Ottawa National Forest Research Articles

Methods to Improve Survival and Growth of Planted Alternative Species Seedlings in Black Ash Ecosystems Threatened by Emerald Ash Borer

Emerald ash borer (EAB) continues to spread across North America, infesting native ash trees and changing the forested landscape. Black ash wetland forests are severely affected by EAB. As black ash wetland forests provide integral ecosystem services, alternative approaches to maintain forest cover on the landscape are needed. We implemented simulated EAB infestations in depressional black ash wetlands in the Ottawa National Forest in Michigan to mimic the short-term and long-term effects of EAB. These wetlands were planted with 10 alternative tree species in 2013. Based on initial results in the Michigan sites, a riparian corridor in the Superior Municipal Forest in Wisconsin was planted with three alternative tree species in 2015. Results across both locations indicate that silver maple (Acer saccharinum L.), red maple (Acer rubrum L.), American elm (Ulmus americana L.), and northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis L.) are viable alternative species to plant in black ash-dominated wetlands. Additionally, selectively planting on natural or created hummocks resulted in two times greater survival than in adjacent lowland sites, and this suggests that planting should be implemented with microsite selection or creation as a primary control. Regional landowners and forest managers can use these results to help mitigate the canopy and structure losses from EAB and maintain forest cover and hydrologic function in black ash-dominated wetlands after infestation.

Using Track-plate Footprints in Fisher Mark Recapture Population Estimation

Abstract Obtaining accurate estimates of fisher (Martes pennanti) population abundance is challenging to resource management agencies given the large home ranges and low densities at which fisher occur. Current methods for estimating population abundance are expensive in terms of equipment required and hours worked indicating a need for a less labor and equipment intensive method. Track-plate footprinting is a method of individually identifying fisher by the papillae patterns found on the metacarpal pad. We evaluated the technique of track-plate footprinting as a mark-recapture method to estimate population abundance of fisher in the Ottawa National Forest of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We placed covered track-plates using copy toner and a medium of contact paper as a method of obtaining footprints of fisher for individual identification. Over 1548 trap-nights we identified 24 prints from nine different fisher with four individuals being recaptured. Program Mark produced a population estimate of 13 animal...

Noninvasive Hair Sampling and Genetic Tagging of Co‐Distributed Fishers and American Martens

ABSTRACT Estimation of abundance is important for assessing population responses to management actions. Accurate abundance estimates are particularly critical for monitoring temporal variation following reintroductions when the management goal is to attain population sizes capable of sustaining harvest. Numerous reintroductions have taken place in the Great Lakes region of North America, including efforts to restore extirpated fishers (Martes pennanti) and American martens (M. americana). We used a DNA‐based noninvasive hair‐snaring method based on one trap design and trapping ‐grid configuration, and evaluated capture—mark—recapture (CMR) analytical approaches to simultaneously estimate population size for co‐distributed fishers and American martens in a 671‐km2 area of the Ottawa National Forest in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA. We included harvest as a final recapture period to increase probability of recapture and to evaluate potential violations of geographic closure assumptions. We used microsatellite markers to identify target species, eliminate congener species, and provide individual identity for estimation of abundance. Population estimates for fishers and martens on the study area ranged from 35 to 60 and 8 to 28, respectively. Estimators incorporating harvest data resulted in up to a 40% increase in abundance estimates relative to estimators without harvest. We considered population estimates not including harvest data the most appropriate for the study due to timing of sampling and environmental factors, but inclusion of harvested individuals was shown to be useful as a means to detect violations of the assumption of geographic closure. We suggest improvements on future CMR sampling designs for larger landscape scales of relevance to management through incorporation of habitat or historical harvest data. Noninvasive genetic methods that simultaneously estimate the numerical abundance of co‐distributed species can greatly decrease assessment costs relative to traditional methods, and increase resulting demographic and ecological information.

Coarse particulate organic matter transport in low-gradient streams of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

AbstractSmall forested streams typically are dominated by heterotrophic processes and rely on retained allochthonous material, including coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM), to support stream food webs. Within the Ottawa National Forest (ONF), Michigan, 3 small streams of similar size (discharge <130 L/s) were used to measure the retention (e.g., particle travel distance) of various allochthonous particles. Allochthonous CPOM consisted of natural (Ginkgo biloba leaves, white pine needles, and sugar maple sticks) and analog (wood dowels of 3 lengths, paper triangles, and paper rectangles) particles to test if particle type affected travel distance and if analog particles would be a good surrogate for natural particles. Travel distances of the particles were measured monthly from June to November 2003. Physical parameters, such as velocity, depth, wood density and volume, and substrate size, were measured in each reach to determine if instream characteristics affected coarse particle travel distances. ...

Influence of organic matter on invertebrate colonization of sand substrata in a northern Michigan stream

AbstractSand is a common substratum in many streams, especially in lacustrine geologies, but has been less studied as a habitat for invertebrates than other substrata such as gravel and cobble. We hypothesized that benthic organic matter (BOM) content would influence the abundance and community structure of macroinvertebrates in sand habitats. Levels of coarse BOM (no = 0, low = 1%, high = 5% organic matter, as dry mass) were manipulated in 45 colonization chambers (volume = 539 cm3) implanted in a sand-dominated reach of Shane Creek in the Ottawa National Forest, Michigan. Chironomidae, Tipulidae, and Trichoptera were common colonizers of chambers. At the end of the 32-d experiment, invertebrate abundance (F2,12 = 7.5, p = 0.015) and biomass (F2,12 = 8.7, p = 0.010) were significantly higher in chambers with low BOM than with no BOM, but the high-BOM treatment did not differ from the no-BOM treatment. Throughout the experiment, functional feeding groups (FFG) were dominated numerically by gathering colle...

Ecological Responses to Trout Habitat Rehabilitation in a Northern Michigan Stream

Monitoring of stream restoration projects is often limited and success often focuses on a single taxon (e.g., salmonids), even though other aspects of stream structure and function may also respond to restoration activities. The Ottawa National Forest (ONF), Michigan, conducted a site-specific trout habitat improvement to enhance the trout fishery in Cook's Run, a 3rd-order stream that the ONF determined was negatively affected by past logging. Our objectives were to determine if the habitat improvement increased trout abundances and enhanced other ecological variables (overall habitat quality, organic matter retention, seston concentration, periphyton abundance, sediment organic matter content, and macroinvertebrate abundance and diversity) following rehabilitation. The addition of skybooms (underbank cover structures) and k-dams (pool-creating structures) increased the relative abundance of harvestable trout (>25 cm in total length) as intended but not overall trout abundances. Both rehabilitation techniques also increased maximum channel depth and organic matter retention, but only k-dams increased overall habitat quality. Neither approach significantly affected other ecological variables. The modest ecological response to this habitat improvement likely occurred because the system was not severely degraded beforehand, and thus small, local changes in habitat did not measurably affect most physical and ecological variables measured. However, increases in habitat volume and in organic matter retention may enhance stream biota in the long term.

Susceptibility of a Northern Hardwood Forest to Exotic Earthworm Invasion

Abstract: Numerous exotic earthworm species are colonizing northern hardwood forests of North America, where no native earthworms exist. Upon invasion, earthworms have been shown to alter the surface soil environment and plant populations and communities. We sought to identify land‐use factors in the Ottawa National Forest (ONF), Michigan (U.S.A.), that contribute to earthworm invasion in forest dominated by sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) so that the susceptibility to additional colonization could be evaluated. We sampled earthworm communities in Sylvania Wilderness Area, a unique old‐growth hardwood forest, and nonwilderness sites influenced by recreational fishing, recent timber harvesting, or roads. All the nonwilderness sites contained one to five species of exotic earthworms. In contrast, only 50% of wilderness sites contained exotic earthworms, all of a single species. Nonwilderness sites also had thinner litter and duff layers, higher soil C and N content, and higher nitrogen mineralization potentials than Sylvania sites. Two central differences between Sylvania and nonwilderness sites were that all nonwilderness sites were in close contact with roads and had a history of timber harvest, whereas these factors were not present in Sylvania Wilderness Area. Using average rates of colonization, we constructed two geographic information system models to estimate the percentage of sugar maple on the ONF falling within a theoretical 100‐year invasion distance of roads and of second‐growth sugar maple as relative indices of susceptibility to invasion. Both models indicated high susceptibility to invasion, with 91.7% and 98.9% of sugar maple habitat falling within a theoretical 100‐year invasion distance of roads or historical harvests, respectively.

Comparing net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide between an old-growth and mature forest in the upper Midwest, USA

Old-growth forests are often assumed to exhibit no net carbon assimilation over time periods of several years. This generalization has not been typically supported by the few whole-ecosystem, stand-scale eddy-covariance measurements of carbon dioxide exchange in old-growth forests. An eddy-flux tower installed in a >300-year-old hemlock–hardwood forest near the Sylvania Wilderness, Ottawa National Forest, MI, USA, observed a small annual carbon sink of CO 2 of −72 ± 36 g C m −2 year −1 in 2002 and −147 ± 42 g C m −2 year −1 in 2003. This carbon sink was much smaller than carbon sinks of −438 ± 49 g C m −2 year −1 in 2002 and −490 ± 48 g C m −2 year −1 in 2003 observed by a nearby flux tower in a 70-year-old mature hardwood forest (Willow Creek, WI). The mature forest had vegetation similar to the old-growth site prior to European settlement. Both sites had slightly larger carbon sinks in 2003, which was a drier and cooler year than 2002. However, the difference in sink strength between the two years was smaller than the uncertainty in the results arising from missing and screened data. Both sites also had significant systematic errors due to non-representative fluxes during certain micrometeorological conditions, which required careful screening. The difference in sink strength between the two sites was driven mainly by greater ER at the old-growth site (965 ± 35 g C m −2 year −1 in 2002 and 883 ± 69 g C m −2 year −1 in 2003) compared to the mature site (668 ± 21 g C m −2 year −1 in 2002 and 703 ± 17 g C m −2 year −1 in 2003). GEP was lower at the old-growth site (1037 ± 47 g C m −2 year −1 in 2002 and 1030 ± 41 g C m −2 year −1 in 2003) compared to the mature site (1106 ± 47 g C m −2 year −1 in 2002 and 1192 ± 51 g C m −2 year −1 in 2003), especially in 2003. Observations also suggested that growing season ER had greater interannual variability at the old-growth site. These results imply that old-growth forests in the region may be carbon sinks, though these sinks are smaller than mature forests, mostly likely due to greater ER.

OLD-GROWTH NORTHERN HARDWOOD FORESTS: SPATIAL AUTOCORRELATION AND PATTERNS OF UNDERSTORY VEGETATION

The goal of this research was to examine spatial patterns of forest understory vegetation at a fine resolution for future work on underlying processes. We used a cyclic, two-dimensional sampling design, sampling plants in 2100 quadrats (0.25 m2), placing one 62 × 29.5 m grid within each of four old-growth northern hardwood (Acer saccharum–Betula alleghaniensis) stands. The specific plan used was designed to maximize spatial information and sampling efficiency. The study was done in the Sylvania Wilderness Area, Ottawa National Forest, Upper Michigan, USA. Spatial patterns of ground-layer species vary with the environment, species ecological characteristics, and their interactions. Competition with maple saplings may be a strong determinant of understory spatial patterns of these forests. Based on 95% confidence intervals, spatial analysis showed that most ground-layer species were positively autocorrelated to distances of <2.5 m in stands with high sapling density, while many of these same species were autocorrelated at up to 21 m in stands with low sapling density. Most ground-layer species also had distributions indistinguishable from random at three other resolutions (9.0 × 10.5 m to 9.0 × 31.5 m blocks) in stands with high sapling density, but aggregated distributions in stands with low sapling density. Logistic regression analysis yielded direct and indirect negative correlations between ground-layer species and maple saplings. Plant species temporal guilds were autocorrelated according to the following rank distances: spring ephemerals > evergreen ≥ early summer > late summer > dimorphic. More species were autocorrelated to greater distances on loamy soils than on sandy soils. Plant species dispersal guilds were autocorrelated according to the following rank distances: ballistic ≥ spores ≥ ant > ingested > adhesive. Thus there is a general inverse relationship between autocorrelation distance and migration rates of dispersal guilds. The spatial distribution of microtopography and decayed, coarse woody debris appears to be important for the maintenance of plant diversity and heterogeneity in old-growth stands. Forest managers can help maintain biological diversity by giving preferential management to those species that are rare and, if once locally extirpated, have poor re-colonization ability. This requires maintaining regional landscape diversity, as well as within-stand microhabitats.

Ion cycling in hemlock-northern hardwood forests of the southern Lake Superior region: a preliminary study.

Upland forests of the southern Lake Superior region are diverse and contain a shifting mosaic of eastern hemlock [Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.] and northern hardwood forests dominated by sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.). In this study, we survey the relative effects of management practice (old growth vs. managed), forest cover type (hemlock vs. northern hardwood), and soil great group (Entic Haplorthod vs. Alfic Oxyaquic Fragiorthod) on ion cycling as a precursor to a longer-term, more detailed study. Bulk precipitation, throughfall, and soil leachates at three depths were collected for two growing seasons in eight stands on the Ottawa National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A total of 1210 solutions were analyzed for pH, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Cl, NO3, and SO4. Losses of base cations (Ca, Mg, K) and SO4 from the bottom of the rooting zone generally were greater in old-growth than in managed northern hardwoods on both fragic and nonfragic soils. Leaching losses of base cations and NO3 usually were greater beneath old-growth northern hardwoods than beneath old-growth hemlock on both soil types and for both forest cover types and management practices on fragic than nonfragic soils. Management practice, forest cover type, and soil type all appear to affect ion cycling within these forests. All of the stands featured striking losses of base cations that probably are influenced strongly by NO3 and SO4 in atmospheric deposition.

Effects of Scale on Habitat Selection and Foraging Behavior of Fishers in Winter

Several researchers reported that fishers ( Martes pennanti ) select lowland-conifer habitats, where snowshoe hares ( Lepus americanus ) are abundant, for foraging and resting and therefore, avoid open, upland-hardwood habitats. In the Ottawa National Forest, Upper Peninsula, Michigan, in the 1970s, porcupines ( Erethizon dorsatum ) occurred in open, upland-hardwood habitat that provided fishers with more than on-half of their energy requirements. If fishers select habitat on the basis of location of important prey, they should hunt disproportionately in hardwood habitat. Fishers, however, appeared to recall locations of porcupine dens in winter and traveled directly to dens, thereby minimizing distance traveled in habitat of porcupines. I hypothesized that fishers would avoid upland-hardwood habitat, despite availability of porcupines, because foraging for porcupines is efficient. Tracks of fishers were followed and mapped. Distribution of habitats available near tracks and available in the study area were quantified using random transects on maps of habitat types. Fishers selected habitats on at least two different scales. On the coarser scale, fishers foraged in areas with greater availability of pine habitat and lowland conifers and less upland hardwoods than was available over the entire study area. On a finer scale, within the vicinity where fishers foraged, they selected lowland-conifer forest and avoided open areas, northern-hardwood, aspen-birch and hemlock forests. Fishers selected dense, lowland forests and avoided northern hardwoods for rest sites; selection of habitats for rest sites was stronger than for travel, making this a possible third scale of selection.

Relationships between spruce budworm damage and site factors in spruce-fir-dominated ecosystems of Western Upper Michigan

Damage by the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens), on balsam fir, Abies balsamea (L.) Mill., in local ecosystems (site units) of the Ottawa National Forest (western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S.A.) was studied in relation to site factors. A multi-factor ecological approach was used to distinguish 25 spruce-fir-dominated ecosystems on a variety of different sites, ranging from dry-mesic outwash plains to river floodplains and swamps. Spruce budworm damage on balsam fir appears to be more directly related to site factors (specifically soil type and drainage class) than to stand parameters such as relative dominance or living-plus-dead basal area. Damage on balsam fir was greatest on wetland ecosystems with organic soils and on dryland ecosystems with impeded drainage. The heavy damage on these soils is probably a consequence of shallow rooting habit which predisposes the physiologically mature balsam fir to drought injury, lessened vigor, and a lessened ability to withstand defoliation. Black spruce, Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P., also exhibited heavy damage on sites where it is not well adapted, i.e. somewhat excessively drained dryland ecosystems. An understanding of the site factors and the ecosystem classification provide the basis for predicting where the greatest damage can be expected.

Effects of clearcutting on the vegetation and soil of a sugar maple-dominated ecosystem, western upper Michigan

The effects 50 years after clearcutting on the vegetation and soil of an ecosystem type dominated by sugar maple ( Acer saccharum) were studied at four locations along the boundaries of the Sylvania Recreation Area (Ottawa National Forest) in western Upper Michigan, U.S.A. Commercially clearcut areas along the boundaries of the undisturbed 8500-ha tract enabled study of vegetation and soil in paired cut and uncut plots. Overstories of the clearcut plots exhibit increased stem densities and decreased basal area and stem diameters compared to those of uncut plots. Both the relative density of understory sugar maple and the total density of all understory trees decreased significantly on the clearcut plots. Groups of herbaceous species characteristic of the ground cover of the clearcut plots were identical to those found on the uncut plots. There was no change in (1) thickness, mass, or total nutrient (K +, Mg 2+, Ca 2+) contents of the forest floor, or (2) acidity of the upper horizons of the mineral soil. The exchangeable potassium levels in the upper horizons of the mineral soil decreased significantly, and also there was a decreasing trend in the levels of exchangeable calcium and magnesium.

Effects of clear-cutting on the vegetation and soil of an eastern hemlock dominated ecosystem, western Upper Michigan

The effects of clear-cutting on the vegetation and soil of an ecosystem dominated by eastern hemlock (Tsugacanadensis (L.) Carr.) were studied at four locations along the boundaries of the Sylvania Recreation Area (Ottawa National Forest) in western Upper Michigan, U.S.A. The position of commercially clear-cut areas along the boundaries of the relatively undisturbed 8500-ha tract provided the opportunity to examine the probable effects of clear-cutting after an average of 46 years afterward. Clear-cutting resulted in the virtual elimination of hemlock from the overstory; it was replaced by a mixed forest of red maple (Acerrubrum L.), yellow birch (Betulaalleghaniensis Britt.), sugar maple (Acersaccharum Marsh.), and balsam fir (Abiesbalsamea L.). The ecological species groups characteristic of the ground cover of the uncut plots were not substantially different from the groups now present on the clear-cut plots. The thickness, mass, and nutrient (K+, Mg2+, Ca2+) contents of the forest floor decreased significantly, and the acidity and nutrient contents of the upper mineral soil increased slightly. The replacement of hemlock by hardwoods has slowly decreased the acidity and apparently increased the rate of nutrient cycling. It appears that without major disturbance, such as fire, hemlock is not likely to regain dominance following clear-cutting owing to failure to regenerate naturally.

Climax Forests of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Examination of literature reveals that ecologists are not entirely in agreement concerning the origin and climax characteristics of the pine-hemlock-hardwood forests of the Great Lakes region. Most of these differences may be attributed to lack of information, and, therefore, before they can be harmonized, more facts concerning conditions in various habitats must be collected. This paper attempts to describe and interpret conditions existing in one of the habitat types in the region. It is a by-product of an investigation concerned chiefly with hemlock and is limited to conditions existing on the clay and sandy clay soils in the Ottawa National Forest near the western end of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The hemlock-hardwood forests of this locality are usually designated by foresters as mixed hardwoods; the ecologist calls them the northern hardwood climax or the yellow birch-maple climax; and the layman speaks of them as the virgin hardwoods of the Upper Peninsula. Certainly these forests are not virgin, because they were lumbered 45 or 50 years ago. The forester is surely correct in calling them mixed hardwoods because they consist largely of hardwood species and are so mixed in composition that even present-day forest management requires the indication of predominant 1