Research toward the management of ruffed grouse in conifer forest

从长远来看，这项研究将使管理者能够有目的地提高皱纹松鸡在一般针叶林地区对森林的利用。皱纹松鸡在美国的落叶森林中得到了大量研究，但即使在加拿大北部的针叶林中也是一个受欢迎的物种，在那里它们分布广泛，但密度相对较低。现代森林管理正在将不成熟的、依赖于干扰的群落类型和依赖它们的动物物种置于危险之中，包括皱纹松鸡。作为通常面向针叶树种的长期森林管理规划的一部分，我们能否有目的地利用树木收获和营林技术来再生皱纹松鸡可用的不耐受的落叶和混交林？在与J.D.Irving，Limited在新不伦瑞克中部进行的这项长期研究的第一阶段，我们将在4种类型的森林斑块中寻找松鸡：那些具有皱纹松鸡在落叶森林中其他地方使用的地点的结构特征的斑块；12年生的不耐受落叶树种的年轻再生斑块，早些时候从针叶林和混交林中砍伐；溪流沿岸的低地地带，以及幼年(&lt；30年)针叶人工林。松鸡所使用的场地将根据林内的结构特征(其内容)和所用林周围的林(其背景)以及所用林的边缘和空间格局来衡量。然后，这些数据将被用于建模目的，以告诉我们在第二轮调查中我们应该进一步衡量松鸡的使用情况，并帮助我们设计将被长期监测的试验性斑块切割。在本授权期结束之前，我们将开始设计一项管理协议，以加强森林斑块的褶皱松鸡，该协议可以实施为长期的针叶树和混交木管理战略。由于工业森林管理越来越多地采用大空间尺度上的木材供应决策，因此对皱纹松鸡的干预建议将需要放在类似的大尺度上。

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.