Coarse Woody Debris and Animal Habitat

Coarse woody debris and animal Habitat

Discussion

Most people that have studied this topic would agree that CWD provides a key resource to flora and fauna. It is mentioned in many conservation and biology articles in regards to forest biodiversity. Many studies have discovered that mammals' numbers increase as the volume of CWD increases (Maguire, 2002). Furthermore, CWD contributes to a high quality habitat for androgynous

fish (Conner & Ziemer, 1989).

At this time it is unclear whether the team's hypothesis was discovered to be correct. Further analysis of the data is needed to accurately determine the findings. The goal of this study was not to prove the hypothesis, but rather to collect data to evaluate and discover correlations of disturbances of coarse woody debris. As the hypothesis in this study was to see if frequency of use by mammals increases along with the age of the CWD, many other interesting interactions were discovered and would warrant further research. For example, the influence of aspect to the mammal's decision making process, such as when it appears that more burrows were found on the downhill side of the log. One explanation for this could be that animals don't want water coming into their burrow when it rains. Another hypothesis that could be made that would create interesting research would be to see if the amount of burrows increase with proximity to human living sites. Although the data has not been evaluated at this time, this hypothesis came to mind because it appeared that many burrow sites were found when the research team studied the area next to the Evergreen dorm rooms. This could be because of rats and squirrels and human beings intentionally or unintentionally feeding them year round, or harboring rats during the winter. Another possible question or topic that was discovered during the process of data collection was; are these mammals choosing this CWD because it has been there longer and therefore increases the odds of the mammals coming across it accidentally, or are these mammals choosing to use it because old CWD is softer than newer CWD, which thus makes it easier to negotiate and manipulate. Also CWD could be an attractor for mammals because it's an attractor for food, such as other insects.

Tree classification was highly used during this study. It is highly suggested that if this study were to be conducted again, a greater knowledge of tree classification and identification would be necessary. There needs to be a method that can more accurately identify tree classification and species identification.

Furthermore, there needs to be a more scientific approach to identifying a burrow. For example, situations would occur that team members were unable to be 100% positive if a burrow is in fact a burrow.

Conclusion

Coarse woody debris is an extremely complex subject. Its function within the ecosystem can be viewed from many different perspectives, depending on what environmental ethic one identifies with. Due to the team's data not being completely put together, discussed and concluded as a team, it is difficult to come to a conclusion. This analysis suggests that no one wood decay element provides for all wildlife species associated with wood decay. Twenty-three wildlife species associated with down wood can potentially improve soil structure and aeration by burrowing and digging. This, in turn, could help maintain or improve soil conditions for plants and other animals. In summary, down wood can be viewed as the center of a "functional web"

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