Study

Woody debris, voles, and trees: Influence of habitat structures (piles and windrows) on long-tailed vole populations and feeding damage

  • Published source details Sullivan T.P. & Sullivan D.S. (2012) Woody debris, voles, and trees: Influence of habitat structures (piles and windrows) on long-tailed vole populations and feeding damage. Forest Ecology and Management, 263, 189-198.

Actions

This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

Action Category

Gather coarse woody debris into piles after felling

Action Link
Terrestrial Mammal Conservation
  1. Gather coarse woody debris into piles after felling

    A randomized, replicated, controlled study in 2006–2009, of a lodgepole pine Pinus contorta-dominated forest in British Colombia, Canada (Sullivan & Sullivan 2012) found that gathering coarse woody debris from tree harvest waste into piles resulted in higher counts of San Bernardino long-tailed voles Microtus longicaudus than where debris was uniformly dispersed. There were more voles in plots where woody debris was gathered into piles at single points (9 voles/ha) or piles comprising rows of debris (7 voles/ha) than in plots where it was dispersed evenly (1 vole/ha). Within plots where woody debris was gathered in piles, more were caught within the piles (11–16 voles/ha) than on open ground (3 voles/ha). Plots were largely clearfelled in October 2006. Course woody debris was gathered into piles or uniformly dispersed. There were three replicate plots of each treatment, 0.2–3.0 km apart. Voles were sampled over two nights, at 4-week intervals, in May–October of 2007, 2008, and 2009, using Longworth live traps in a grid of 49 points across 1 ha in each plot.

    (Summarised by: Nick Littlewood)

Output references
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