Title
Impacts of land-use management on small mammals in the Adirondack Park, New York
Author(s)
Glennon, M.J.; Porter, W.F.
Published
2007
Publisher
Northeastern Naturalist
Abstract
We examined the response of small-mammal communities to human disturbance along a gradient from wilderness to managed forest to rural residential development in the Adirondack Park of northern New York. Our objectives were to determine if small-mammal community composition and structure differed among sites along a gradient of human impact and to relate changes in small-mammal community composition to habitat changes along the gradient. We sampled small mammals with track tubes on 10 replicates each of old growth, managed forest, and areas of residential development in the central Adirondacks. We estimated differences in species composition, abundance, diversity, evenness, and community structure, and identified habitat variables associated with differences in these measures. We used canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) to examine the relationship between patterns in small-mammal community composition and sampled habitat variables. Some small-mammal species demonstrated a numerical response to increasing human impact on the landscape, with abundance of total small mammals, eastern chipmunk, and Sorex species highest in old growth and declining in managed forests and areas of residential development. Differences among management types were reflected more strongly in total abundance and community structure than through indices of richness and diversity, which did not differ among management types. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that 32% of the variability in the small-mammal community could be explained by habitat characteristics and that variables describing availability of coarse woody debris, as well as presence of shrubs in the understory, may create conditions favorable to many small-mammal species in these habitats.
Keywords
Mammalia; Sorex; Tamias striatus; CANONICAL CORRESPONDENCE-ANALYSIS; NORTHERN FLYING SQUIRREL; COARSE WOODY DEBRIS; OLD-GROWTH FORESTS; COTTAGE DEVELOPMENT; SPECIES-DIVERSITY; BIRD COMMUNITIES; GRAY SQUIRRELS; MOUNTAIN WEST; POPULATIONS

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PUB12083