Mammalian abundance in riparian and adjacent terrestrial habitats prior to and immediately following forest harvesting in the Copper Lake watershed, Newfoundland

• Main Author: Forsey, Elizabeth Susan
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1998
• Subjects: Martes americana; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/9265/; https://research.library.mun.ca/9265/1/Forsey_ElizabethSusan.pdf

The Copper Lake Buffer Zone Study was initiated in 1994 to evaluate the effects of forest harvesting practices on mammalian, avian and piscine assemblages in a small watershed. This portion of the Copper Lake study evaluates mammalian abundance in riparian habitats both prior to and immediately following forest harvesting. Three headwater streams within the Copper Lake watershed received different harvesting treatments; i.e., harvested with no riparian buffer, harvested with a 20 m riparian buffer and not harvested (essentially a buffer of at least 100 m). The riparian habitats and adjacent interior forests on both sides of each stream were evaluated for mammal usage prior to and after harvesting. -- Summer trapping studies of small mammals, i.e., masked shrews (Sorex cinereus), meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) and deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), prior to harvesting indicated that these species were initially low in abundance. Shrew abundances showed a large increase in the summer of 199S in both harvested and unharvested study sites. Post-harvesting data from the summers of 1995 and 1996 indicated no noticeable, immediate effect of harvesting on S. cinereus when the clear-cut sites were compared to uncut sites. Within the 20 m buffers, however, shrew abundances were significantly higher than in the adjacent clear-cuts. M. pennsylvanicus and P. maniculatus showed slight increases in harvested areas. The cyclical nature of such small mammal species may account, in part, for these increases, particularly since abundances were so low in 1994. -- Winter track data for other mammalian species, i.e., pine marten (Martes americana), weasel (Mustela erminea), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) and red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsordcus), indicated that prior to harvesting, winter activity was generally higher in the forest than at the stream edges. After harvesting occurred, I found that more activity occurred in residual patches of forest, including riparian buffers, than in the ...