Harvest Status, Reproduction and Mortality in a Population of American Martens in Québec, Canada

Fortin, Clément; Cantin, M.

doi:10.1007/0-387-22691-5_11

Cited by 10 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The proportion of juveniles in the harvest increased during mast failure years (which followed summers of high relative prey abundance), however, our harvest success rates were not related to the J:A ratio. This may have resulted from the bag limit of 6 martens imposed on trappers in New York, however, Fortin and Cantin (2004) similarly reported that trapper success rates (1984–1994) were not related to the J:A ratio in southern Québec, despite the lack of harvest bag limits or quotas in that region. Therefore, our bag limit did not appear to limit our ability to test for numerical responses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marten and fisher responses to fluctuations in prey populations and mast crops in the northern hardwood forest

et al. 2012

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Many forest tree species produce seed (mast) crops that are consumed by a variety of wildlife species and these pulsed resources may mediate interactions among predator and prey populations. In the northern hardwood forests of New York, we investigated interactions among mast production, prey abundance, and harvests of American martens (Martes americana) and fishers (Martes pennanti) during 1988–2009. Mast production for beech (Fagus grandifolia), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), and mountain ash (Sorbus americana) was synchronous and an alternate‐year pattern in production was evident for most of the time series. We documented considerable temporal variation in summer small mammal relative abundance and our numerical response models received substantial support for 5 of the 8 species, indicating lagged responses to autumn mast crops. Trap response of martens to the autumn production of beech mast and mountain ash berries was immediate and numerical responses to the relative abundance of small mammal prey occurred during the preceding summer. The age structure of the marten harvest differed based on the dominant alternate‐year pattern of summer prey relative abundance and autumn mast production (χ24 = 33.06, P < 0.001). The proportion of juvenile marten in the autumn harvest was 52% and 34% following summers when small mammal relative abundance was high and low, respectively and these differences resulted in a persistent cohort effect that was apparent until age 3.5. Trap response of fishers to the autumn production of beech mast was immediate and numerical responses to the relative abundance of Sciurid prey occurred during the preceding summer. Marten and fisher harvests fluctuated similarly among New York, Maine, and New Brunswick, which may indicate regional synchronization of mast crops and responses of martens and fishers to similar prey dynamics. A better understanding of how food availability influences demographic responses and trapping vulnerability of martens and fishers would aid our ability to manage harvests of these species on a sustained yield basis. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marten and fisher responses to fluctuations in prey populations and mast crops in the northern hardwood forest

et al. 2012

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“…Because martens are frequently chosen as an indicator species for forest management (Buskirk and Ruggiero 1994), such instability creates difficulties for developing monitoring programs. In addition, previous studies relied mostly on demographic parameters collected from trapper catch to assess trends of marten populations (Soukkala 1983, Aune and Schladweiler 1997, Strickland 1994, Fortin and Cantin 2004. Although such harvest statistics (e.g., age and sex structure, catch per unit effort, and fecundity) provide some information on population trends , Strickland 1994, Fryxell et al 2001, Fortin and Cantin 2004, the relationship between them and processes that occur in populations are unclear.…”

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confidence: 99%

Temporal Changes in Population Dynamics of American Martens

Flynn¹,

Schumacher²

2009

J Wildl Manag

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Population parameters of American martens (Martes Americana) are often monitored to guide management actions. In order to better understand changing marten population demographics, we estimated marten abundance and several population parameters on a portion of northeast Chichagof Island (NCI), Southeast Alaska, USA, using capture‐mark–recapture methods in combination with radiotelemetry and compared these data with demographic estimates derived from the trapper catch from the larger NCI area. We found that capture probability remained relatively high across trapping sessions by using a standard live‐trapping protocol, and we found no evidence of capture probability being consistently affected by population or environmental factors. Estimated marten numbers varied greatly over the period, ranging from a low of 14.1 martens (0.17/km2) during winter 1997–1998 to a high of 45.6 martens (0.55/km2) during winter 1995–1996. The annual trend was for decreasing numbers from winter 1990–1991 to winter 1992–1993, then increasing numbers through winter 1995–1996. By winter 1996–1997, numbers had dropped substantially and remained low through 1997–1998. All population parameters varied temporally, including annual survival (0.34–1.00), sex ratio (1.0–3.5), mean age (0.5–2.9), body condition (‐0.08–1.35), and fecundity (0.44–2.70). Yearly trapper catches on NCI varied greatly from 19 to 354 martens (0.02 martens/km2 to 0.31 martens/km2) because of changing trapper effort and marten abundance. We found mean ages of carcasses a good predictor of population mean age, but sex ratios were highly variable. Marten numbers and fecundity were strongly correlated with rodent abundance, especially long‐tailed voles (Microtus longicaudus). By monitoring demographic parameters of the population or trapper‐caught carcasses, managers can gain insight into temporal population dynamics. Also, total captures of individuals may provide a useful estimate of marten numbers without the expense of radiocollaring and tracking individuals because population estimates were highly correlated with number of individuals captured during a standard survey. Because of their high vulnerability to trapping, close monitoring of marten populations is important for the conservation and sustained‐yield management of the species. A tracking strategy developed with input data on preseason abundance and age structure may be the best management approach, especially for small populations with limited immigration.

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“…During the 20th century, knowledge of the genus Martes has considerably increased (Proulx & Santos‐Reis, ); however, very little is known about the basic demographic parameters of stone and pine martens, and even less about the influence of human‐induced mortality causes. Trapping and hunting have been suspected to markedly impact on pine marten populations in Great Britain and Scandinavia (Langley & Yalden, ; Helldin, ), and also on those of the closely related species American marten Martes americana (Thompson & Colgan, ; Fortin & Cantin, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Survival rate estimates have been published for American martens (Hodgman et al ., , ; Thompson & Colgan, ; Payer & Harrisson, ; Fortin & Cantin, ; Flynn & Schumacher, ; McCann, Zollner & Gilbert, ; Woodford, MacFarland & Worland, ), but none, to our knowledge, for martens in Europe.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Comparative survival pattern of the syntopic pine and stone martens in a trapped rural area in France

et al. 2014

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Very little is known about the population dynamics of pine martens Martes martes and stone martens Martes foina in Europe, and even less about the impact of human activities, such as trapping, hunting and road traffic, on populations, despite their crucial importance for deriving reliable conservation and management strategies. We used multistate capture–recapture models to analyse capture–recapture histories that combined information on radio‐tracking data and on recoveries of dead martens. This formulation, based on conditional probabilities, also allowed us to estimate the contribution of trapping and hunting to overall mortality, accounting for detection failures and trapping exposure. We applied this approach to estimate age‐ and sex‐specific survivals of pine martens (N = 40) and stone martens (N = 38) in the same rural area in France, where both species could be legally trapped and hunted. Annual survivals of adults were similar, and estimated at 0.49 for both species [± 0.12 standard deviation (sd) for pine martens; ± 0.10 sd for stone martens]. The annual probability of dying from trapping and hunting was estimated at 0.21 and 0.19 for adult pine and stone martens, respectively. At the individual level, a negative linear relationship was observed between stone marten's survival and trapping exposure, but this was not the case for pine martens, which experienced far lower exposure to trapping. These results confirm that trapping and hunting could have a large impact on marten populations. Vehicle collisions were the second major cause of mortality for both species in our study area. This paper presents the first estimates of survival for syntopic stone and pine martens in Europe and is an important step towards population dynamics modelling of these species.

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Harvest Status, Reproduction and Mortality in a Population of American Martens in Québec, Canada

Cited by 10 publications

References 6 publications

Marten and fisher responses to fluctuations in prey populations and mast crops in the northern hardwood forest

Marten and fisher responses to fluctuations in prey populations and mast crops in the northern hardwood forest

Temporal Changes in Population Dynamics of American Martens

Comparative survival pattern of the syntopic pine and stone martens in a trapped rural area in France

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