Human land-use effects on mammalian mesopredator occupancy of a northeastern Connecticut landscape

Mammalian mesopredators—mid-sized carnivores—are ecologically, economically and socially important. With their adaptability to a variety of habitats and diets, loss of apex predators and forest regrowth, many of these species are increasing in number throughout the northeastern USA. However, currently the region is seeing extensive landscape alterations, with an increase in residential and industrial development especially at the expense of existing forest and small-scale farmland. We sought to understand how important an existing mosaic of working lands (timberland and farmland) in a forested landscape is to mesopredator species. We did this through studying mesopredator occupancy across three land uses (or habitat types): forest reserve (protected), timber harvest (shelterwood cuts) and field (both crop yielding and fallow) in and around a 3200-ha forest in northeastern Connecticut. We examined coyote (Canis latrans), bobcat (Lynx rufus), fisher (Pekania pennanti), and raccoon (Procyo...

哺乳类中型肉食动物（mesopredator）——即中等体型食肉目动物——在生态、经济与社会层面均具有重要价值。得益于对多样栖息地与食性的适应性，叠加顶级捕食者种群衰减与森林自然恢复过程，美国东北部多数此类物种种群数量呈上升态势。然而当前该区域正经历大规模景观格局重塑，住宅与工业开发规模持续扩张，尤以侵占原生森林与小型农田为代价。本研究旨在探明森林景观中现存的生产性用地（用材林与农田）镶嵌格局对中型肉食哺乳动物的重要性。为此，我们在康涅狄格州东北部一片3200公顷的森林及其周边区域，针对三类土地利用类型（或栖息地类型）：保护林（受保护区域）、渐伐作业区（遮荫伐区）与农田（涵盖耕作农田与休耕地），开展中型肉食哺乳动物的占据率调查。本次研究对象包括郊狼（Canis latrans）、短尾猫（Lynx rufus）、渔貂（Pekania pennanti）以及浣熊（Procyo...）