Prescribed burning and mechanical thinning are widely used to manage fuels in North American forests, but few studies have examined the relative impacts of these treatments on wildlife. Using a fully factorial and completely randomized design, we examined the short-term effects of prescribed burning (no burn vs. burn), mechanical thinning (no thin, light thin, and heavy thin), and combinations of these treatments on the capture rate and demographic parameters of Lodgepole Chipmunks (Neotamias speciosus) in mixed-conifer forests in the southern Sierra Nevada of California. Chipmunks were sampled in eighteen 4-ha treatment plots during the summer of 1999 and 2000 (pre-treatment) and 2002 and 2003 (post-treatment). Although burning and thinning caused significant changes in forest structure, neither treatment had a significant effect on the capture rate or most demographic parameters of N. speciosus. Body mass of males (2002 and 2003) and the ratio of males to females (2003) decreased following burning. Body mass and percentage reproductive females were positively correlated with the total number of White Fir (Abies concolor) cones produced across treatments and years, possibly reflecting a positive association between chipmunk reproduction and food availability. These results suggest that prescribed burning and mechanical thinning may have minor or no short-term effects on the capture rate and demography of N. speciosus in mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, but effects over longer periods have not been investigated.

Ecologists and wildlife managers often rely on habitat classifications that are based on existing resource inventories and expert opinion. In the Tongass National Forest of southeastern Alaska, as in many managed ecosystems, forest types are defined primarily on the basis of structural characteristics, like tree stocking, size, and composition. While useful in management for timber production, this method of ide.gifying forest types produces a classification with limited relevance to wildlife management. Sitka Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) are an important component of the ecology and economy of this region. We classified forests by applying cluster analysis to a suite of 12 environmental variables of ecological importance to deer, sampled on a 180-km² study area. The analysis ide.gified an ecological typology that consisted of 3 old- and 5 2nd-growth forest types and 1 non-forest cover type. We found that the structural classification currently in use confounded post-logging categories of differing value to deer and categorized old-growth forests in ways that may not relate clearly to deer ecology. Our method makes it possible to produce an ecological classification that incorporates information from an existing resource database, facilitating the integration of the 2 typologies. Such ecologically based habitat classifications are valuable tools for the conservation of animal species, especially those inhabiting intensively managed ecosystems.

Terrestrial salamanders are integral components of forest ecosystems and the examination of their feeding habits may provide useful information regarding various ecosystem processes. We studied the diet of the Del Norte Salamander (Plethodon elongatus) and assessed diet differences between age classes, genders, and seasons. The stomachs of 309 subadult and adult salamanders, captured in spring and fall, contained 20 prey types. Nineteen were invertebrates, and one was a juvenile Del Norte Salamander, representing the first reported evidence of cannibalism in this species. Mites and ants represented a significant component of the diet across all age classes and genders, and diets of subadult and adult salamanders were fairly similar overall. We detected, however, an ontogenetic shift with termites and ants becoming less important and spiders and mites becoming more important with age. These differences between subadults and adults can likely be attributed to the inability of subadults to consume larger prey items due in part to gape limitation. The diet of the Del Norte Salamander, like other plethodontids, consists of a high diversity of prey items making it an opportunistic, sit-and-wait predator.