Distribution and Relative Abundance of Small and Medium-sized Carnivores in Mature and Successional Forests in Hueston Woods State Park, SW Ohio

This study seeks to understand the habitat use of small to medium-sized carnivores and their prey in Hueston Woods State Park, Southwest Ohio by comparing their photographic encounter rate from remotely triggered cameras set in successional and mature forests. All small to medium-sized carnivores thought to occur in the study area will be targeted for study, including Canis latrans (coyotes); Vulpes vulpes (red fox); Urocyon cinereoargenteus (gray fox); Procyon lotor (raccoon); Taxidea taxus (American badger) and Mephitis mephitis (striped skunk). Previous studies have shown that sympatric species tend to show differing activity patterns and habitat use (Chen et al. 2009), an assumption that will be tested within the old-growth and successional forests of Hueston Woods. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) have not been officially documented in Southwestern Ohio for over 100 years, but there have been several recent reports of sightings by visitors in Hueston Woods. Determining the presence-absence of this species is an additional research goal of this project. Physical conditions, management history, old-field succession and disturbance combine to create a unique set of conditions at each sample site. Simple linear regression will be used to test for correlations between vegetation structure and photographic capture of small to medium carnivores and their prey.

本研究旨在通过对比布设于俄亥俄州西南部休斯顿·伍兹州立公园（Hueston Woods State Park）内演替林（successional forests）与成熟林（mature forests）中的远程触发相机（remotely triggered cameras）所记录的拍摄遭遇率，解析中小型食肉动物及其猎物的生境利用模式。本研究将针对研究区域内已知存在的所有中小型食肉动物展开调查，包括郊狼（Canis latrans）、赤狐（Vulpes vulpes）、灰狐（Urocyon cinereoargenteus）、浣熊（Procyon lotor）、美洲獾（Taxidea taxus）以及条纹臭鼬（Mephitis mephitis）。既往研究表明，同域物种（sympatric species）往往呈现出不同的活动模式与生境利用特征（Chen等，2009），本研究将在休斯顿·伍兹的老龄林（old-growth forests）与演替林环境中验证这一假设。短尾猫（Lynx rufus）已有百余年未在俄亥俄州西南部被正式记录，但近期有多名游客报告在休斯顿·伍兹内目击该物种。确定该物种的有无分布为本项目的附加研究目标。各采样点的物理环境、管理历史、农田演替过程与干扰因素共同塑造了独特的生境条件。本研究将采用简单线性回归（simple linear regression）检验植被结构与中小型食肉动物及其猎物的拍摄捕获率之间的相关性。