Effects of local and regional landscape characteristics on wildlife distribution across managed forests

Millington, James D.A.; Walters, Michael B.; Matonis, Megan S.; Liu, Jianguo

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2009.12.020

Cited by 35 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…We attribute the insignificance of browsing to the availability of more palatable food that is easier to find than our smaller seedlings. Consequently, we do not believe the results of this study should be taken as evidence that deer are an inconsequential factor influencing natural regeneration in northern temperate forests, as our separate observations and the findings of several other investigators support the opposite (Millington et al, 2010;Witt and Webster, 2010;Matonis et al, 2011;Kern et al, 2012).…”

Section: Seedling Survivalcontrasting

confidence: 53%

“…Similarly, certain species of seedlings also show a greater tolerance to browsing compared to others (Augustine and McNaughton, 1998;Côtê et al, 2004). Therefore, even if silvicultural treatments are successful at overcoming establishment substrate and light/non-tree competition barriers to regeneration, outcomes in harvest gaps may still ultimately reflect local deer density (Millington et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scarification and gap size have interacting effects on northern temperate seedling establishment

Willis

Walters

Gottschalk

2015

Forest Ecology and Management

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a b s t r a c tAfter decades focused on promoting economically valuable species, management of northern temperate forests has increasingly become focused on promoting tree species diversity. Unfortunately, many formerly common species that could contribute to diversity including yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britton.), paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh), eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis L.), and eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) are now uncommon in the seedling layer, raising concerns about our ability to use these species to increase diversity. In this study, two related seed addition experiments conducted in 45 variably-sized harvest gaps (unharvested to 6500 m 2 ) in adjacent mesic northern hardwood stands, Emmet County, Michigan, USA were used to investigate mechanisms potentially limiting seedling recruitment. The first experiment examined the influence of light (i.e. harvest gap size), competing vegetation, and deer browsing on seedling survival for three years in a 2 Â 2 factorial, where subplots were unfenced or fenced to exclude deer, unclipped or clipped to control competing vegetation, and located across the gradient of gap sizes. The second experiment explored the influence of scarification, light, and competing vegetation on germination and subsequent survival for 2 years in a 2 Â 2 factorial, in subplots that were unscarified or scarified to remove litter, unclipped or clipped to control competing vegetation, and located across the gradient of gap sizes. Eastern hemlock, paper birch, and yellow birch, all smallerseeded species, were 12, 17, and 95 times more abundant in scarified plots compared to unscarified plots. In contrast, white pine, the largest-seeded species, was unaffected by scarification and had low overall germination. Shade tolerant hemlock and shade intolerant paper birch germinated at higher densities in lower light, smaller harvest gap environments, while both mid-tolerant species, white pine and yellow birch, were unaffected by light. Each species' initial survival significantly increased with increasing light availability, and with the exception of yellow birch, each species also survived at a significantly higher rate with increasing light availability. Paper birch and hemlock third year survival also increased with increasing light. By the end of the third growing season, only paper birch survival was negatively impacted by competition from vegetation and no species were affected by exposure to deer browse pressure. At the conclusion of the study, large group selection gaps (24-50 m diameter) contained the highest density of each species except white pine, suggesting that large group selection gaps may provide the best opportunity for reestablishing this particular group of species in the seedling layer.

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Section: Seedling Survivalcontrasting

confidence: 53%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scarification and gap size have interacting effects on northern temperate seedling establishment

Willis

Walters

Gottschalk

2015

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…This calls for caution in designing strategies with regard to the improvement of game habitat. It may be a good idea to improve game habitat in areas greater than one kilometre away from valuable forest stands [9,13] to help divert game away from the stands in accordance with central-place foraging theory [44].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Browsing in forests threatens forest regeneration because it affects tree OPEN ACCESS growth and survival as well as lowers timber quality [5][6][7][8][9]. Although attempts have been made to reduce browsing damage by reducing browsing ungulate population densities through culling [10] it has not been very successful [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Stakeholder Participation in Improving Game Habitat in Swedish Forests

Ezebilo

2012

Sustainability

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Abstract:Although in Sweden the simultaneous use of forests for timber production and game hunting are both of socioeconomic importance it often leads to conflicting interests. This study examines forest stakeholder participation in improving game habitat to increase hunting opportunities as well as redistribute game activities in forests to help reduce browsing damage in valuable forest stands. The data for the study were collected from a nationwide survey that involved randomly selected hunters and forest owners in Sweden. An ordered logit model was used to account for possible factors influencing the respondents' participation in improving game habitat. The results showed that on average, forest owning hunters were more involved in improving game habitat than non-hunting forest owners. The involvement of non-forest owning hunters was intermediate between the former two groups. The respondents' participation in improving game habitat were mainly influenced by factors such as the quantity of game meat obtained, stakeholder group, forests on hunting grounds, the extent of risk posed by game browsing damage to the economy of forest owners, importance of bagging game during hunting, and number of hunting days. The findings will help in designing a more sustainable forest management strategy that integrates timber production and game hunting in forests.

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“…In our framework, such landscape-based feedbacks include land uselandscape characteristic interactions, and influence mechanisms by which natural and social components interact, creating crossscale feedback dynamics. Land use affects landscape characteristics (e.g., Turner et al 2001, Hendrickx et al 2007, Grimm et al 2008, Millington et al 2010. For example, urbanization influences landscape pattern and process (McDonnell et al 1997, Luck andWu 2002), and leads to landscapes that are very different ecologically from what existed prior to urbanization.…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

A conceptual framework to evaluate human-wildlife interactions within coupled human and natural systems

Morzillo¹,

Beurs²,

Martin-Mikle³

2014

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Landscape characteristics affect human-wildlife interactions. However, there is a need to better understand mechanisms that drive those interactions, particularly feedbacks that exist between wildlife-related impacts, human reaction to and behavior as a result of those impacts, and how land use and landscape characteristics may influence those components within coupled human and natural systems. Current conceptual models of human-wildlife interactions often focus on species population size as the independent variable driving those interactions. Such an approach potentially overlooks important feedbacks among and drivers of human-wildlife interactions that result from mere wildlife presence versus absence. We describe an emerging conceptual framework that focuses on wildlife as a driver of human behavior and allows us to better understand linkages between humans, wildlife, and the broader landscape. We also present results of a pilot analysis related to our own ongoing study of urban rodent control behavior to illustrate one application of this framework within a study of urban landscapes.

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Effects of local and regional landscape characteristics on wildlife distribution across managed forests

Cited by 35 publications

References 44 publications

Scarification and gap size have interacting effects on northern temperate seedling establishment

Scarification and gap size have interacting effects on northern temperate seedling establishment

Forest Stakeholder Participation in Improving Game Habitat in Swedish Forests

A conceptual framework to evaluate human-wildlife interactions within coupled human and natural systems

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