PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #15: Ecosystem Ecology. Presiding: J. Jenkins.
Monday, August 6, 2001. 1:00 PM to 4:45 PM. Hall of Ideas F.
Effects of selective logging on terrestrial mammal and arthropod communities.
SIMARD, JENNIFER1, FRYXELL, JOHN1, 1
ABSTRACT- A goal of selective logging is to provide an adequate seed crop to facilitate natural forest regeneration. To test this hypothesis, we contrasted the abundance of seeds, deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), and terrestrial arthropods from eight replicate stands of "old" (~90yrs since logged) and "young" (~30yrs since logged) forests in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario. Stands were of similar size and were dominated by Acer saccharum. Old stands produced significantly greater density of seeds/m2 and contained more P. maniculatus . The ratio of seeds predated to seed output was similar between young and old stands, suggesting that seed predation by P. maniculatus was proportional to seed availability. Exclosure of small mammals had no detectable effect on arthropod abundance whereas terrestrial arthropod distributions from the old and young stands exhibited significantly different patterns. Old stand populations showed a two-fold increase in both abundance and diversity over the course of the growing season whereas the abundance and diversity of arthropods from young forests was relatively lower and more constant. These results suggest that selective logging reduced seed production with consequent effects on the forest community structure and dynamics.
KEY WORDS: selective logging, seed production, Peromyscus maniculatus, arthropods