ALTERNATE YEAR BEECHNUT PRODUCTION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON BEAR AND MARTEN POPULATIONS

• Main Authors: Walter J. Jakubas, Craig R. Mclaughlin, Paul G. Jensen, Stacy A. Mcnulty
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Martes americana
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.483.3985; http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/newtown_square/publications/technical_reports/pdfs/2005/331papers/jakubas331.pdf

Wildlife managers in the northeastern USA are interested in determining the amount of American beech (Fagus grandifolia) needed on the landscape to support bear and other wildlife populations. The need to understand the dynamics between beechnut production and wildlife populations is heightened by the impact of beech bark disease and the increased use of intensive forestry practices on commercial forests in the Northeast. Long-term monitoring of Maine’s black bear (Ursus americana) and marten (Martes americana) populations indicate that alternate year patterns in bear reproduction and marten harvest rates may be correlated to beechnut production. In northern Maine, 22 % of the female black bears that were reproductively available reproduced following falls