Martens and Fishers Martes in Human-altered Environments

by Harrison, Daniel Jed; Fuller, Angela K.; Proulx, Gilbert

• ISBN13: 9780387225807
• ISBN10: 0387225803
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-12-30
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Martens and Fishers (Martes) in Human-Altered Environments: An International Perspective examines the conditions where humans and martens are compatible and incompatible, and promotes land use practices that allow Martes to be representatively distributed and viable. All Martes have been documented to use forested habitats and 6 species (excluding the stone marten) are generally considered to require complex mid- to late-successional forests throughout much of their geographic ranges. All species in the genus require complex horizontal and vertical structure to provide escape cover protection from predators, habitat for their prey, access to food resources, and protection from the elements. Martens and the fisher have high metabolic rates, have large spatial requirements, have high surface area to volume ratios for animals that often inhabit high latitudes, and often require among the largest home range areas per unit body weight of any group of mammals. Resulting from these unique life history characteristics, this genus is particularly sensitive to human influences on their habitats, including habitat loss, stand-scale simplification of forest structure via some forms of logging, and landscape-scale effects of habitat fragmentation. Given their strong associations with structural complexity in forests, martens and the fisher are often considered as useful barometers of forest health and have been used as ecological indicators, flagship, and umbrella species in different parts of the world. Thus, efforts to successfully conserve and manage martens and fishers are associated with the ecological fates of other forest dependent species and can greatly influence ecosystem integrity within forests that are increasingly shared among wildlife and humans. We have made great strides in our fundamental understanding of how animals with these unique life history traits perceive and utilize habitats, respond to habitat change, and how their populations function and perform under different forms of human management and mismanagement. This knowledge enhances our basic understanding of all species of Martes and will help us to achieve the goal of conserving viable populations and representative distributions of the world's Martes, their habitats, and associated ecological communities in our new millennium.

Table of Contents

Contributors	xv
Preface	xix
Acknowledgments	xxiii
Part I Status, Distribution, and Life History
Chapter 1 Is Mustelid Life History Different?	3	(18)
Steven Ferguson and Serge Larivière
Chapter 2 World Distribution and Status of the Genus Martes in 2000	21	(56)
Gilbert Proulx, Keith Aubry, Johnny Birks, Steven Buskirk, Clément Fortin, Herbert Frost, William Krohn, Lem Mayo, Vladimir Monakhov, David Payer, Midori Saeki, Margarida Santos-Reis, Richard Weir, and William Zielinski
Chapter 3 Geographical and Seasonal Variation in Food Habits and Prey Size of European Pine Martens	77	(22)
Andrzej Zalewski
Chapter 4 Territoriality and Home-Range Fidelity of American Martens in Relation to Timber Harvesting and Trapping	99	(16)
David Payer, Daniel Harrison, and David Phillips
Chapter 5 Martes Foot-Loading and Snowfall Patterns in Eastern North America: Implications to Broad-Scale Distributions and Interactions of Mesocarnivores	115	(20)
William Krohn, Christopher Hoving, Daniel Harrison, David Phillips, and Herbert Frost
Part II Habitat Relationships
Chapter 6 Home Ranges, Cognitive Maps, Habitat Models and Fitness Landscapes for Martes	135	(12)
Roger Powell
Chapter 7 Relationships Between Stone Martens, Genets and Cork Oak Woodlands in Portugal	147	(26)
Margarida Santos-Reis, Maria João Santos, Sofia Lourenço, João Tiago Marques, Iris Pereira, and Bruno Pinto
Chapter 8 Relationships Between Forest Structure and Habitat Use by American Martens in Maine, USA	173	(14)
David Payer and Daniel Harrison
Chapter 9 Effect of Ambient Temperature on the Selection of Rest Structures by Fishers	187	(14)
Richard Weir, Fraser Corbould, and Alton Harestad
Part III Research and Management Approaches
Chapter 10 Zoogeography, Spacing Patterns, and Dispersal in Fishers: Insights Gained from Combining Field and Genetic Data	201	(20)
Keith Aubry, Samantha Wisely, Catherine Raley, and Steven Buskirk
Chapter 11 Harvest Status, Reproduction and Mortality in a Population of American Martens in Quebec, Canada	221	(14)
Clement Fortin and Michel Cantin
Chapter 12 Are Scat Surveys a Reliable Method for Assessing Distribution and Population Status of Pine Martens?	235	(18)
Johnny Birks, John Messenger, Tony Braithwaite, Angus Davison, Rachael Brookes, and Chris Strachan
Chapter 13 Postnatal Growth And Development in Fishers	253	(12)
Herbert Frost and William Krohn
Chapter 14 Field Anesthesia of American Martens Using Isoflurane	265	(10)
François Potvin, Laurier Breton, and Robert Patenaude
Index	275