Effets de coupes de dimensions restreintes sur l'abondance des populations d'oiseaux nicheurs en milieu boréal

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of small clearcuts on breeding bird communities found in adjacent forest stands. The study was conducted in a deer yard of the Duchenier Wildlife Preserve located in the boreal balsam fir-yellow birch ecological domain of eastern Quebec. The balsam fir-northern white cedar stands of the deer yard had been treated by strip cutting 2 years before the study. Total abundance of nesting passerines in stands adjacent to 60-m-wide strip cuttings was greater (P = 0.10) than in similar control unlogged stands. The establishment of shrub strata within the strip probably provided an additional food source for shrub- and ground-feeding species without significantly affecting canopy-feeding species.