Small mammal habitat associations in poletimber and sawtimber stands of four forest cover types

Abstract

Small mammal distribution was examined in poletimber and sawtimber stands of four forest cover types in northern New England: northern hardwoods, red maple, balsam fir, and red spruce-balsam fir. During 1980 and 1981, eight stands on the White Mountain National Forest, NH, were sampled with four trap types (three sizes of snap traps and one pit-fall) for 16 000 trap-nights. Trapping was conducted during four 5-day periods in June and July. A total of 1206 individuals of seven species — Blarina brevicauda (short-tailed shrew), Sorex cinereus (masked shrew), Sorex fumeus (smokey shrew), Sorex hoyi (pygmy shrew), Clethrionomys gapperi (boreal red-backed vole), Peromyscus maniculatus (deer mouse), and Napaeozapus insignis (woodland jumping mouse) — were captured. Blarina brevicauda, S. fumeus, and N. insignis were more abundant in hardwoods ( P > 0.001). Only P. maniculatus was more numerous in softwoods ( P < 0.05). S. cinereus was more abundant in fir than in spruce-fir stands ( P < 0.001) and S. hoyi and C. gapperi did not occur differentially among habitat types. Possible causes of these relationships are the lower tree density and basal area and the greater amount of ground cover in hardwoods than in softwoods. Abundances of these seven species were typical, except that S. hoyi was notably more common than previously documented.