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Open habitats and species differences shape space use in semi-feral cattle and horses across Danish rewilding sites

Marianne Damholdt Bergin Orcid Logo, Luca Borger Orcid Logo, Érika Garcez da Rocha Orcid Logo, Rasmus Worsøe Havmøller Orcid Logo, Mads Jensen, Jens-Christian Svenning Orcid Logo

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Volume: 198, Issue: 6, Start page: 639

Swansea University Author: Luca Borger Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1007/s10661-026-15487-8

Abstract

Large herbivores can strongly influence ecosystem structure and biodiversity, making knowledge of their space use important for trophic rewilding. We used GPS-tracking data collected over two years from 10 semi-feral cattle and 17 horses across ten Danish rewilding sites to analyse habitat use in a...

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Published in: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
ISSN: 1573-2959
Published: Springer Nature 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa72081
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spelling 2026-06-15T12:58:19.3401535 v2 72081 2026-06-15 Open habitats and species differences shape space use in semi-feral cattle and horses across Danish rewilding sites 8416d0ffc3cccdad6e6d67a455e7c4a2 0000-0001-8763-5997 Luca Borger Luca Borger true false 2026-06-15 BGPS Large herbivores can strongly influence ecosystem structure and biodiversity, making knowledge of their space use important for trophic rewilding. We used GPS-tracking data collected over two years from 10 semi-feral cattle and 17 horses across ten Danish rewilding sites to analyse habitat use in a use–availability framework using resource selection functions (RSFs), complemented by direct behavioural observations. Both species showed large individual variability but overall used habitats disproportionately to availability, with higher relative use of open habitats; including dry grassland and heath–dune habitats, and lower relative use of dense shrub, conifer forest, mixed and broadleaved forest and wetlands relative to grasslands. Horses showed higher relative use of open wet and heath–dune habitats compared with cattle. Behavioural observations supported marked interspecific differences in activity budgets, with horses spending most observed time grazing and cattle allocating more time to resting and ruminating. Habitat use also varied seasonally, including increased use of wetlands and forests in summer, while supplementary winter feeding caused strong local shifts in habitat use by concentrating animal activity around winter feeding areas. These results show that habitat composition and management strongly determine where herbivore impacts are likely to be concentrated within rewilding sites, and that dense conifer-dominated stands are likely to receive relatively limited use by horses and cattle. Thus, considering herbivore space-use ecology in site planning and management and introducing herbivores with distinct digestive physiologies and foraging strategies such as horses and cattle, will improve the effectiveness of trophic rewilding. Journal Article Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 198 6 639 Springer Nature 1573-2959 Trophic rewilding; Habitat use; Resource selection functions; Large herbivores; Semi-feral cattle; Semi-feral horses; Foraging ecology 1 6 2026 2026-06-01 10.1007/s10661-026-15487-8 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee Open access funding provided by Aarhus Universitet. This study forms part of a PhD supported by 15. Juni Fonden (grant 2020–0927) and The Danish Nature Agency (Naturstyrelsen) through the central government budget for 2020 (Finanslov 2020). JCS considers this work a contribution to his VILLUM Investigator project “Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World”, funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant 16549), Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), funded by Danish National Research Foundation (grant DNRF173), and the MegaComplexity project, funded by Independent Research Fund Denmark | Natural Sciences (grant 0135-00225B). 2026-06-15T12:58:19.3401535 2026-06-15T12:52:27.6404017 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Marianne Damholdt Bergin 0009-0005-2410-1513 1 Luca Borger 0000-0001-8763-5997 2 Érika Garcez da Rocha 0000-0003-0485-2967 3 Rasmus Worsøe Havmøller 0000-0002-7457-7326 4 Mads Jensen 5 Jens-Christian Svenning 0000-0002-3415-0862 6 72081__36970__22e322bcc85d4ae5a478235f7303a079.pdf 10661_2026_Article_15487.pdf 2026-06-15T12:52:27.6399856 Output 1320867 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Open habitats and species differences shape space use in semi-feral cattle and horses across Danish rewilding sites
spellingShingle Open habitats and species differences shape space use in semi-feral cattle and horses across Danish rewilding sites
Luca Borger
title_short Open habitats and species differences shape space use in semi-feral cattle and horses across Danish rewilding sites
title_full Open habitats and species differences shape space use in semi-feral cattle and horses across Danish rewilding sites
title_fullStr Open habitats and species differences shape space use in semi-feral cattle and horses across Danish rewilding sites
title_full_unstemmed Open habitats and species differences shape space use in semi-feral cattle and horses across Danish rewilding sites
title_sort Open habitats and species differences shape space use in semi-feral cattle and horses across Danish rewilding sites
author_id_str_mv 8416d0ffc3cccdad6e6d67a455e7c4a2
author_id_fullname_str_mv 8416d0ffc3cccdad6e6d67a455e7c4a2_***_Luca Borger
author Luca Borger
author2 Marianne Damholdt Bergin
Luca Borger
Érika Garcez da Rocha
Rasmus Worsøe Havmøller
Mads Jensen
Jens-Christian Svenning
format Journal article
container_title Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
container_volume 198
container_issue 6
container_start_page 639
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 1573-2959
doi_str_mv 10.1007/s10661-026-15487-8
publisher Springer Nature
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
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description Large herbivores can strongly influence ecosystem structure and biodiversity, making knowledge of their space use important for trophic rewilding. We used GPS-tracking data collected over two years from 10 semi-feral cattle and 17 horses across ten Danish rewilding sites to analyse habitat use in a use–availability framework using resource selection functions (RSFs), complemented by direct behavioural observations. Both species showed large individual variability but overall used habitats disproportionately to availability, with higher relative use of open habitats; including dry grassland and heath–dune habitats, and lower relative use of dense shrub, conifer forest, mixed and broadleaved forest and wetlands relative to grasslands. Horses showed higher relative use of open wet and heath–dune habitats compared with cattle. Behavioural observations supported marked interspecific differences in activity budgets, with horses spending most observed time grazing and cattle allocating more time to resting and ruminating. Habitat use also varied seasonally, including increased use of wetlands and forests in summer, while supplementary winter feeding caused strong local shifts in habitat use by concentrating animal activity around winter feeding areas. These results show that habitat composition and management strongly determine where herbivore impacts are likely to be concentrated within rewilding sites, and that dense conifer-dominated stands are likely to receive relatively limited use by horses and cattle. Thus, considering herbivore space-use ecology in site planning and management and introducing herbivores with distinct digestive physiologies and foraging strategies such as horses and cattle, will improve the effectiveness of trophic rewilding.
published_date 2026-06-01T06:03:03Z
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