A major new research project to find ways to secure the survival of one of Scotland's rarest species, the capercaille, has been launched thanks to a Ј30,000 grant awarded by the Scottish Forestry Trust.
The three-year project will bring together a multidisciplinary team from the University of Aberdeen, Forest Enterprise and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Project leader Dr Douglas Macmillan, of the University's Department of Agriculture, said the decline of the capercaillie population in Scotland is of increasing concern to conservationists, with numbers falling from an estimated 20,000 in the mid 1970s, to less than 2,200 in 1995.
"Although climatic changes may have an important role in the decline, a wide range of other factors such as harvesting programmes, forestry fencing and over-grazing by deer, which are under the direct control of the forest manager, are also important," he added.
To help save the capercaille, which lives mainly in heavily wooded areas, there is an urgent need for foresters to develop management plans that meet commercial and conservation targets. This research project will use a combination of expert knowledge and sophisticated modelling tools to help foresters identify strategies which improve habitat quality for capercaille and meet timber production targets in commercial forests.
Dr Macmillan said: "Forest managers face an extremely difficult task in balancing biodiversity targets with timber production and other objectives, such as recreation and landscape. The abundance of capercaille is not only affected by the area and volume cut, but also by the spatial and temporal distribution of the harvest.
"If cost-effective strategies for capercaillie conservation are to be developed, forest managers need more information on the trade-off between timber production and capercaille abundance within commercial plantations. Funding from the Trust has enabled us to appoint a PhD student to research forest management strategies which will help secure the future of this endangered species."
Further information:
Dr Douglas Macmillan, University of Aberdeen Department of Agriculture, Tel: (01224) 274128.