scholarly journals Habitat features of the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) leks in the West Carpathians

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (No. 9) ◽  
pp. 415-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Saniga

Habitat characteristics of 43 capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) leks were studied in the mountains of Central Slovakia (West Carpathians) in 1984–2002. Macro-habitat was described with respect to topography and succession stage. Micro-habitat was described with respect to forest type and forest stand structure. Twenty-seven out of forty-three display grounds were situated in the upper half of the lateral ridges. Sixteen leks were located on hills of the lateral ridges (slope < 10%). All the leks were situated in old succession stages of the forest (80–200 years old). Twenty-seven display grounds were located in natural forests, sixteen leks were situated in man-managed stands more than 80 years old. Leks were situated in a variety of forest types with overstorey tree-density between 400–1,050 stems per ha. Distribution of leks was limited above all by macro-habitat characteristics (elevated sites, old stands). Age-space structure seemed to be a significant micro-habitat feature (preference of multi-layered stands).  

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (No. 5) ◽  
pp. 229-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Saniga

Ecology of capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) was studied in the mountains of Central Slovakia (West Carpathians) in 1981–2003. In the studied area, the capercaillie population inhabited especially old natural forests (100–250 years old) in the spruce-beech-fir (850–1,270 m a.s.l.) and spruce (1,250–1,530 m a.s.l.) vegetation zones. The overstorey stand age ranged between 80 and 250 years with the mean of 128 years. The understorey stand age ranged from 10 to 60 years. The overstorey tree density ranged between 200 and 1,050 stems per ha (mean 725). The understorey tree density ranged from 5 to 650 trees per ha (mean 290). Both males and females preferred old forests throughout the year. The results demonstrate a marked decrease (> 50%) in the numbers of cocks and hens on twelve monitored leks (28%) and a slight decrease (< 50%) on ten display grounds (24%). During the study period, capercaillie cocks became extinct on seven (16%) leks and in their surroundings. More or less constant numbers were found on twelve leks only (28%) and a slight increase occurred on two leks only (4%). A statistically highly significant correlation was found between the area of old-growth forest and the number of cocks attending a lek. In addition to forest deterioration predation appeared to be of major importance in limiting the numbers of capercaillies. Key points for forest management in relation to capercaillie protection are suggested.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.14) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
F Pardi ◽  
M N Mohd Said ◽  
A Ismail ◽  
N J Sidik ◽  
K A Radzun ◽  
...  

The Perhentian Island Archipelago comprising of 11 small islands is located in the state of Terengganu are among the biodiversity rich localities in Peninsular Malaysia. Perhentian Besar with approximately 867 hectares is one of the inhabited island and become the centre of tourism besides Perhentian Kecil. Island is well known as a place for many endemic and endangered living organism as previously demonstrated on other similar forested islands in Southeast Asia. However, there is little attention and effort of protection has been received by the terrestrial ecosystems that reside nearby the coastal. Thus, the present study investigates on tree diversity, stand structure and community composition in the island of Perhentian Besar, Terengganu. Forest plot of 0.5 hectare was established to analyze the floristic composition of tree taxa. The plot was divided into 10 subplots of 25m x 20m. All trees with 5cm diameter breast height (dbh) and above were tagged, measured for dbh size, recorded and identified. Voucher specimens were taken for further verification purposes. A total of 102 tree species were recorded comprising of 28 families and 65 genera. Rubiaceae had the highest number of species (11 species) and with regards to relative dominance, Shorea leprosula (Dipterocarpaceae) gave the highest importance value index (IVi) for species with a value of 8.45%. The Shannon-Weiner Diversity Index (H’) was considered high in the present study with 3.94 (H’max = 4.62) and the Evenness Index (E) value of 0.85 indicated that all species in the present study are almost equally abundant. The forest stand structure had a reverse J-shaped curve for tree size-class distributions as frequently observed in many natural forests, which indicated that the forest stand in the study site had a good recruitment patterns and also a main feature of matured forest in Peninsular Malaysia. The present study will help us to understand the pattern of tree species composition, diversity and forest ecosystem dynamic in Pulau Perhentian Besar.   


The Auk ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 121 (3) ◽  
pp. 877-893
Author(s):  
Scott A. Tarof ◽  
Laurene M. Ratcliffe

Abstract Animals often exhibit territorial spatial structure in their breeding habitat. This clustering behavior is not well understood. We reviewed eight hypotheses for clustering and tested two ecological hypotheses for the formation of dense, territorial clusters in the Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus), a socially monogamous forest bird. The material resources hypothesis suggests that clustering is a response to habitat heterogeneity in vegetation, food, or both. The predation hypothesis proposes that clustering may reduce nest predation. Univariate and multivariate analyses of 170 vegetation plots from 1997 to 1998 indicated that forest-stand structure and tree species composition could not explain clustering in our population (predictions 1–3). Comparison of mean arthropod biomass inside with arthropod biomass outside two clusters sampled in 1999 using Malaise traps revealed that potential food resources were also unrelated to clustering (prediction 4). Nest predation rates were not correlated with territory position in clusters or with cluster size. In addition, predation rates were similar for clustered and solitary pairs (predictions 5–7). We conclude that habitat characteristics and nest predation do not explain clustered breeding in Least Flycatchers, though further tests of those hypotheses would be helpful. We develop the idea that the pursuit of extrapair copulations may promote clustered breeding. Future studies of territorial spatial structure in Least Flycatchers and other species should consider explanations based on mating behavior concomitant with ecological explanations for clustering.


2008 ◽  
Vol 159 (4) ◽  
pp. 80-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogdan Brzeziecki ◽  
Feliks Eugeniusz Bernadzki

The results of a long-term study on the natural forest dynamics of two forest communities on one sample plot within the Białowieża National Park in Poland are presented. The two investigated forest communities consist of the Pino-Quercetum and the Tilio-Carpinetum type with the major tree species Pinus sylvestris, Picea abies, Betula sp., Quercus robur, Tilia cordata and Carpinus betulus. The results reveal strong temporal dynamics of both forest communities since 1936 in terms of tree species composition and of general stand structure. The four major tree species Scots pine, birch, English oak and Norway spruce, which were dominant until 1936, have gradually been replaced by lime and hornbeam. At the same time, the analysis of structural parameters indicates a strong trend towards a homogenization of the vertical stand structure. Possible causes for these dynamics may be changes in sylviculture, climate change and atmospheric deposition. Based on the altered tree species composition it can be concluded that a simple ≪copying≫ (mimicking) of the processes taking place in natural forests may not guarantee the conservation of the multifunctional character of the respective forests.


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 880
Author(s):  
Andrey Sirin ◽  
Alexander Maslov ◽  
Dmitry Makarov ◽  
Yakov Gulbe ◽  
Hans Joosten

Forest-peat fires are notable for their difficulty in estimating carbon losses. Combined carbon losses from tree biomass and peat soil were estimated at an 8 ha forest-peat fire in the Moscow region after catastrophic fires in 2010. The loss of tree biomass carbon was assessed by reconstructing forest stand structure using the classification of pre-fire high-resolution satellite imagery and after-fire ground survey of the same forest classes in adjacent areas. Soil carbon loss was assessed by using the root collars of stumps to reconstruct the pre-fire soil surface and interpolating the peat characteristics of adjacent non-burned areas. The mean (median) depth of peat losses across the burned area was 15 ± 8 (14) cm, varying from 13 ± 5 (11) to 20 ± 9 (19). Loss of soil carbon was 9.22 ± 3.75–11.0 ± 4.96 (mean) and 8.0–11.0 kg m−2 (median); values exceeding 100 tC ha−1 have also been found in other studies. The estimated soil carbon loss for the entire burned area, 98 (mean) and 92 (median) tC ha−1, significantly exceeds the carbon loss from live (tree) biomass, which averaged 58.8 tC ha−1. The loss of carbon in the forest-peat fire thus equals the release of nearly 400 (soil) and, including the biomass, almost 650 tCO2 ha−1 into the atmosphere, which illustrates the underestimated impact of boreal forest-peat fires on atmospheric gas concentrations and climate.


2021 ◽  
pp. e01637
Author(s):  
Francesco Parisi ◽  
Michele Innangi ◽  
Roberto Tognetti ◽  
Fabio Lombardi ◽  
Gherardo Chirici ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-46
Author(s):  
Katherine Manaras Smith ◽  
William S. Keeton ◽  
Therese M. Donovan ◽  
Brian Mitchell

Abstract We explored the role of stand-level forest structure and spatial extent of forest sampling in models of avian occurrence in northern hardwood-conifer forests for two species: black-throated blue warbler (Dendroica caerulescens) and ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus). We estimated site occupancy from point counts at 20 sites and characterized the forest structure at these sites at three spatial extents (0.2, 3.0, and 12.0 ha). Weight of evidence was greatest for habitat models using forest stand structure at the 12.0-ha extent and diminished only slightly at the 3.0-ha extent, a scale that was slightly larger than the average territory size of both species. Habitat models characterized at the 0.2-ha extent had low support, yet are the closest in design to those used in many of the habitat studies we reviewed. These results suggest that the role of stand-level vegetation may have been underestimated in the past, which will be of interest to land managers who use habitat models to assess the suitability of habitat for species of concern.


1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (9) ◽  
pp. 1576-1584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland A Knapp ◽  
Haiganoush K Preisler

It is widely believed that stream salmonids select spawning sites based on water depth, water velocity, and substrate size. Attempts to predict spawning locations using these habitat features have met with little success, however. In this study, we used nonparametric logistic regression to determine what habitat features were associated with the locations chosen by spawning California golden trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita). From this nonparametric model, we developed a parametric model that incorporated the habitat features most strongly associated with spawning sites and used this model to calculate the probability of use by spawning golden trout for specific stream locations. The overall nonparametric model was highly significant and explained 62% of the variation in spawning location. Four of the eight habitat variables, substrate size, water depth, water velocity, and stream width, had highly significant effects and alone explained 59% of the variation in spawning location. The results of a cross-validation procedure indicated that the parametric model generally provided a good fit to the data. These results indicate that location-specific probabilities of use were predictable based on easily measured habitat characteristics and that nonparametric regression, an approach still rarely used in ecological studies, may have considerable utility in the development of fish-habitat models. Given the escalating pace at which fish habitats are being altered, such models are increasingly important in predicting the effects of these alterations on populations.


2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
JESÚS CARO ◽  
DIEGO ONTIVEROS ◽  
MANUEL PIZARRO ◽  
JUAN M. PLEGUEZUELOS

SummaryBonelli’s Eagle Hieraaetus fasciatus and Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos are two declining species, in which floaters tend to be located outside of breeding territories during the dispersal period, in so-called settlement areas. We studied settlement areas for both these long-lived raptors in the southern Iberian Peninsula, to gain a better understanding of the ecological requirements of the eagles during their long pre-adult stage, a period accounting for around 80% of the species’ mortality. Eagle abundance was calculated by road censuses, and habitat characteristics of settlement and non-settlement areas compared by General Discriminant Analysis (GDA) and Logistic Regression (LR). The best model of GDA and LR incorporated the abundance of main prey for eagles (rabbits, partridges) and orchard surface area, and explained 100% of eagle presence; the best model selected by GDA also included habitat heterogeneity. Both eagles tended to share settlement areas in the southern Iberian Peninsula and, when they did not, the mean annual temperature and slope appeared to explain the segregation between the two species. Management measures for the conservation of both threatened species during the dispersal period should be focused on identifying settlement areas, maintaining high prey densities and maximum habitat heterogeneity.


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