Influence of habitat structure and prey abundance on weasels in a forested landscape

Most studies of weasel habitat selection have been conducted in agricultural regions: therefore, knowledge of weasel habitat requirements in forested landscapes is limited. Weasels are considered specialist predators of small mammals, and it is believed that habitat selection and quality for weasels can be defined by the abundance and distribution of prey. In the Appalachian Highlands of northwestern New Brunswick, a systematic grid was superimposed on two 50 km 2 landscapes, a mixed-forest landscape that had not been disturbed by forest cutting for approximately 40 years (Landscape A), and a landscape which had been disturbed by recent harvesting practices (Landscape B).In the current literature, few studies have indicated that habitat structure influences weasel distribution. I hypothesized that prey abundance and distribution would be the primary factors affecting weasel distribution with habitat structure as a secondary influence. In winter 1997--1998 on both Landscapes A and B, weasel tracks were recorded on the systematic grids at stations one km apart.The snow track pattern tortuosity can be used to quantify foraging effort of weasels. Tortuosity of weasel track patterns was quantified by calculating the fractal dimension. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...