Use of mixedwood stands by wintering white-tailed deer in southern New Brunswick

Sabine, Dwayne L.; Forbes, Graham J.; Ballard, Warren B.; Bowman, Jeff; Whitlaw, Heather A.

doi:10.5558/tfc77097-1

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(29 reference statements)

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“…In the regenerated landscape, we found a nonlinear relationship between the probability of intensive use and the basal area in balsam fir, indicating that deer were more likely to use intensively areas of their home range where basal area of balsam fir was intermediate. Northern ungulates have also been reported to select forest stands with intermediate canopy cover; although this was achieved by selecting mixed-wood stands (Sabine et al 2001. Our findings reinforce the influence of fine-scale interspersion of forage and cover, as Anticosti deer reduced foraging costs by selecting for intermediate cover and high forage abundance.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

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Linking alternative food sources to winter habitat selection of herbivores in overbrowsed landscapes

Massé

Côté

2011

J Wildl Manag

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During winter, ungulates in boreal forests must cope with high energetic costs related to locomotion in deep snow and reduced forage abundance and quality. At high density, ungulates face additional constraints, because heavy browsing reduces availability of woody browse, the main source of forage during winter. Under these severe conditions, large herbivores might forage on alternative food sources likely independent of browsing pressure, such as litterfall or windblown trees. We investigated the influence of alternative food sources on winter habitat selection, by studying female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) living in 2 landscapes with contrasted browse abundance, recently logged and regenerated landscapes, in a population at high density and on a large island free of predators. We fitted 21 female whitetailed deer with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars and delineated winter home ranges and core areas. We measured snow conditions in different habitat categories and sampled vegetation in the core areas and in the rest of the home ranges to determine how forage abundance, protective cover, and snow conditions influenced habitat selection within the home range. In both landscapes, deer were less likely to use open habitat categories as snow accumulated on the ground. At a finer scale, deer inhabiting the regenerated landscape intensively used areas where balsam fir cover was intermediate with greater balsam fir browse density than in the rest of the home range. In the recently logged landscape, deer were more likely to be found near edges between clear-cuts and balsam fir stands and in areas where windblown balsam fir trees were present; the latter being the most influential variable. Although balsam fir browse was sparse and mainly out of reach in this landscape, deer increased the use of areas where it was present. Our results offer novel insights into the resource selection processes of northern ungulates, as we showed that access to winter forage, such as woody browse and alternative food sources, depends on climatic conditions and stochastic events, such as abundant compacted snow or windthrows. To compensate for these scarce and unpredictable food supplies, deer selected habitat categories, but mostly areas within those habitat categories, where the likelihood of finding browse, litterfall, and windblown trees was greatest.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…com). We tested for a quadratic effect of basal area and stem density of balsam fir, because large herbivores are known to select forest stands with intermediate cover during winter (Sabine et al 2001). We used multicollinearity diagnostic statistics to verify problematic correlations between explanatory variables.…”

Section: Data Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking alternative food sources to winter habitat selection of herbivores in overbrowsed landscapes

Massé

Côté

2011

J Wildl Manag

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“…Despite numerous studies in mixed-forest habitat, few have identified mixed-forest species (but see Mazur et al, 1998;Robichaud and Villard, 1999;Sabine et al, 2001;Girard et al, 2004). However, there may be no particular habitat feature of mixed forests to which species are adapted that does not exist in either pure deciduous or conifer forest; mixed forest may represent a forest type in which generalists can exist alongside deciduous-and conifer-associated species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%