scholarly journals Use of mixedwood stands by wintering white-tailed deer in southern New Brunswick

2001 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dwayne L. Sabine ◽  
Graham Forbes ◽  
Warren B. Ballard ◽  
Jeff Bowman ◽  
Heather Whitlaw
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
New Brunswick ◽  
Habitat Management ◽  
Winter Habitat ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Influence Of Food ◽  
Wintering Areas ◽  
Northern Edge ◽  
Wintering Area ◽  
Mixedwood Stands

On the northern edge of their range, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) congregate during winter to cope with severe climate conditions. We documented the winter habitat use of deer in southern New Brunswick, where winters are of moderate severity, and tested predictions concerning the influence of food and cover availability on habitat use by deer under different snow depth regimes. Sixty-three radio-collared deer were monitored during the winters of 1995 to 1997. Within wintering areas, deer showed a preference for mixedwoods. Mixedwood stands provided only moderate amounts of food and cover relative to some other cover types, but were the only type to provide both simultaneously. Current habitat management guidelines in parts of northeastern North America consider critical habitat for wintering deer to be softwood-dominated stands. These guidelines may not provide adequate habitat in this region, since deer appear to use mixedwood stands under some conditions. Key words: deer, deer wintering area, deer yard, habitat, habitat management, mixedwood, Odocoileus, winter, yard

Transience of deer wintering areas

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 1422-1423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold H. Boer
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Aerial Surveys ◽  
West Central ◽  
Wintering Areas ◽  
Wintering Area ◽  
Forest Cutting

Fidelity of white-tailed deer (Odocoileusvirginianus) to wintering areas was examined in west-central New Brunswick. Wintering areas were located and mapped during aerial surveys in 1975 and 1987–1989. Of 99 wintering areas identified in 1975, 42 were unoccupied 13 years later. Small wintering areas (<50 ha) were more likely to be unoccupied in the subsequent survey than larger ones (>100 ha). Forest cutting had a profound effect on transience of wintering areas. Small clearcuts within a wintering area increased the likelihood of deer use. Wintering areas that were completely clear-cut were likely to be abandoned.

scholarly journals Late-winter habitat use by the Fisher, Pekania pennanti (Erxleben, 1777), in the Boreal Plains Ecozone of northwestern Saskatchewan, Canada

2014 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert Proulx
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Larix Laricina ◽  
Forest Stands ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Winter Habitat ◽  
Boreal Plains ◽  
Pekania Pennanti ◽  
Crown Closure

Late-winter habitat use by the Fisher, Pekania pennanti (Erxleben, 1777) in northwestern Saskatchewan was assessed in February 2009, 2011, and 2012. A total of 78 Fisher tracks were recorded over 60 300 m of snowshoe surveys. Fisher tracks were significantly less frequent than expected in Tamarack (Larix laricina [Du Roi] K. Koch) stands with > 40% crown closure and mainly 0–10 m trees (P < 0.05) and in open areas. Fishers used other habitat types equal to availability, including muskeg and coniferous, mixed, and deciduous forest stands. Maintaining mosaics of forest stands of different seral stages interspersed with muskeg would meet the late-winter habitat needs of Fishers in the Boreal Plains Ecozone of northwestern Saskatchewan.

scholarly journals Scaling up ideals to freedom: are densities of red knots across western Europe consistent with ideal free distribution?

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1719) ◽  
pp. 2728-2736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwenaël Quaintenne ◽  
Jan A. van Gils ◽  
Pierrick Bocher ◽  
Anne Dekinga ◽  
Theunis Piersma
Keyword(s):  
Uniform Distribution ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Ideal Free Distribution ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
Free Distribution ◽  
Wintering Areas ◽  
Wintering Area ◽  
Suitable Habitats

Local studies have shown that the distribution of red knots Calidris canutus across intertidal mudflats is consistent with the predictions of an ideal distribution, but not a free distribution. Here, we scale up the study of feeding distributions to their entire wintering area in western Europe. Densities of red knots were compared among seven wintering sites in The Netherlands, UK and France, where the available mollusc food stocks were also measured and from where diets were known. We tested between three different distribution models that respectively assumed (i) a uniform distribution of red knots over all areas, (ii) a uniform distribution across all suitable habitat (based on threshold densities of harvestable mollusc prey), and (iii) an ideal and free distribution (IFD) across all suitable habitats. Red knots were not homogeneously distributed across the different European wintering areas, also not when considering suitable habitats only. Their distribution was best explained by the IFD model, suggesting that the birds are exposed to interference and have good knowledge about their resource landscape at the spatial scale of NW Europe, and that the costs of movement between estuaries, at least when averaged over a whole winter, are negligible.

Winter habitat use by red and roe deer in pine-dominated forest

2008 ◽  
Vol 255 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 468-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Borkowski ◽  
J. Ukalska
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Roe Deer ◽  
Winter Habitat

Bird research in the ACWERN lab at the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick

2008 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 548-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antony W Diamond
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Spatial Effects ◽  
Winter Habitat ◽  
Forested Landscapes ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
Species Specific

Research on forest bird ecology in the ACWERN (Atlantic Cooperative Wildlife Ecology Research Network) lab at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, since 1995 has focused on assessing the relative contributions of habitat quality at large (“landscape”) and small (“local” or “stand”) spatial scales. To do so we had to develop methods for assessing key demographic components of fitness (productivity and survival) at large spatial scales. The large extent of forest cover in the Maritimes contrasts with regions where such work has traditionally been carried out, in which forest is clearly fragmented by agriculture or residential development. Our main findings are that spatial effects in highly forested landscapes can often be detected only by using species-specific habitat models, rather than broader categories such as “mature” or “softwood”, that Blackburnian Warblers (Dendroica fusca) are effective indicators of mixedwood forest but define it differently than forest managers do, and that cavity nesters (e.g., woodpeckers) may require different habitat components for nesting and feeding and so cannot be managed for solely on the basis of providing snags for nesting. Our focus has shifted recently to intensive studies on a species at risk, Bicknell's Thrush (Catharus bicknelli), which in New Brunswick breeds in man-made regenerating softwood forest stands, and assessing its response both to precommercial thinning of the breeding habitat and to effects carrying over from the winter habitat in the Caribbean. Key words: landscape effects, thresholds, survival, productivity, fitness, carry-over, habitat, fragmentation

scholarly journals Variation in winter site fidelity within and among individuals influences movement behavior in a partially migratory ungulate

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0258128
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Fullman ◽  
Brian T. Person ◽  
Alexander K. Prichard ◽  
Lincoln S. Parrett
Keyword(s):  
Site Fidelity ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
First Passage Time ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Movement Behavior ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Directed Movement ◽  
Movement Trajectories ◽  
Wintering Areas ◽  
Wintering Area

Many animals migrate to take advantage of temporal and spatial variability in resources. These benefits are offset with costs like increased energetic expenditure and travel through unfamiliar areas. Differences in the cost-benefit ratio for individuals may lead to partial migration with one portion of a population migrating while another does not. We investigated migration dynamics and winter site fidelity for a long-distance partial migrant, barren ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti) of the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd in northern Alaska. We used GPS telemetry for 76 female caribou over 164 annual movement trajectories to identify timing and location of migration and winter use, proportion of migrants, and fidelity to different herd wintering areas. We found within-individual variation in movement behavior and wintering area use by the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd, adding caribou to the growing list of ungulates that can exhibit migratory plasticity. Using a first passage time–net squared displacement approach, we classified 78.7% of annual movement paths as migration, 11.6% as residency, and 9.8% as another strategy. Timing and distance of migration varied by season and wintering area. Duration of migration was longer for fall migration than for spring, which may relate to the latter featuring more directed movement. Caribou utilized four wintering areas, with multiple areas used each year. This variation occurred not just among different individuals, but state sequence analyses indicated low fidelity of individuals to wintering areas among years. Variability in movement behavior can have fitness consequences. As caribou face the pressures of a rapidly warming Arctic and ongoing human development and activities, further research is needed to investigate what factors influence this diversity of behaviors in Alaska and across the circumpolar Arctic.

Using Satellite Telemetry to Identify Long-billed Curlew Winter Habitat Use in the Southeastern Corner of the Chihuahuan Desert (Mexico)

2015 ◽  
Vol 174 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Olalla Kerstupp ◽  
Gabriel Ruiz Aymá ◽  
José I. González Rojas ◽  
Antonio Guzmán Velasco
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Chihuahuan Desert ◽  
Satellite Telemetry ◽  
Winter Habitat

scholarly journals Habitat use by mountain nyala Tragelaphus buxtoni determined using stem bite diameters at point of browse, bite rates, and time budgets in the Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 707-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon A. Tadesse ◽  
Burt P. Kotler
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
National Park ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Time Budgets ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Wildlife Species ◽  
Focal Animal ◽  
Northern Edge ◽  
Browse Species ◽  
Invasive Techniques

Abstract We studied the habitat use of mountain nyala Tragelaphus buxtoni in the northern edge of the Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia. The aims of this study were to: (1) measure and quantify habitat-specific stem bite diameters of mountain nyala foraging on common natural plant species in two major habitat types (i.e. grasslands versus woodlands), and (2) quantify the bite rates (number of bites per minute) and the activity time budgets of mountain nyala as functions of habitat type and sex-age category. We randomly laid out three transects in each habitat type. Following each transect, through focal animal observations, we assessed and quantified stem diameters at point of browse (dpb), bite rates, and time budgets of mountain nyala in grasslands versus woodlands. Stem dpb provide a measure of natural giving-up densities (GUDs) and can be used to assess foraging costs and efficiencies, with greater stem dpb corresponding to lower costs and greater efficiencies. The results showed that stem dpb, bite rates, induced vigilance, and proportion of time spent in feeding differed between habitats. In particular, mountain nyala had greater stem dpb, higher bite rates, and spent a greater proportion of their time in feeding and less in induced vigilance in the grasslands. In addition, adult females had the highest bite rates, and the browse species Solanum marginatum had the greatest stem dpb. Generally, grasslands provide the mountain nyala with several advantages over the woodlands, including offering lower foraging costs, greater safety, and more time for foraging. The study advocates how behavioural indicators and natural GUDs are used to examine the habitat use of the endangered mountain nyala through applying non-invasive techniques. We conclude that the resulting measures are helpful for guiding conservation and management efforts and could be applicable to a number of endangered wildlife species including the mountain nyala.

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