1. Roads, logging, and the large-mammal community of an eastern Canadian boreal forest
- Author
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Bowman, Jeff, Ray, Justina C., Magoun, Audrey J., Johnson, Devin S., and Dawson, F. Neil
- Subjects
Forest ecology -- Research ,Taigas -- Environmental aspects ,Zoogeography -- Research ,Zoology and wildlife conservation - Abstract
We evaluated hypotheses concerning the distributions of large mammals in a 60000 [km.sup.2] study area that encompassed the contact zone between Ontario's roadless north and the postlogging southern landscape. We estimated occurrence probability in 575 sample units for woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)), wolverine (Gulo gulo (L., 1758)), gray wolf (Canis lupus L., 1758), moose (Alces alces (L., 1758)), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmerman, 1780)). We used ordinations and spatial regressions to assess the contributions of parameters to species occurrence. Roads and cutovers were most abundant in the south, leading to an increased prevalence of deciduous forest. Mature coniferous forest, however, occurred most commonly in the north. Occurrence probabilities for moose and deer were greatest in the south, in close association with deciduous trees. Wolf occurrence was also greatest in the south, positively related to both deciduous forest and road density. Caribou occurrence, however, was positively related to mature coniferous forest and negatively related to both wolf occurrence and roads. Wolverine occurrence was negatively related to deciduous forest. Our surveys demonstrated distinct mammal communities in the northern and southern halves of our study area, a separation that appeared to be mediated by deciduous forest and roads. Nous avons evalue des hypotheses sur la repartition des grands mammiferes dans une region d'etude de 60000 [km.sup.2] qui chevauche la zone de contact entre les paysages sans routes du nord de l'Ontario et les paysages du sud affectes par la coupe du bois. Nous avons estime les probabilites d'occurrence du caribou des forests (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)), du carcajou (Gulo gulo (L., 1758)), du loup gris (Canis lupus L., 1758), de l'orignal (Alces alces (L., 1758)) et du cerf de Virginie (Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmerman, 1780)) dans 575 unites d'echantillonnage. Des ordinations et des regressions spatiales ont servi a eevaluer les contributions des variables a l'occurrence des especes. Les routes et les zones coupees sont plus abondantes dans le sud, ce qui explique la prevalence plus importante de la foret decidue. Cependant, la foret de coniferes mature est plus frequente dans le nord. Les probabilites d'occurrence de l'orignal et du cerf sont supeerieures dans le sud, en forte association avec les arbres decidus. L'occurrence du loup est aussi plus importante dans le sud, en relation positive avec la foret decidue et la densite des routes. En revanche, l'occurrence du caribou est en relation positive avec la foret de conifeeres mature et en relation negative avec l'occurrence du loup et des routes. L'occurrence du carcajou est en relation negative avec la foret decidue. Nos inventaires demontrent l'existence de communautes distinctes de mammiferes dans les moities nord et sud de notre region d'etude, une separation qui semble s'expliquer par les forets decidues et les routes. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Large mammals are often among the first species to disappear from a landscape following its settlement by humans (Weaver et al. 1996; Laliberte and Ripple 2004). Historically, extirpations of [...]
- Published
- 2010
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