Patterns of black grouse, Tetrao tetrix distribution in northwestern Russia at the turn of the millennium

We have studied the relationship between landscape structure and black grouse density in Russian Karelia and compared it with East Finland. The spatial density distribution of the black grouse population is relatively even, especially in areas with a high proportion of forest land. Correlations between forest structure and black grouse abundance were generally low. We found three significant correlations for Russian Karelia: positive for clear cuts and young forests and negative for the proportion of old forests. Areas with high abundance of black grouse are characterized by high representation of clear cuts and secondary forests (1.3 and 1.2 times higher than the average, respectively) and low representation of built-up areas, roads and old forests (1.3, 2.0 and 1.8 times lower than the average, respectively; the differences are significant). In Russian taiga natural factors (e.g. predation, diseases and climatic factors) might be of higher importance than forestry.