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An appraisal of the fitness consequences of forest disturbance for wildlife using habitat selection theory

  • Behavioral ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Isodar theory can help to unveil the fitness consequences of habitat disturbance for wildlife through an evaluation of adaptive habitat selection using patterns of animal abundance in adjacent habitats. By incorporating measures of disturbance intensity or variations in resource availability into fitness-density functions, we can evaluate the functional form of isodars expected under different disturbance-fitness relationships. Using this framework, we investigated how a gradient of forest harvesting disturbance and differences in resource availability influenced habitat quality for snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) and red-backed voles (Myodes gapperi) using pairs of logged and uncut boreal forest. Isodars for both species had positive intercepts, indicating reductions to maximum potential fitness in logged stands. Habitat selection by hares depended on both conspecific density and differences in canopy cover between harvested and uncut stands. Fitness-density curves for hares in logged stands were predicted to shift from diverging to converging with those in uncut forest across a gradient of high to low disturbance intensity. Selection for uncut forests thus became less pronounced with increasing population size at low levels of logging disturbance. Voles responded to differences in moss cover between habitats which reflected moisture availability. Lower moss cover in harvested stands either reduced maximum potential fitness or increased the relative rate of decline in fitness with density. Differences in vole densities between harvested and uncut stands were predicted, however, to diminish as populations increased. Our findings underscore the importance of accounting for density-dependent behaviors when evaluating how changing habitat conditions influence animal distribution.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the NSERC-Laval University industrial research chair in silviculture and wildlife and its partners. We gratefully acknowledge the many field assistants whose dedicated efforts made this work possible including: K. Hammelin, J.-F. Poulin, J. Tremblay, M.-A. Larose, E. Renaud-Roy, V. Hébert-Gentille, M. White, S. Lavoie, K. Poitras, A. Beaulieu-Lemieux, P. Etcheverry, G., Gingras, F. Lesmerises, R. Roy, M. Skelling and É. Vachon-Hamel.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de Biologie, Université Laval, Ste-Foy, Québec, G1V 0A6, Canada

    James Hodson, Daniel Fortin & Mélanie-Louise LeBlanc

  2. Département des Sciences du Bois et de la Forêt, Université Laval, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Louis Bélanger

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  1. James Hodson
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  2. Daniel Fortin
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  3. Mélanie-Louise LeBlanc
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  4. Louis Bélanger
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Correspondence to James Hodson.

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Communicated by Peter Banks.

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Hodson, J., Fortin, D., LeBlanc, ML. et al. An appraisal of the fitness consequences of forest disturbance for wildlife using habitat selection theory. Oecologia 164, 73–86 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-010-1691-4

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