Honors Thesis Archive
| Author | Madison Nadler |
|---|---|
| Title | Cavity Presence in Snags Created Using Two Techniques in the Huron-Manistee National Forest |
| Department | Biology |
| Advisors | Richard Phillips, Matthew Collier, and Doug Andrews |
| Year | 2020 |
| Honors | University Honors |
| Full Text | View Thesis (799 KB) |
| Abstract | In the Huron-Manistee National Forest, standing dead trees (snags) have great ecological value because they have cavities, which provide critical habitat for many animals. Snags are created in red pine timber plantations to simulate the number of snags typically found in naturally growing forests. This study compares the value of snags created by topping in 2011 to snags created during a prescribed burn in 2010. Creating snags via topping appears to be worth the investment as wildlife appears to use topped snags as much as snags created in a prescribed burn (topped = 49 cavities; burned = 59 cavities). GIS/GPS was used to locate and mark snag clumps. Height, DBH, decay class (1-5), and cavity presence was recorded for each clump (group of snags) and compared between and across snag creation type. The burned snags were planted in 1936 or 1938 and the topped snags were planted in 1936 or 1965 but the average DBH of each was similar (burned x̄ = 10.8in; topped x̄ = 10.5in). The presence of cavities below 20ft was compared between burned and topped snags. The average height for burned snags was 42.5ft and topped snags were cut at 20ft, but cavities appeared to be located near the tops of snags regardless of their height. The majority of cavities (83.7%) in topped snags were in decay classes one (59.2%) and two (24.5%). In burned snags, the majority of cavities (87.0%) were in decay classes one (22.2%), two (35.2%) and three (29.6%) with decay classes two and three containing the majority of the cavities (64.8%). Below 20ft, topped snags had a greater percentage of cavities (14.9%) than burned snags (6.7%), although there was a greater percentage of cavities in burned snags overall (burned = 22.7%). In the future, studies will also compare snags created during the Meridian wildfire of 2010. |
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