EFFECTS OF TIMBER SIZE-CLASS ON PREDATION OF ARTIFICIAL NESTS IN EXTENSIVE FOREST

Depredation on artificial ground and cup nests in even-aged seedling/sapling, pole, and mature stands of continuous northern hardwood forest was studied in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, USA from May to June 1988. Track-board nests were used to identify predators of ground nests; plain ground nests and cup nests were used to investigate the effects of timber size-class on rates of predation. No elevation in nest predation rate was observed in the early stages of growth, nor was predation rate related to stand area. As elevated predation rates are usually taken to indicate the fragmentation of forest, the results of this study suggest that extensive hardwood-dominated forests in northern New England are not fragmented by even-aged management.