gene locus IDH the selection model of overdominance is probable, due to the viability advantage of heterozygote calves previously discovered by other researchers. The allelic distances found between the three collectives of North Germany approximately correspond to the geographical distance.