Information on fisher (Martes pennanti) resource selection in deciduous forests of eastern North America is limited. We studied resting habitat selection in a fisher population that recolonized predominantly deciduous forest in Pennsylvania, USA, during 2006USA, during -2007 We quantified selection by comparing used and randomly selected available sites at 2 spatial scales: the rest structure and at the rest site (area surrounding rest structures). We identified 79 rest structures used by 15 fishers. The most common rest sites were live trees with cavities or broken tops (69%), with black cherry (Prunus serotina), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), and sugar maple (Acer saccharum) accounting for nearly 65% of tree use. Standing dead trees with cavities or broken tops accounted for 17% of rest structures. Ground-level structures (including burrows, rock piles, and root balls) comprised 14% of observations. Trees selected as rest structures were larger in diameter at breast height (55.3 cm AE 14.9 cm) than were trees at the center of random sites (28.8 cm AE 6.8 cm). Relative to random sites, important components of forest surrounding rest structures included structurally complex forest floors (based on coarse woody debris and rocky ground cover), canopy complexity, and diversity of tree condition class. Maintaining resting habitat for fishers in the eastern deciduous forest can be accomplished through management practices that encourage structurally diverse forests, including retention of coarse woody debris, and variation in tree size and condition. Ó 2013 The Wildlife Society.
Fishers (Pekania pennanti) are often associated with the coniferous and mixed forests of the northern United States and central Canada, and their ecology has been studied extensively in portions of their distributional range. Recently, natural range expansion and reintroductions have led to recolonization by fishers to portions of the central Appalachian Mountains, where deciduous forest is the dominant vegetation type. We used noninvasive hair-snare surveys and microsatellite genetic analysis to detect fishers in the central Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania. We used these detections within an occupancy modeling framework to explore habitat patch use by fishers and the forest characteristics and land use features that influenced it. We found that the likelihood of patch use by fishers was related to forests with higher proportions of low-density residential areas. Our results also suggested that lower road densities might be related to higher likelihood of fisher patch use. Fishers in Pennsylvania tolerated some forms of land development. Patch use was not driven by forest type or canopy cover, at least within our deciduous forest-dominated study areas. Future research identifying threshold values at which forest cover and land development affect patch use by fishers in the central Appalachian Mountains will better inform management decisions with respect to sites for future reintroduction of fishers.
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