As part of the Forest Stewardship Program, an interesting wildlife biologist gave us a presentation on wildlife ecology and forest habitat. Quite an interconnected web out there! Forest succession affecting water supply affecting small game affecting large predators affecting food sources affecting what plants get eaten affecting…

Some important concepts in wildlife ecology and forest habitats include:

  • Wildlife carrying capacity of an area, dependent upon resources and environment
  • Limiting factors of food, water, and cover
  • Structural diversity in vertical plant communities and horizontal land features
  • Snags and cavity trees; nest boxes
  • Large organic debris
  • Edge effects between different habitats (such as forest to meadow)
  • Forest fragmentation from forests being clear cut and compartmentalized into a checkerboard of increasingly smaller rectangles of disjointed habitat
  • Wildlife movement corridors
  • Riparian habitat (edges near water sources)
  • May 2008

LEAVE A REPLY

Name*
Comment*