Wildlife habitat enhancements for grizzly bears: Survival rates of planted fruiting shrubs in forest harvests
| Autor: | Scott E. Nielsen, Andrew C.R. Braid, Doug Manzer |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences media_common.quotation_subject Grizzly Bears ved/biology.organism_classification_rank.species Growing season Shepherdia canadensis Management Monitoring Policy and Law organization 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Shrub Competition (biology) Vaccinium membranaceum food 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Nature and Landscape Conservation media_common biology Ecology ved/biology Forestry Amelanchier alnifolia 15. Life on land biology.organism_classification food.food organization.mascot Habitat |
| Zdroj: | Forest Ecology and Management. 369:144-154 |
| ISSN: | 0378-1127 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.foreco.2016.03.032 |
| Popis: | Productive grizzly bear foraging habitats are lost as the prevalence of natural forest openings declines. We assessed the effectiveness of using wildlife habitat enhancements to increase food supply for grizzly bears in recent forest harvests by conducting planting trials of containerized shrub seedlings for three important late-season grizzly bear foods (fruiting shrubs): Shepherdia canadensis (Canada buffaloberry), Vaccinium membranaceum (mountain huckleberry), and Amelanchier alnifolia (saskatoon). We monitored seedling survival over two growing seasons and considered the effects of soil nutrient amendments, exclosures, initial seedling condition, and environmental factors (elevation and terrain). A. alnifolia had the highest survival rate, although it may not be as effective in the long term due to being preferred ungulate winter browse. Soil nutrient amendments reduced survival rates of all three species, perhaps due to competition with grasses, whereas exclosures increased survival rates. Survival rates across an elevation gradient for S. canadensis and A. alnifolia were inversely related to local occupancy rates, demonstrating that knowledge of their realized niche space is not consistent with early establishment rates of seedlings. As the amount of natural forest openings declines, wildlife habitat enhancements in disturbed sites with open canopies, including forest harvests, have the potential to locally increase late-season food supply for grizzly bears. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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