Long-term responses of ecosystem components to stand thinning in young lodgepole pine forest. IV. Relative habitat use by mammalian herbivores

Published source details Sullivan T.P., Sullivan D.S., Lindgren P.M.F. & Ransome D.B. (2007) Long-term responses of ecosystem components to stand thinning in young lodgepole pine forest. IV. Relative habitat use by mammalian herbivores. Forest Ecology and Management, 240, 32-41.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Thin trees within forest Action Link

Thin trees within forest

A randomized, replicated, controlled study in 2000–2004 of five second-growth lodgepole pine Pinus contorta forests in British Colombia, Canada (Sullivan et al. 2007) found that in thinned stands, the abundances of snowshoe hare Lepus americanus, mule deer Odocoileus hemionus and moose Alces alces were not greater than in unthinned stands. Faecal pellet counts for snowshoe hares were not significantly different between low-density thinned plots (70,000 pellets/ha), medium-density thinned plots (60,000 pellets/ha), high-density thinned plots (38,000 pellets/ha) or unthinned plots (13,000 pellets/ha). Similarly, despite large count variations, no significant differences between treatments were detected for mule deer (low: 259 pellet clumps/ha; medium: 79; high: 33; unthinned: 13) or moose (low: 365 pellet clumps/ha; medium: 133; high: 188; unthinned: 93). In each of three areas, four stands (17–27 years old) were studied. One stand each was thinned to low (approximately 500 stems/ha), medium (1,000 stems/ha) and high (2,000 stems/ha) tree density in 1988–1989. One was unthinned (4,700–6,000 stems/ha at time of thinning). Treatments were assigned randomly within study areas. Mammal faecal pellets and clumps were surveyed in one hundred 5-m² plots in each stand. Plots were cleared of pellets in early October 2000. Pellets were counted in spring 2004.

(Summarised by: Nick Littlewood)