Ungulate Browsing and Foundation Tree Regeneration in Central New England 2010

In the summer of 2010, we initiated a landscape-scale observational study on ungulate habitat use and browsing on foundation tree species (Quercus spp. and Tsuga canadensis) in unlogged forests. Seventy-two forest plots were sampled across several ecoregions in central and western Massachusetts, southern Vermont and New Hampshire and Northern Connecticut. Tree seedlings, overstory characteristics, browsing, pellet piles, and shrub densities were sampled; and site attributes such as mean annual temperature and forest fragmentation were examined.

2010年夏季，我们在未采伐森林中启动了一项针对有蹄类动物（ungulate）生境利用以及建群树种——栎属（Quercus spp.）、加拿大铁杉（Tsuga canadensis）——啃食行为的景观尺度观测研究。研究于马萨诸塞州中西部、佛蒙特州南部、新罕布什尔州以及康涅狄格州北部的多个生态区内布设72个森林样地开展采样工作，采样内容涵盖林木幼苗、林冠层特征、啃食痕迹、粪便堆与灌木密度；同时对样地属性如年平均气温、森林片段化程度进行了调查分析。