Spatio-temporal responses of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) to silvicultural treatments in the Northern Rockies, U.S.

Holbrook, Joseph D.; Squires, John R.; Bollenbacher, Barry; Graham, Russ; Olson, Lucretia E.; Hanvey, Gary; Jackson, Scott M.; Lawrence, Rick L.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2018.04.018

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Although lynx sometimes display seasonal changes in resource use or movement patterns between winter and summer (Squires and Oakleaf 2005, Squires et al 2010, Holbrook et al 2018), investigators from Washington and southern British Columbia reported limited shifts in area of occupancy between the seasons based on camera (Scully et al 2018) and global positioning system telemetry data (A. E. Scully, Trent University, unpublished data); thus, we assume that the summer range reflects the winter range. Minor shifts in resource use between seasons is not as much of a concern, given the scale at which we estimated occupancy (40 km 2 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, we were unable to assess the effects of burns on lynx occupancy beyond 20 years because spatially explicit data on both burn extent and severity were not available. Regenerating forests in lynx habitat within the continental United States have been noted to begin providing suitable foraging habitat for lynx around 10–20 years after fire (Ruggiero et al 1994, Agee 2000, Interagency Lynx Biology Team 2013); although, it has been hypothesized in Washington these effects may take up to 35–40 years (Lynx Species Status Assessment Team 2016, Holbrook et al 2018). Regenerating forest stands (30–70 yrs after burn) have been reported to have the highest snowshoe hare densities in other areas of lynx range in the continental United States (Berg et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Will Lynx Lose Their Edge? Canada Lynx Occupancy in Washington

et al. 2020

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Populations of species located at southern range edges may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change as warming temperatures and subsequent changes to ecosystems exceed speciesspecific tolerances. One such species is Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), a cold-adapted mesocarnivore that maintains a large core population in Alaska, USA, and Canada but exists within several peripheral populations in the contiguous United States. Increases in temperature, declines in snow pack, and climateinfluenced increases in fire frequency and intensity, could negatively affect lynx populations, threatening their long-term persistence in the continental United States. Despite these threats, our understanding of broad-scale effects on lynx occupancy and the extent of current lynx distribution in many of these peripheral populations is minimal. We conducted an occupancy survey of lynx in Washington, USA, using a spatially extensive camera-trapping array covering 7,000 km 2 of potential lynx habitat. We used the resulting database of detection data to develop single-season occupancy models to examine the abiotic and biotic effects on current lynx occupancy and predict future lynx distribution based on climate change forecasts. Our results show lynx occupancy across the Washington landscape is restricted and dictated largely by abiotic factors, disturbance regimes, and distance from source populations in Canada. Predictions of future distribution suggest lynx will be increasingly challenged by climatic changes, particularly at the southern and lower elevation portions of their range in Washington. Our results paint an alarming picture for lynx persistence in Washington that is relevant to current deliberations regarding lynx delisting from the Endangered Species Act. Our simple camera design was a highly effective method for surveying lynx across broad spatial scales, and could be a key monitoring tool for lynx that is easy to implement by researchers and government agencies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Will Lynx Lose Their Edge? Canada Lynx Occupancy in Washington

et al. 2020

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“…Although some studies investigated the influence of silvicultural treatments on larger mammals (e.g., lynx in Holbrook et al. ), the effects of different levels of retention harvesting on many mammals and game birds are poorly understood (Vanderwel et al. ) despite their ecological, economic, and cultural values (Muth et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the majority of previous studies on retention harvesting and vertebrates have focused on small forest-floor mammals (mice, voles, shrews; e.g., Gitzen et al 2007), arboreal rodents (Fisher and Bradbury 2006), bats (Patriquin and Barclay 2003), and passerine birds (Le Blanc et al 2010). Although some studies investigated the influence of silvicultural treatments on larger mammals (e.g., lynx in Holbrook et al 2018), the effects of different levels of retention harvesting on many mammals and game birds are poorly understood (Vanderwel et al 2009) despite their ecological, economic, and cultural values (Muth et al 1996). A better understanding of responses to different levels of retention harvesting is needed to assess whether these alternative timber harvesting practices mitigate the negative effects of harvesting on these species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can retention harvests help conserve wildlife? Evidence for vertebrates in the boreal forest

2019

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Retention harvesting, or the approach of leaving live mature trees behind during forest harvest, is used in natural disturbance‐based management to mitigate the effects of logging on biodiversity. However, responses of many boreal vertebrates to variable retention harvesting are unknown. We investigated the influence of different retention levels in forest harvests on stand use by wildlife 15–18 yr post‐harvest using a combination of surveys of wildlife signs (scats, middens) and camera trapping. Site‐level measures of forest structure, including canopy cover, horizontal cover, tree height, tree diameter, basal area, cover of downed coarse woody material, and understory plant cover, were used to describe post‐harvest differences in habitats used by common wildlife species in northwest Alberta's boreal forest. Stand use of six species (black bear, coyote, fisher, red squirrel, wolverine, woodland caribou) increased with level of retention, while stand use of two species (grouse, snowshoe hare) declined with retention level. Retention level did not significantly affect stand use of five species (American marten, Canada lynx, deer, gray wolf, moose). Higher levels of retention characterized by greater canopy cover, basal area, and abundance of deadwood were associated with use of forest habitats by late‐seral species. Woodland caribou, a species of conservation concern, was detected only in harvested stands with at least 20% retention. Greater understory and horizontal cover characterized lower levels of retention being attractive for early‐seral species. These findings demonstrate the value of retention harvesting for conservation of wildlife species in boreal forest, while highlighting the challenge of managing forests for multiple species with different habitat preferences.

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“…Forestry practices may additionally alter microscale habitat conditions such as temperature, light, moisture, soil, and litter status [4]. It follows that any forest management practice, including an absence of direct interventions (e.g., in protected areas), has potential short-and long-term effects on the availability, distribution, and quality of habitats resources for forest-dwelling wildlife species [5]. Because habitat requirements vary deeply among wildlife species, and in accordance with the sequence of seral stages, timber harvest can improve habitat quality for some species while at the same time deteriorating habitat suitability for others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Forest Structural and Topographic Effects on Habitat Productivity for the Endangered Apennine Brown Bear

Rositi¹,

Lasinio²,

Ciucci³

2021

Forests

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Any forest management potentially affects the availability and quality of resources for forest-dwelling wildlife populations, including endangered species. One such species is the Apennine brown bear, a small and unique population living in the central Apennines of Italy. The conservation of this relict bear population is hampered by the lack of knowledge of the fine-scale relationships between productivity of key foods and forest structure, as this prevents the design and implementation of effective forest management plans. To address this issue, we sampled the main structural stand attributes within the bear’s range and used multivariate generalized linear mixed models in a Bayesian framework to relate forest structural attributes to proxies of productivity of key bear foods. We found that hard mast was positively associated with both forest typology and high forest system, but negatively related to both the time elapsed since the last forest utilization and the amount of deadwood. The availability of soft-mast producing species was positively related to past forestry practices but negatively associated with steep slopes historically managed with high tree densities and a low silvicultural disturbance. Our findings also suggest that herb cover was negatively affected by terrain steepness and basal area, while herb productivity was positively affected by northern and southern exposure. Additionally, richness of forest ants was associated with forests characterized by low volume and high density. Our findings confirm that the productivity of natural bear foods is strongly affected by forest structural and topographical characteristics and are relevant as preliminary information for forest management practices to support the long-term conservation of Apennine bears.

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Spatio-temporal responses of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) to silvicultural treatments in the Northern Rockies, U.S.

Cited by 13 publications

References 45 publications

Will Lynx Lose Their Edge? Canada Lynx Occupancy in Washington

Will Lynx Lose Their Edge? Canada Lynx Occupancy in Washington

Can retention harvests help conserve wildlife? Evidence for vertebrates in the boreal forest

Assessing Forest Structural and Topographic Effects on Habitat Productivity for the Endangered Apennine Brown Bear

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