Research toward the management of ruffed grouse in conifer forest

针叶林松鸡管理研究

• 批准号: 321448-2005
• 负责人: Keppie, Daniel
• 金额: $ 1.68万
• 依托单位: University of New Brunswick
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2006-01-01 至 2007-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=325155
• 关键词: Research; toward; management; ruffed; grouse

Over the long term, this research will enable managers to purposefully enhance the use of forest by ruffed grouse in a generally conifer forest region.  Ruffed grouse have been studied much in the deciduous forests of the United States but are also a popular species even in the northern conifer forests across Canada where they are widely distributed yet at relatively low densities. Contemporary forest management is putting at risk the immature, disturbance-dependent community types and the animal species dependent upon them, including ruffed grouse.  Can we purposefully use tree harvest and silviculture techniques to regenerate intolerant deciduous and mixed wood stands usable by ruffed grouse, as part of long-term forest management planning generally geared toward conifer species? In the first phase of this long-term study with J.D. Irving, Limited, in central New Brunswick, we will search for grouse in 4 types of forest patches: those patches with the structural characteristics of sites used by ruffed grouse elsewhere in deciduous forests; young regenerating patches of intolerant deciduous species <12 years old, earlier cut from conifer and mixed wood forest; lowland zones along streams, and young (<30 years) conifer plantations. Sites used by grouse will be measured according to structural characteristics within the stand (their content) and in the stands surrounding the stands used (their context), and the edge and spatial pattern of stands used. These data will then be used for modeling purposes to teach us what we should measure further about grouse use in second round of surveys, and to help us design experimental patch cuts that will be monitored over the long term.  By the end of this grant period we will begin to design a management protocol for enhancing ruffed grouse use of forest patches that can be implemented into a long term conifer and mixed wood management strategy. Because forest management by industry increasingly employs decisions about wood supply over a large spatial scale, the recommendations for interventions for ruffed grouse will need to be put at similar large scales of extent.

从长远来看，这项研究将使管理者能够有目的地提高松鸡对针叶林地区森林的利用。  颈松鸡在美国的落叶林中得到了广泛的研究，但即使在加拿大北部的针叶林中，颈松鸡也是一个受欢迎的物种，它们分布广泛，但密度相对较低。现代森林管理正在将不成熟的、依赖干扰的群落类型和依赖它们的动物物种置于危险之中，包括颈松鸡。  我们是否可以有目的地利用树木采伐和造林技术来再生可供颈松鸡使用的不耐受的落叶林和混合林，作为通常针对针叶树物种的长期森林管理规划的一部分？在与 J.D. Irving, Limited 合作的这项位于新不伦瑞克省中部的长期研究的第一阶段中，我们将在 4 种类型的森林斑块中寻找松鸡：这些斑块具有落叶林中其他地方的颈松鸡所使用的地点的结构特征； 12岁以下的不耐受落叶树种的年轻再生斑块，较早从针叶树和混交林中砍伐；溪流沿岸的低地地区和年轻（<30 年）的针叶树种植园。松鸡使用的场地将根据看台内的结构特征（其内容）和所用看台周围的看台（其环境）以及所用看台的边缘和空间格局进行测量。然后，这些数据将用于建模目的，以指导我们在第二轮调查中进一步衡量松鸡使用情况，并帮助我们设计将进行长期监测的实验性斑块切割。  到本拨款期结束时，我们将开始设计一项管理协议，以加强颈松鸡对森林斑块的利用，该协议可以实施到长期针叶树和混合木材管理战略中。由于工业森林管理越来越多地采用有关大空间范围内木材供应的决策，因此对颈松鸡的干预措施的建议也需要在类似的大范围内提出。