Forest Wildlife Research Articles

Community reestablishment and poor body conditions of small mammal assemblages in subtropical afforested ecosystems

Afforestation is one of the high-efficiency practices for the restoration of degraded forest ecosystems and has been increasingly used worldwide. It is crucial to determine the restoration status of wildlife in afforested forests to effectively monitor biodiversity conservation and the self-sustainability of forest ecosystems, as well as to effectively guide the implementation of afforestation projects in the future. China has the largest area of man-made forests around the world, but the effects of the restoration efforts on the faunal diversity in artificial woodlands are unclear. Here, we evaluated the effects of afforestation practices on small mammals in two types of planted forests: Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi, an introduced species) and China Armand pine (Pinus armandii, a native species) plantations, and two reference forests: young- and old-growth forests, at the community, population, and individual levels. The diversity of small mammals did not differ significantly among the four forest types and the population densities of small mammals in two plantations were between the young- and old-growth forests. Collectively, our findings indicated that small mammal assemblages had reestablished in afforested forests. Four body condition indices were measured in the Chinese white-bellied rat (Niviventer confucianus), a predominant species, and differences were found between afforested and reference forests. Chinese white-bellied rats had the lowest body masses and highest endoparasite loads in the Japanese larch planted forest, while body length or carcass mass did not differ among the four forest types. In comparison, study rats had slightly lower body masses and lower endoparasite loads in the China Armand pine planted forest than reference forests. These findings indicated that small mammals inhabiting both types of afforested forests had poor body conditions but these trends were worse in the Japanese larch planted forest, i.e., the introduced species. Given that afforestation is a widespread practice for global forest landscape restoration, we propose two suggestions to guide afforestation efforts and the subsequent management thereof: (1) native species rather than exotic species are preferable for use in afforestation projects, and (2) wildlife diversity in afforested forests should be considered when monitoring the restoration and management of degraded forest ecosystems.

United States Requests Consultations Regarding Peru's Environmental Obligations Under Bilateral Trade Agreement

On January 4, 2019, the United States requested consultations with Peru with respect to its forest governance obligations under the 2007 United States – Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA). The PTPA has an environmental chapter with robust terms that were included largely at the insistence of members of Congress, reflecting concerns that a free trade agreement with Peru could increase the country's export of illegally logged wood to the United States. The request for consultations focused on Peru's decision to relocate its Agency for the Supervision of Forest Resources and Wildlife (OSINFOR) to within Peru's Ministry of Environment—a change that, in the view of the United States, “appears to conflict” with a PTPA obligation that “‘OSINFOR shall be an independent and separate agency.’”

Potential gains from spatially-explicit coordinated planning between two large public ownerships in Minnesota

BackgroundMany forested landscapes throughout the world involve a mix of public forest ownerships. This study explores how coordinated planning between two large public ownerships in Minnesota impact landscape-level trade-offs between timber production and production of core area of older forest (COF) for the region. COF is an important metric for wildlife habitat. Emphasis is on better understanding potential gains from both coordinated planning at the site-level where ownerships share stand boundaries and from coordinated planning at a broader policy level involving assumed values of COF by the public. The study area involves over 300,000 ha, 150,000 analysis units and a 100-year planning horizon.MethodsThe concept of influence zones in modeling spatial interdependencies is described and implemented. The estimated total area of COF is assumed an important landscape metric for forest wildlife habitat condition for each forest planning period. COF has a surrounding buffer protecting it from edge effects. Differences are recognized between COF condition requirements and condition requirements for its surrounding buffer. A spatially-explicit harvest scheduling model is applied in conjunction with moving-windows techniques of GIS to find near-optimal management schedules for the large landscape. Multiple model runs are examined to help better understand both potential gains from coordinated planning and the tradeoffs between timber and COF production.ResultsResults demonstrate the ability to incorporate detailed site-level COF production into management scheduling models for broad, landscape-level planning. For the study area and the assumed COF definitions, substantially larger gains are possible by coordinating COF value assumptions across ownerships, as compared to possible gains from coordinating on-the-ground management activities in areas involving shared stand boundaries. Although a general map of the study area shows a definite intertwining mosaic of ownership by the two large public agencies, a detailed breakdown of influence zone information shows that a low percentage of the land is influenced by both of these ownerships for COF production.ConclusionsThis research helps illuminate potential large gains from coordinated planning at a broad policy level by large public ownerships through coordination of assumed COF values. For the study area, these gains are substantially greater than gains from combined modeling efforts addressing spatial detail and shared stand boundaries or neighborhoods. From a practical standpoint, this is important, as spatial detail adds substantially to model size, making combined analysis a major undertaking. Detailed site-level coordination also presents operational challenges in schedule implementation.

Genetic algorithm-based method for forest type classification using multi-temporal NDVI from Landsat TM imagery

ABSTRACTRemote-sensing technology has been a useful tool for mapping and characterizing forest cover types and species composition, providing valuable information for effective forest management. This study investigates the application of a genetic algorithm (GA)-based approach on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to separate local forest communities at Huntington Wildlife Forest (HWF), located in New York State of the United States, into deciduous, mixed/coniferous and nonforests using Landsat TM imagery. Overall accuracy, producer’s accuracy, user’s accuracy and kappa coefficient of agreement are employed to assess the performance of the proposed method. Its overall effectiveness is supported by the accuracy of 80.41% and kappa coefficient of 0.56, and its capability of separating the forest cover types is endorsed by the class-wise accuracy measures. This method shows advantages in its limited demands for input features, that only multi-temporal NDVI indices are required; and in its simple and efficient mechanism, which refers to threshold optimization and feature selection.

Seasonal dynamics of terrestrial vertebrate abundance between Amazonian flooded and unflooded forests.

The flood pulse is the main factor structuring and differentiating the ecological communities of Amazonian unflooded (terra firme) and seasonally-flooded (várzea) forests as they require unique adaptations to survive the prolonged annual floods. Therefore, várzea and terra firme forests hammer out a spatio-temporal mosaic of resource availability, which may result in landscape scale seasonal movements of terrestrial vertebrates between adjacent forest types. Yet the lateral movements of terrestrial vertebrates between hydrologically distinct neighbouring forest types exhibiting staggered resource availability remains poorly understood, despite the important implications of this spatial dynamic for the ecology and conservation of forest wildlife. We examined the hypothesis of terrestrial fauna seasonal movements between two adjacent forest types at two contiguous sustainable-use forest reserves in Western Brazilian Amazonia. We used camera trapping data on the overall species richness, composition, and abundance of nine major vertebrate trophic guilds to infer on terrestrial vertebrate movements as a function of seasonal changes in floodplain water level. Species richness differed in neighboring terra firme forests between the high-and low-water phases of the flood pulse and terra firme forests were more species rich than várzea forests. There were clear differences in species composition between both forest types and seasons. Generalized Linear Models showed that water level was the main factor explaining aggregate abundance of all species and three trophic guilds. Our results indicate that the persistence of viable populations of large terrestrial vertebrates adjacent to major Amazonian rivers requires large, well-connected forest landscapes encompassing different forest types to ensure large-scale lateral movements by forest wildlife.

Uncontrolled hunting and habitat degradation decimate and extirpate forest hornbills in Ghana, West Africa

Tropical forests are on the front lines of the current global extinction crisis. Species with restricted habitat requirements and slow reproductive rates, such as the spectacular hornbills (Bucerotidae) of the Paleotropics, are particularly vulnerable. We present the first long-term quantitative population assessment of nine forest hornbill species in Ghana, part of the Upper Guinea forest biodiversity hotspot in West Africa. From 1990 to 2009, hornbill encounter rates declined with 32–88% across eight species found in the region. Seven separate surveys between 1990 and 2014 indicated declines in at least six of eight species detected, with large-bodied species hardest hit. Depleted remnant populations of large hornbills mainly persist in two large and relatively well-protected wildlife reserves, Ankasa Resource Reserve and Kakum National Park. Contrastingly, the five largest species of the nine hornbills known to Bia Biosphere Reserve, one of Ghana's few forest wildlife reserves, apparently vanished completely since the 1990s, mainly due to uncontrolled hunting. Similarly, several large hornbills have disappeared from forest reserves where hunting is widespread. We conclude that uncontrolled hunting is the major driver of the recent drastic declines and population extirpations of large hornbills, while reductions in small insectivorous species may be related to extensive fragmentation and habitat disturbances of the Ghanaian forest biome. We call for urgent conservation action to prevent further declines and impending extirpations of forest hornbills and other wildlife in West Africa.

Rethinking forest‐bird habitat management guidelines in the northern Lake States

ABSTRACTBiodiversity challenges require more ecologically based approaches to habitat management of forest wildlife. Although active management is necessary for the conservation of many forest‐dependent wildlife species, some high‐severity (even‐aged) forest management practices could be improved upon with greater consideration of natural disturbance models. Using examples of 3 migratory bird species of conservation priority and for which high‐severity forest management practices are conducted in the northern Lake States (Kirtland's warbler [Setophaga kirtlandii], golden‐winged warbler [Vermivora chrysoptera], American woodcock [Scolopax minor]), I first summarize lessons learned and then illustrates how a more ecological approach to forest‐bird habitat planning and management might work. Published 2018. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Assessing the Forest Cover Changes of Yankari Game Reserve Using Remote Sensing Techniques

This paper aim at assessing the Forest cover changes of Yankari game reserve in Nigeria using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The vegetation of the area consist of Savannah grass land with-developed patches of woodland. The study determine the land cover changes of the area using Land sat 4 imagery for the year 1990 and Land sat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+7) for 2001 and 2011. The imageries were processed and classified using maximum likelihood classifier. The results revealed that there is a drastic decline in the vegetation cover over the period of the study. The percentage changes from forest cover to grassland was 22.93% from 1990-2001, 24.48% from 2001-2011 and 35.52% from 1990-2011.Also forest changes to open space was 18.29%, from 1990-2001, 7.78% from 2001-2011 and 13.64% from 1990-2011.While forest change to agriculture was 0.50% from 1990-2001, 2.15% from 2001-2011 and 2.98% from 1990-2011. An overall accuracy assessment of 71% for Landsat 1990, 65%, and 64% for ETM+ for 2001 and 2011 respectively. The game reserve is facing a threat in the disappearance of its forest cover and wildlife extinction in no distance time. The use remote sensing and GIS approach allowed us to quantify the extent of the forest cover changes in terms of percentages of the area affected, the rate of change as well as the nature of the change in terms of impact on natural vegetation.

Art as a Tool for Wilderness Management: Stewardship and Sense of Place in Misty Fiords National Monument, Alaska

Although the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) manages the nation’s oldest and largest number of federally designated wilderness areas, the agency struggles to articulate the socioecological importance of wilderness to the U.S. people and to develop monitoring protocols to protect wilderness characteristics. Drawing on a long-standing U.S. tradition of using art to inspire conservation and preservation, in 2010 the Alaska Region USFS began partnering with artists to celebrate wilderness and “creat[e] dialogue” about management challenges. As the 2016 “Voice of the Wilderness” artist for Misty Fiords National Monument, I collaborated with backcountry rangers to assess anthropogenic impacts to the wilderness, envision alternatives to current recreational uses, and, mainly, translate the soaring fjords, swirling mist, sea-gray water, lush forest, and abundant wildlife into sketches, photographs, and a hand-drawn map for outreach materials. This article describes Misty Fiords’ unique characteristics, discusses the artist-in-wilderness experience, and explores the premise that art has the power to help people develop a sense of place and nurture a stewardship ethic.

MANAGEMENT PLANNING OF DEMANDING OUTDOOR RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN SISANGAN FOREST PARK (IRAN)

Many ecotourism destinations unfortunately tend to become unsustainable and even self-destructive due to inappropriate environmental assessments. On the other hand, because of the increasing people s willingness to tourism and relaxation, it is necessary to select and introduce new regions for tourism. To do this, the application of relevant criteria can be a profitable method. The purpose of this study is to identify nature-based tourism activities and also site selection for them in Sisangan Forest Park emphasizing plant species diversity protection. A questionnaire method was used in order to recognize demanding activities. The sample size was calculated through Cochran formula. According to this, 140 questionnaires were distributed among tourists in Sisangan Forest Park. The results showed that clouds walking, horse riding, forest hot air ballooning, night walking for seeing wildlife and photography in forest had the highest demand. In this study, the principal sources to identify criteria and indicators of demanding activities were divided into two categories: expert s opinions and the review of other similar researches and literatures. Five main criteria including soil, slope, altitude, canopy coverage percentage and bottom coverage percentage were selected. Afterwards, with the help of Geographical Information System (GIS) abilities, suitable areas for demanding activities were determined. Finally, the maximum and minimum areas were allocated to clouds walking and photography in forest, respectively.

Birdwatching in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil: The Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil, Including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Eds: Robert S.Ridgely, John A.Gwynne, GuyTudor, and MarthaArgelCornell University Press, 2016 Reviewed by Juliana Menger Paper, 432 pp., $35, paperback. ISBN: 978‐1‐5017‐0453‐6

BiotropicaVolume 50, Issue 1 p. 187-187 Book Review Birdwatching in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil: The Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil, Including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Eds: Robert S. Ridgely, John A. Gwynne, Guy Tudor, and Martha Argel Cornell University Press, 2016 Reviewed by Juliana Menger Paper, 432 pp., $35, paperback. ISBN: 978-1-5017-0453-6 First published: 22 December 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12508Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume50, Issue1January 2018Pages 187-187 RelatedInformation

Not dead yet: Beech trees can survive nearly three decades in the aftermath phase of a deadly forest disease complex

Abstract Management efforts often focus on preventing the arrival of destructive insects and pathogens or mitigating damage in forests experiencing heavy mortality. This need for management often abates after the mortality event due to reduced causal agent presence. However, the persistence of causal agents in beech bark disease (BBD)-impacted forests typically results in repeated tree mortality; this cycle has cascading impacts on forest biota and timber regeneration. We analyzed remeasurement data on BBD severity and tree death collected from 1988 to 2016 in disease aftermath stands in the Adirondack Mountains of New York to quantify the survival of BBD-affected trees over time. We found that while BBD severity has a strong influence on the yearly probability of tree survival, affected trees can survive for at least 28 years. However, the probability a tree will survive this long declined with more severe initial disease status regardless of how BBD severity changed over time. These findings could help inform management efforts to ameliorate the indirect impacts of BBD on forest wildlife populations, plant community diversity, and the regeneration of desirable timber species over time. Furthermore, our results underscore the continued need to manage BBD-induced beech mortality and disease-associated agents in aftermath stands.

Meteorological effects on Hg wet deposition in a forested site in the Adirondack region of New York during 2000–2015

An analysis of weekly measurement data of mercury (Hg) wet deposition was conducted for Huntington Wildlife Forest (HWF), a forest ecosystem in Upstate New York and a biological Hg hotspot, during 2000–2015. Annual accumulated Hg wet deposition flux was found to decrease at a rate of −0.13 μg m−2 yr−1 (2% yr−1) (p = 0.09), and volume weighted mean (VWM) Hg precipitation concentrations at −0.14 ng L−1 yr−1 (2.5% yr−1) (p = 0.00). In examining data by season, no trends were identified for the two variables. It was found that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) affected Hg wet deposition predominantly in spring, as did the position of the U.S. East Coast trough in summer, which suggests different dominant mechanisms driving Hg wet deposition in different seasons. The impacts of such large scale circulation processes were facilitated via variations in precipitation amounts. This was manifested in spring 2011 with the strongest positive phase of NAO, resulting in the wettest spring with the largest Hg wet deposition flux, and in summer 2007 with the U.S. East Coast trough positioned the farthest out over the Atlantic Ocean, causing the driest summer with the lowest Hg wet deposition flux of the study period. Extreme precipitation amounts in spring could singularly drive the overall long-term trend in Hg wet deposition whereas in summer other factors could just be as important. Similar mechanisms were thought to control the long term variations of Hg wet deposition and precipitation concentrations in all seasons but summer as indicated in their significant correlation in all but summer. Atmospheric concentrations of gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM) and particulate borne mercury (PBM) at HWF over 2009–2015 hardly exhibited correlations with Hg wet deposition or precipitation concentrations. Chemical transport model simulations strongly supported efficient scavenging of oxidized Hg by precipitation resulting in the lowest concentration of GOM in the warm season despite the supposedly largest GOM production. Our findings suggest that over the long run climate change could play an important role in atmospheric deposition of Hg into ecosystems facilitated by precipitation amounts, which is closely linked to variations in large scale circulation.

Seed production of sugar maple and American beech in northern hardwood forests, New Hampshire, USA

Mast seeding is the synchronous production of large seed crops in plant populations and for many tree species is known to be determined by the interaction between weather cues and internal plant resources. We use a 24-year record of seedfall for sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) and American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) across a northern hardwood forest landscape to quantify their masting patterns and explore the relationship between mast years, resources, and weather cues, particularly the difference between summer temperatures in the two years prior to the seedfall year (ΔT). We found clear evidence of masting in these species, and mast years were often coincident in the two species; masting was best predicted by ΔT or ΔT plus previous-year seedfall. We saw no evidence for correspondence of masting in these trees to precipitation cues. A soil calcium addition modified elevation effects on seed production. Clarification of the controls on mast seeding for these important tree species will aid in predicting such resources as mast for wildlife and maple sugar production in northern hardwood forests.

Lessons from a Community-Based Program to Monitor Forest Vertebrates in the Brazilian Amazon.

A large number of sustainable use reserves recently have been titled in the Brazilian Amazonia. These reserves require public participation in the design and implementation of management and monitoring programs. Species-monitoring programs that engage local stakeholders may be useful for assessing wildlife status over the long term. We collaborated on the development of a participatory program to monitor forest vertebrates in the Piagaçu-Purus Sustainable Development Reserveand to build capacity among the local people. We examined relations between the distance to the nearest human community and sighting rates of each species, and evaluated the program overall. Eighteen wildlife monitors received training in line transect and sign surveys and then conducted surveys along a total of ten transects. Sighting rates of most species in the Piagaçu-Purus Sustainable Development Reserve were higher than those reported in other Amazonian forests. Distance to the human community was not associated with the overall vertebrate sighting rate. Use of the trained monitors was successful in terms of data acquisition and engagement. The involvement of local people promoted discussions about regulation of hunting in the reserve. Implementation of community-based programs to monitor forest wildlife in Amazonian sustainable use reserves may empower local communities and assess the status of wildlife through time.

Conservation and development of local forest resoucres and wildlife through community forestry: a case study from Baghmara community forest, Chitwan

Abstract available on the PDFNOTE: pages 52 and 53 are missing from the PDFBanko Janakari Vol.12(1) 2002: 49-53

Distribution of carabid beetles within wildlife corridors connecting fragmented forests

We identified wildlife corridors as linkages for carabid migration between two fragmented forests. Three wildlife corridors, constructed in 2007 to connect two forests fragmented by a two-lane road in South Korea, were selected. We collected 982 individuals of 13 carabid species from the wildlife corridors and connected forests. Carabid diversity in the forest sites was significantly higher than in the wildlife corridor sites. The number of individuals of carabid beetle species within wildlife corridor sites was significantly correlated with flight capacity of the species. Carabid beetles were concentrated closest to the forest edge, which resulted in a steady decline in carabid richness and number of individuals further away from the edge of the forest fragment to the center of the corridor, because environmental variables in the corridor were not comparable to those of the forest fragments. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that trap sites were clearly divided into forest fragment and wildlife corridor sites. Carabid preference for forest habitat was strongly associated with tree cover, whereas their preference for corridors was correlated with exposed areas and grass cover, respectively. Thus, in forested regions, wildlife corridors with dry grassland or open areas provide a heterogeneous habitat for carabids.

Ecological description of rare species of plants of Cheremskyi nature reserve included in international Red Lists

Purpose. Ecological description of rare species of plants of Cheremskyi nature reserve included in international Red lists and their distribution on territory of the Volyn area as of 2016. Methods. Comparatively-geographical, analytical, generalization, ystematizations, and also cartographic with the use of the computer programs of MapInfo Professional 8,0. Results. On the basis of analysis of the natural preservation network of the Volyn area certainly, that 3 objects of natural reserve fund have a most area on Volyn: Shatsk National Nature Park, National Nature Park “Prypiat – Stokhid” and Kivertsi Nаtional Nature Reserve «Tsuman Virgin Forest» in addition after an area Cheremskyi nature reserve is distinguished natural reserve thati s only on Volyn. It is in these objects of nature reserve fund is most of the species included in International Red Lists. It grows 6 species listed in Annex 1 of the Berne Convention (Aldrovanda vesiculosa L.), (Cypripedium calceolus L.), (Liparis loeselii (L.) Rich.), (Pulsatilla Latifolia Rupr. Pulsatilla), (Thesium ebracteatum Hayne), (Dicranum viride (Sull., Lesq.) Linbd.). Also grows 4 species listed in the IUCN Red List, European Red List: Crataegus ucrainica Pojark), (Cypripedium calceolus L.), (Silene lithuanica Zapal), (Tragopogon ucrainicus Artemcz). Species of plants included in to Annex 1 of the Berne Convention and Red list of the International union of conservancy, widespread as early as 4 landscape wildlife preserves, 1 to the forest wildlife preserve, 3 botanical wildlife preserves, 1 zoological wildlife reserve, and 3 botanical monument of nature, a total in 15 objects of nature reserve fund located throughout the region. Conclusions. Thus, analyzing the state of distribution in the Volyn region of the flora Cheremskyi nature reserve listed in the International Red Lists found that species growing within 15 separate nature protection objects that are not part of other objects of nature reserve fund, but the status and protection of rare form not always corresponds main goal, as the vast majority of them located within the forests where the active economic activity, therefore proposed a number of optimization measures.

Comparing population growth rates between census and recruitment‐mortality models

ABSTRACTIn forested ecosystems, estimating the abundance or trend of most wildlife populations is difficult. Therefore, vital rates are often used to model population change, but validating such models is important. Using data from woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus), we compared estimates of population change (λ) based on vital rate models to λ based on aerial censuses. We modeled λ using Hatter and Bergerud's (1991) recruitment‐mortality (R‐M) equation (λ = survival/[1 − recruitment]). We estimated survival and recruitment from a sample of 317 radio‐collared caribou from 9 subpopulations in British Columbia, Canada. In this ecosystem, woodland caribou have high sightability (>85%) in winter and thus are easy to census compared to most forest wildlife. We found that the R‐M equation overestimated λ compared to census‐based λ across most of the observed range of data (e.g., if R‐M estimated λ of 1.1, census‐based λ was 0.99, and if R‐M was 0.90, census‐based λ was 0.89). We then assessed whether recruitment, survival, a linear model of both parameters, or the R‐M equation best predicted census‐based λ. The R‐M equation explained 60% of the variation in census‐based λ, more than double the next‐best approach (i.e., the simple linear model), even though identical parameters were included. Further, we simulated variability due to the unknown sex (M:F) ratio in the sample, and found that the R‐M equation remained the best predictor of census‐based λ. Although the R‐M equation was the most precise and accurate approach, our results reaffirm that it is important to periodically validate trend estimates based on vital rate models with estimates of absolute abundance, particularly for species of management concern. © 2016 The Wildlife Society.

A review of the role of active remote sensing and data fusion for characterizing forest in wildlife habitat models

<p>Se ha probado que los mapas que muestran explícitamente las relaciones especie-hábitat constituyen herramientas valiosas en aplicaciones de conservación y gestión, incluyendo la evaluación sobre qué especies y de qué forma se pueden ver afectadas por el cambio climático a gran escala, la fragmentación progresiva del hábitat y los usos del suelo a nivel local. Diversos estudios se han centrado en utilizar la teledetección como herramienta que permite caracterizar la vegetación para el análisis de la selección del hábitat y para cartografiar las relaciones con el entorno natural. Uno de los tipos de hábitats más difíciles de caracterizar mediante teledetección son los sistemas forestales verticales y horizontales complejos. Su caracterización es necesaria para estudiar los aspectos determinantes y/o limitantes para las especies. El uso de la teledetección activa mediante sensores LiDAR y RADAR ha suscitado gran interés en el ámbito de la investigación de especies de fauna silvestre en áreas forestales así como su gestión, dado el potencial de esta tecnología para representar características tridimensionales de estos hábitats. El objetivo de este artículo de revisión es analizar las aplicaciones de teledetección activa en los estudios de hábitat de fauna silvestre en zonas forestales a través de búsquedas de palabras claves en la <em>Web of Science</em>. Se presentan las métricas y métodos comúnmente utilizados, los avances recientes en la caracterización de hábitats forestales y se recomiendan líneas futuras de investigación en el área de teledetección que podrían beneficiar estudios sobre fauna silvestre en ámbitos forestales que actualmente o no existen o están infrautilizados. También se destaca el valor potencial de la fusión de datos de sensores activos y pasivos para la representación de múltiples dimensiones y escalas del hábitat forestal. Si bien el uso de la teledetección en estudios de hábitat de fauna silvestre se ha incrementado en los últimos años, la comunicación fluida entre las comunidades científicas relacionadas con la teledetección, la gestión forestal y la ecología es vital para garantizar el uso y comprensión adecuados de los datos, permitiendo un mejor conocimiento de las necesidades de los usuarios.</p><p> </p>