Facilitating multi-plot trials to quantify habitat alteration on vertebrate bioindicators: snowmobile and ATV

这份申请概述了需要购置一辆带设备车的双座全地形车和一辆双座宽履带雪地摩托，用于研究栖息地改变对水獭、山雀、驼鹿和鹿的影响。这项工作是在不列颠哥伦比亚省圣詹姆斯堡的约翰·普林斯研究森林（JPRF）进行的，这是一个13,000公顷的工作森林，由UNBC和Tl'atzt'en第一民族共同管理，以实现可持续伐木。JPRF的资金来自伐木收入，并获得了一个渔场，作为一个位于中心位置的野外观测站。研究森林包含大量的森林类型和林龄，用于测试资源管理与一些生物指示野生动物物种的生态之间的相互作用。这项综合工作的目标是确定人类活动对一系列脊椎动物的生活史和生态的相对影响。通过了解资源开采对当地物种的影响，我们可以更好地完善土地管理措施，实现生态可持续性。我们的工作需要前往整个研究森林的地块，其中一些可以通过该地区有限的伐木道路进入，但许多只能通过小径或湖上通道进入。在许多情况下，地点之间的距离超过10公里，而且研究需要每天访问多个地点。我们要求在冬季（一辆雪地摩托）和夏季（一辆ATV）可以安全地容纳两名研究人员的全地形车辆。该站现有的类似车辆不足（仅限单人乘用车），且车龄超过10年。这些车辆目前经常发生故障，在过去几年中严重阻碍了我们的研究。所要求的基础设施将用于取代这些车辆，并将在三个不重叠的研究项目之间积极利用，这些研究项目一年超过10个月。

This application outlines the need to acquire one two-seat ATV with equipment wagon and one two-seat, wide-track snowmobile for research on the impact of habitat alteration on river otters, chickadee species, moose and deer.  This work is conducted at the John Prince Research Forest (JPRF), Fort St. James, BC, a 13,000 ha working forest co-managed by UNBC and the Tl'atzt'en First Nation for sustainable logging.   The JPRF is funded through logging revenues, and has acquired a fishing resort to serve as a centrally-located field station.  The research forest contains a large mosaic of forest types and stand ages which are used for testing the interaction between resource management and the ecology of a number of bio-indicator wildlife species. The goal of this combined work is to determine the relative impact of human activities on the life-histories and ecology of a range of vertebrates.  By understanding how resource extraction affects resident species, we can better refine the land-management practices to achieve ecological sustainability.     The work we conduct requires travel to plots throughout the research forest, some of which are accessible by the limited number of logging roads in the region, but many of which are accessible only through trail or over-lake access.  Sites are separated by more than 10km in many circumstances, and the research requires visiting multiple sites per day.  We request all-terrain vehicles that can safely accommodate two researchers each in the winter (one snowmobile) and summer (one ATV).  Similar existing vehicles at the station are inadequate (single-passenger vehicles only) and are greater than 10 years old.  These vehicles are currently subject to frequent breakdown, and have significantly hampered our research in the past several years.  The requested infrastructure would be used to replace these vehicles, and would be actively utilized between three non-overlapping research projects that span more than 10 months of the year.