Effects of various hardwood forest management practices on small mammals
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Published source details
Swan D., Freedman B. & Dilworth T. (1984) Effects of various hardwood forest management practices on small mammals. The Canadian Field-Naturalist, 98, 362-364.
Published source details Swan D., Freedman B. & Dilworth T. (1984) Effects of various hardwood forest management practices on small mammals. The Canadian Field-Naturalist, 98, 362-364.
Actions
This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
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Use selective harvesting instead of clearcutting Action Link |
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Use selective harvesting instead of clearcutting
A replicated, site comparison study in 1980 of a forest in Nova Scotia, Canada (Swan et al. 1984) found that selectively harvested plots, cut as shelterwood, did not host more small mammals than did clearcut plots. In shelterwood plots, average capture rates (10–31 small mammals/100 trap nights) did not differ significantly from those in clearcuts (12–27 small mammals/100 trap nights). The forest had regrown following fire 80 years previously. Three plots (average 3.6 ha) were clearcut 3–5-years previously and two plots (average 1.9 ha) were shelterwood cut, entailing removing a proportion of harvestable timber. Shelterwood plots had an average tree stem basal area of 9.4 m2/ha (compared to 25.9 m2/ha in adjacent unharvested forest). Small mammals were surveyed using snap traps for four consecutive nights and days, one or twice in each plot in July–August 1980.
(Summarised by: Nick Littlewood)
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