Notes on the Mammals of Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties, Michigan, 1920: Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, Number 109 — John Shaqi
Notes on the Mammals of Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties, Michigan, 1920: Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, Number 109Dice, Lee R. (Lee Raymond)
History
Notes on the Mammals of Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties, Michigan, 1920: Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, Number 109
_Paper birch--aspen stage:_ The continued growth of the young trees in
the shrub stage leads to the production of a sapling forest of the more
quickly growing species, the paper birches and aspens. Often one or
other of these species becomes dominant to the practical exclusion of
the other, but sometimes both occur together. On the slopes near the
lakes of the Cisco Lake chain aspens are rare, and the sapling forests
on the clearings and burns are almost a pure stand of paper birch. Near
Watersmeet, however, the aspen seems to be the dominant form, and few
paper birches were seen. Near Gogebic Lake, also, the quaking aspen is
the dominant form, though paper birches are common in the sapling
forests. The growth in these sapling forests is very thick, and the
ground is nearly bare of vegetation, though it is heavily covered with
dead sticks and small logs. In a thick growth of quaking aspens, on wet
ground studied near Gogebic Lake, a number of alders and paper birches,
a few young trees of sugar maple and arbor-vitae, and a rare elm occur.
A scanty undergrowth of mountain maple and numerous sugar maple
seedlings is present. Few mammals are found in this stage of the
forest.
On the western slope of Birch Point on Cisco Lake there is a good stand
of paper birches, growing in an open stand with much grass in the
spaces between the trees. This place has been much used for camping and
it may be that the development of the grass is the result of opening
the forest by clearing out some of the trees. Among the birches are
numerous young firs and white pines, with a few young sugar maples, and
a rare arbor-vitae. The birches show many signs of age, and would
evidently, if undisturbed, soon give way to a forest dominated by the
pines and firs. In the grass among these trees deer-mice, red-backed
voles, and jumping mice (Zapus) were taken. Signs of snowshoe hare were
seen.
_Young hardwood forest stage:_ On the eastern slope of a low ridge at
Birch Point, Cisco Lake, a young hardwood forest is rapidly replacing a
former growth of paper birches which has followed a fire. In this
growth numerous old paper birches still persist, but they are being
strongly crowded by a thick growth of vigorous young sugar maples, some
of which have trunk diameters up to about eight inches, and which form
a dense shade. Among the maples are numerous young firs and a few young
hemlocks and arbor-vitae. The ground is mostly bare, being scantily
covered by leaves. The soil is moist, but there is no grass and little
brush. In this habitat deer-mice were taken, and one red squirrel was
seen.
_Artificial Conditions_
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