Relations among fishers, snow, and martens: development and evaluation of two hypotheses

Abstract

The distributions of 15 549 fishers Martes pennanti and 40 516 martens M. americana harvested in Maine were analyzed in 1980-1987. Martens were common only in NW Maine and were associated with frequent snowfalls, December-March. Fishers were rare in NW Maine but were common throughout the rest of the state where snowfalls were less frequent. Low indices of fisher recruitment were found in the marten's core habitat, consistent with the hypothesis that deep and frequent snowfalls limit fishers. Few adult martens were harvested in the core habitats of fishers, consistent with the hypothesis that high fisher densities limit marten populations. -from Authors