Evaluation of Environmental Factors Influencing American Marten Distribution and Density in New Hampshire

• Main Author: Drummey, Donovan
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst 2021
• Subjects: American marten; spatial capture-recapture; density; occupancy; New Hampshire; Martes americana; Other Animal Sciences; Population Biology
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/1010; https://doi.org/10.7275/20654148; https://scholarworks.umass.edu/context/masters_theses_2/article/2066/viewcontent/Drummey.pdf

Though the American marten (Martes americana) is widely distributed across northern North America, habitat use and population abundance vary widely across the range. Due to its status as a furbearer, the species has been extensively researched, resulting in a large body of knowledge about the species’ ecology, distribution, and abundance, as well as drivers of population structure and dynamics. More recently, marten research has shifted focus to genetics, habitat associations, and estimation of population state variables. The rapid increase in estimation of states such as occupancy, abundance, and density has likely been driven by the increasing accessibility of noninvasive field technology, such as noninvasive genetic sampling and remote camera trapping, and by the statistical development of ecological hierarchical models. This convergence of advances in field and analytical methods is most apparent in the now widespread application of spatial capture-recapture, an approach that produces robust estimates of population densities and abundance that can be compared across time and space. These new models are especially valuable near the edges of marten distribution where populations are often recovering from historic overexploitation, and expanding into areas they have previously been absent from. In these areas, detailed, landscape-scale understanding of marten populations is necessary in order to establish current conditions, effectively monitor changes, and predict what effect management actions may have on marten populations. I utilized these models to study marten populations in New Hampshire where marten are a species of management interest, and recent recovery has led to their removal from the state endangered species list. Through a collaborative effort with New Hampshire Fish and Game Department in the winters of 2017 and 2018, marten were surveyed across northern New Hampshire using a novel camera trap design that allows for the identification of individuals. These data were analyzed using spatial ...