Similarity of small mammal abundance in post-fire and clearcut forests

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To test the assumption that forest harvesting can maintain wildlife through emulating natural disturbance, the authors compared small mammal abundance between seven post-fire and nine clearcut plots representing three ages since disturbance (4, 14, and 27 years). On each site, two Victor snap traps were placed at 100 stations on 10 x 10 grids spaced 20 m apart. Clethrionomys [Myodes] gapperi were more abundant in clearcut plots, likely due to abundant coarse woody debris. This difference decreased through time. No other species differed between disturbance types. In both burned and clearcut plots, the abundance of C. gapperi was lowest on 14-year-old sites while Microtus pennsylvaticus [pennsylvanicus] and Sorex cinereus peaked at 14 years. At the meso-scale (plot-level), grass, herbs, and coarse woody debris explained 53% of the variation in small mammal abundance. At the micro-scale (individual trapsite), several variables showed statistical significance, yet only 13% of the variation in small mammals was explained. This was reduced to 4% when the spatial component of ecological variation was controlled. This suggests that the small mammals are coarse-grained foragers and that fine-scale vegetation descriptions have little ability to explain small mammal abundance. The authors conclude that the coarse-filter approach to forest management by emulating natural disturbances can maintain small mammal communities in central Labrador, Canada.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology