Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus ‐ a good candidate for an umbrella species in taiga forests

Abstract

The capercaillie Tetrao urogallus is widely accepted as a species seriously suffering from fragmentation of forests and habitat loss. Foresters as well as conservationists agree on the need and principles for maintaining viable populations, but the proposed management means often differ. The approach currently favoured by Finnish foresters is to manage capercaillie leks and their surroundings using methods that differ from those used in intensive forestry. It may be desirable to prove that forests with capercaillie leks also favour other forest bird species and biodiversity in general. During the last 16 years (1987–2002), forest birds have been censused and capercaillie leks were mapped in the 465‐km2 study area in southern Finland. Most of the study area consists of spruce‐dominated mature forests. The remainder of the landscape is a mixture of variously aged forests, agricultural areas, lakes and scattered human settlements with a gradient from an agricultural‐forest mosaic to forest‐dominated areas. The old‐growth forest bird species three‐toed woodpecker Picoides tridactylus, pygmy owl Glaucidium passerinum and red‐breasted flycatcher Ficedula parva were more abundant within 300 m and 1,000 m radii around capercaillie lek sites than in non‐lek control sites. Also the overall species richness of breeding forest birds was higher in the vicinity of capercaillie leks. On a larger scale (100 × 100 km squares), using the wildlife triangle scheme developed in Finland, we show that the density of capercaillie closely coincides with a wildlife richness index describing the total abundance of 15 other forest‐dwelling mammal and bird species with diverse ecology and habitat requirements. Capercaillie is a flagship species for foresters, and can be considered a good candidate for an umbrella species for wildlife in taiga forests.