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Catalog
of Long Term Research Conducted by the Northeastern Research Station
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Catalog #68
| Title: |
Undergrowth Project (Wildlife)
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| Objective: |
1) To manage forest undergrowth for diversity and abundance
of wildlife.
2) To describe undergrowth and small mammal response to overstory
thinning and deer browsing. |
| Year Established: |
1983 |
| Year Completed: |
expected to continue thru 1996 |
| Site Description: |
All plots are located in Franklin and Hampshire Counties MA
where a Forest Service research permit is renewed annually on
Quabbin Reservation. Land is part of Boston's municipal water
supply managed by Metropolitan District Commission. Of the 20
stands, 12 stands are located on Prescott Peninsula inside a
wildlife sanctuary and 8 stands are located in hunted area of
Quabbin Reservation in New Salem, Shutesbury, Pelham and Belchertown
compartments. Deer are 3 to 4 times more abundant in the sanctuary
than outside of it. Land use history, forest management, and
soils are similar inside and outside the sanctuary.
Elevation range 150 to 300 meters.
Location of the stands ranges between 43deg 30min 00 sec by
72deg 19min 45sec (UR), 42deg 22min 30sec. by 72deg 24 min 30
sec(LL) OR 4783500mN by 713500mN(UR), 4694700mN by 719800mE(LL). |
| Statistical Design: |
Live traps: 10 plots per stand in 20 stands.
Per stand, wildlife transects run North to South for 3 km and
have 100 m interval flags placed and observations were made.
Breeding bird transects in 12 stands; 5 listening points 100
m apart.
Cavity nesters transect surveys in 8 stands (4 thinned and 4
unthinned). |
| Likelihood of Locating Study Areas: |
100% |
| Experimental Treatments: |
Forest is uncut, light thin, heavy thin (50% of commercial
volume) on Prescott wildlife protection area and uncut, heavy
thin off-Prescott. Breeding bird surveys were distributed among
the following treated areas: uncut-high deer pop'n, thinned-high
deer pop'n, uncut-low deer pop'n, and thinned-low deer pop'n. |
| Sampling Methods: |
All mark and release trapping was conducted over a two-week
period for each stand during the summer. Methods followed: White,
G. C., D.R. Anderson, K.P. Burnham, and D.L. Otis. 1982. Capture-Recapture
and Removal Methods for Sampling Closed Populations. Los Alamos
National Laboratory, New Mexico. LA-8787-NERP, UC-11. Transects
included the use of a 180-m range finder for deer and a 30-m
range finder for squirrels. |
| Variables and Sampling Frequency: |
Mark and release trapping for small mammals; species, age,
sex, reproduction condition:
summers 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987.
Wildlife observation transects and pellet counts of white-tailed
deer, gray squirrels, and other wildlife, distance and direction
from transect:
autumn 1983-1994.
Breeding bird transects: June 1984-1986.
Cavity nesting bird transects: April-May 1987, 1988. |
| QA/QC Practices: |
Ranges of each variable are visually checked line-by-line
on hardcopies of every data set entered as a computer file.
Temporary employees are always trained in the field by professionals. |
| Data Storage: |
Raw data are in ASCII (sys.dat) files in dBASE III. All cleaned
raw data are on floppies and some on hard drive as permanent
data files (pdf). Hardcopies of all raw data are kept in file
cabinets. Analyses are generated in dBASE and sometimes SAS. |
| Global Change Research Applications: |
Studies of Ecosystem Processes |
| Data Availability: |
each request is reviewed |
| Publications and Reports: |
Brooks, R.T.; Healy, W.M. 1988. Response of small mammal communities
to silvicultural treatments in eastern hardwood forests of WV.
and MA. In: Szaro, R.C., et al., technical Coordinators. Management
of amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals in North America.
Gen. Tech. Rpt. RM-166. Broomall, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 313-318.
DeGraaf, R.M.; Healy, W.M.; Brooks, R.T. 1991. Effects of
thinning and deer browsing on breeding birds in New England
oak woodlands. For. Ecol. management 41: 179-191.
* Healy, W.M.; Brooks, R.T.; Lyons, P.J. 1987. Deer and forests
on Boston's municipal watershed after 50 years as a wildlife
sanctuary. In: Proceedings, Deer, forestry, and agriculture:
interactions and strategies for management; 1987; Warren PA:
Allegheny Soc. Am. For. 3-21. 183p.
Healy, W.M.; Welsh, C.J.E. 1992. Evaluating line transects
to monitor gray squirrel populations. Wildlife Society Bulletin.
20: 83-90.
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| Contact: |
William Healy, USDA Forest Service, Holdsworth Hall, University
of Massachusetts, P.O. Box 34230, Amherst
MA 01003. (413) 545-0357 |
| Cooperation: |
none |
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