Forest Management Commons^™

Effects Of Large Wood Additions On Basal Resources, Macroinvertebrates, And Ecosystem Processes In The Narraguagus River, Maine, Val Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ecological restoration is an increasingly common practice across ecosystems, and current practices aim to restore the biological and physical processes underlying ecosystem function, often for the sake of endangered higher-level consumers. Studies of restoration outcomes often report few or inconsistent ecological changes, and monitoring of restoration projects rarely measures ecological processes. Monitoring also usually measures outcomes at a single scale, despite the prevalence of scale- dependent phenomena across ecosystems. My thesis uses measurements of ecological processes to assess restoration response and evaluates responses across multiple scales. I focus here on a long-term large wood addition project on the Narraguagus River …

Spatiotemporal Factors Affecting The Occupancy And Phenology Of A Declining Songbird (Bachman's Sparrow - Peucaea Aestivalis) At The Western Extent Of Its Range, Liam G. Wolff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Bachman’s Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis) is a declining songbird that occurs throughout the southeastern United States. Bachman’s Sparrow is a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Texas, but information crucial to management efforts, such as factors affecting their detectability and occupancy, is lacking. I investigated the predictors of Bachman’s Sparrow occupancy and phenology in Texas using detections from autonomous recording units coupled with site characteristics and weather data. My results indicate that Bachman’s Sparrow occupancy is associated with increasing herbaceous ground cover and decreasing basal area, distance to the nearest source population, and basal area when canopy height …

Associations Between Avian Spruce-Fir Species, Harvest Treatments, Vegetation, And Edges, Brian W. Rolek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Habitat loss is the primary cause of species loss and declines of global biodiversity. Several birds associated with the spruce-fir forest type (hereafter spruce-fir birds) have declining populations across the continent in the Atlantic Northern Forest, and the extent of coniferous forest has declined in some areas. This region is extensively and intensively managed for timber products.

To investigate the influence from harvest treatments on the spruce-fir bird assemblage during the breeding and post-breeding period in lowland conifer and mixed-wood forests, we used avian point count detection data to test for associations between avian assemblages and seven common harvest treatments. …

Big Data For Small Parks: Examining Regional Vegetation Patterns To Assess The Current Condition And Vulnerability Of Eastern National Parks To Climate Change, Kathryn M. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States National Park Service mission is to preserve natural and cultural resources unimpaired for future generations. Given climate change, the paradigm of restoring natural resources to their pre-European settlement condition is no longer appropriate or achievable management. Instead, we must promote resilience and plan for adaptation. This approach poses many challenges, including knowledge gaps about the current condition of park ecosystems including wetlands, and lack of information about the matrix surrounding parks, which will strongly influence park ecosystem response to climate change. My dissertation research focused on filling these knowledge gaps to provide much needed information to managers …

Seasonal Influences On Habitat Use By Snowshoe Hares: Implications For Canada Lynx In Northern Maine, Sheryn J. Olson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) respond to seasonal changes in vegetation in the northern and western portions of their range. During winter, hares use dense conifer stands that may provide thermal and predatory refugia, then during summer move to areas with more herbaceous food and cover. These movements influence hare demographics, with greater survival rates corresponding to seasonal use of dense, primarily coniferous stands. Different harvesting practices in commercial forests produce vegetative communities that may support differing hare densities among forest stand- types between seasons, but seasonal use of habitat had not been documented in northern Maine on a large spatial …

Influence Of Silvicultural Treatment, Site Characteristics, And Land Use History On Native And Nonnative Forest Understory Plant Composition On The Penobscot Experimental Forest In Maine, Elizabeth Bryce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates forest understory plant diversity and composition in managed and unmanaged stands within the context of a long-term silvicultural experiment in the Acadian Forest of Maine. I examined the effects of silvicultural intensity and past land use on understory plant species diversity and composition. Silvicultural treatments include three variants of the selection system, three variants of the shelterwood system, modified and fixed diameter-limit cutting, and an unregulated harvest. Two types of unmanaged stands were studied: a continuously forested natural area and secondary forest stands on old fields. Chapter 1 presents analysis of understory plant diversity and composition in …

The Effects Of Forest Practices On A Maine Amphibian Community, David A. Patrick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Changes in forest habitat have been linked to global declines in amphibian populations, but little research has been conducted into the mechanisms causing these declines. This study evaluated the effects of changes in forest habitat on the spatial distribution of a Maine amphibian community, focusing on juvenile wood frogs, Rana sylvatica. Juvenile wood frogs emerging from artificial ponds did not orient towards preferred habitat and a significant number of animals maintained the same directionality documented at the site from which larval individuals were collected. Abundance and habitat use differed among adults of 9 species of amphibians in a replicated …

Ecological Relationships Among Partial Harvesting, Vegetation, Snowshoe Hares, And Canada Lynx In Maine, Laura Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the ecological factors affecting habitat use by the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) and its primary prey, the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), could help formulate conservation strategies for this carnivore, which is federally listed as threatened and occurs in only four regions of the U.S.A. I measured vegetation characteristics and snowshoe hare densities in 15 regenerating conifer clearcuts and 21 partially harvested stands in northern Maine during the leaf-off seasons, 2005 and 2006; and the leaf-on season, 2005. Regenerating clearcut stands had been harvested between 1974 and 1985 and were subsequently treated with an aerial application …

Effects Of Precommercial Thinning On Snowshoe Hares, Small Mammals, And Forest Structure In Northern Maine, Jessica A. Homyack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The extent of precommercial thinning (PCT) to manipulate stand density in overstocked, regenerating stands and to accelerate growth, yield, and the rate of development of crop trees has been increasing within the Acadian forest of northeastern North America. Although the silvicultural responses of crop trees to thinning are well studied, few studies have evaluated the effects of PCT on forest-dependent wildlife and their habitat. I investigated the effects of PCT and stand succession on snowshoe hares, small mammals, and forest structure on 38 stands (25 treated with PCT, 13 unthinned stands) from 1 to 16 years post-treatment within 7 townships …