When Disturbed Forests Become New Homes for Large Mammals

Minh-Hoang Nguyen

Phenikaa University

12-07-2026

© Wix

When we think of forest disturbances, the images that usually come to mind are grim: raging wildfires, devastating storms, insect outbreaks, or vast clear-cut landscapes. As climate change accelerates, these disturbances are becoming increasingly common across the globe, raising understandable concerns about biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse (Seidl et al., 2017).

Yet nature often responds in more surprising ways than we expect.

A recent continent-wide study across Europe found that many large herbivores—including European bison, moose, red deer, and roe deer—actually benefited from forest disturbances (Oeser et al., 2026). By opening the forest canopy, disturbances allow sunlight to reach the ground, stimulating the growth of shrubs, grasses, and young trees that provide abundant food (Kuijper et al., 2009; Smolko et al., 2018). For many herbivores, these newly disturbed forests become attractive feeding grounds.

However, the story is far more nuanced than “disturbance is beneficial.” Different species responded differently, and timing mattered. Roe deer and European bison were attracted almost immediately after disturbance, whereas moose and red deer reached peak habitat use roughly one to two decades later, after vegetation had recovered enough to provide both food and shelter. Smaller disturbance patches were generally preferred over large openings, and heavily disturbed sites were often selected only when they remained embedded within otherwise intact forests.

These findings remind us that ecosystems are not static collections of species but dynamic networks of relationships. A disturbance does not simply destroy a forest; it reorganizes the conditions under which countless interactions occur. Light, vegetation, predators, human activity, temperature, and landscape structure all change simultaneously. Animals continually adjust to these shifting conditions, balancing opportunities for feeding against risks such as exposure, predators, or human disturbance. Consequently, the same fallen trees that appear catastrophic to people may represent valuable opportunities for some species while creating disadvantages for others (Nguyen, 2025).

This dynamic perspective also helps explain why simple conservation labels such as “good” or “bad” disturbances can be misleading. The ecological consequences depend on multiple interacting factors, including disturbance size, severity, recovery stage, surrounding landscape, season, and the biological characteristics of individual species. Even within a single species, habitat suitability varied substantially across locations and years, illustrating that wildlife responds to changing environmental conditions rather than fixed habitat categories.

The study also carries an important message for forest management in an era of climate change. As disturbances continue to increase, they may create more suitable habitats for expanding herbivore populations. While this could support the recovery of iconic species such as European bison and moose, growing herbivore numbers may also intensify browsing pressure on young forests, potentially slowing tree regeneration and increasing conflicts with forestry (Kuijper et al., 2011; Churski et al., 2017).

Rather than attempting to eliminate disturbances altogether, future forest management may need to embrace ecological complexity (Vuong, 2024). Healthy forests are not those that remain permanently unchanged, but those capable of continually reorganizing after disruption while sustaining the diverse interactions that allow both forests and wildlife to persist.

References

Churski, M., et al. (2017). Brown world forests: increased ungulate browsing keeps temperate trees in recruitment bottlenecks in resource hotspots. New Phytologist, 214, 158-168. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14345 

Kuijper, D. P. J. et al. (2009). Do ungulates preferentially feed in forest gaps in European temperate forest? Forest Ecology and Management, 258, 1528-1535. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2009.07.010

Kuijper, D. P. J. (2011). Lack of natural control mechanisms increases wildlife–forestry conflict in managed temperate European forest systems. European Journal of Forest Research, 130, 895-909. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-011-0523-3

Nguyen, M. H. (2025). Value Theory. Kingfisherish Wandering. http://books.google.com/books/about?id=b9HzEQAAQBAJ

Oeser, J, et al. (2026). Increasing forest disturbance enhances habitat suitability for Europe’s large herbivores. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 10, 1273-1286. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-026-03096-0

Seidl, R. et al. (2017). Forest disturbances under climate change. Nature Climate Change, 7, 395-402. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3303

Smolko, P., Veselovská, A. & Kropil, R. (2018). Seasonal dynamics of forage for red deer in temperate forests: importance of the habitat properties, stand development stage and overstorey dynamics. Wildlife Biology, 2018, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.00366

Vuong, Q. H. (2024). Innovation. Wild Wise Weird. http://books.google.com/books/about?id=FUTvEQAAQBAJ