The Mammals of Warren Woods, Berrien County, Michigan: Occasional Paper of the Museum of Zoology, Number 86Dice, Lee R. (Lee Raymond)
Science
The Mammals of Warren Woods, Berrien County, Michigan: Occasional Paper of the Museum of Zoology, Number 86
Dice, Lee R. (Lee Raymond)
Mammals -- Michigan -- Berrien County
It is unfortunate that all of the area in clearing and about half of
the forested area on the preserve has been and is being heavily
pastured by cattle and horses. The presence of stock has changed the
native conditions so much that, so far as interpreting the primitive
mammal associations is concerned, little dependence can be placed on
studies made in that portion of the preserve. The grass and herbage is
extensively eaten off, and many of the shrubs and young trees eaten
or badly mutilated. Under the pastured forest little underbrush or
herbage remains, and the conditions are very poor for small mammals.
In all the forest, in the unpastured as well as in the pastured part,
a number of trees have been cut out in former years, and although no
trees are now being cut down, all the trees and branches which fall
are being cut up for firewood. This results in there being few logs
and little dead brush on the ground, and removes a favorite place for
small mammal nests and runways, as well as largely eliminating as
mammal food the insects and larvae which are dependent on decaying
wood. However, with the exception of the removal of the logs and of a
few trees, that part of the forest to the north of the river is still
in practically its native condition, and it shows no evidence of ever
having been pastured. It is thus a splendid place for the study of the
native faunal conditions.
Although the whole area in the preserve is small there are other areas
of adjoining forest along the Galien River, so that, for the smaller
mammals at least, the results of the study and trapping should
indicate the primitive habitat distribution. The relative abundance of
the different species, however, is probably much changed by the
decrease throughout the whole region of the carnivores, which have
been much hunted and trapped by man.
The mammals of Warren Woods were intensively studied by the author
from July 3 to September 3 in the summer of 1919. A camp was
maintained near the edge of the Woods, and by trapping and hunting
every effort was made to determine the mammal fauna of the preserve.
From one hundred to two hundred traps for small mammals and about
twenty traps for the larger species were kept constantly in operation.
A small amount of trapping was done in the fields and along the
roadsides immediately adjoining the Woods and a few records were
secured from the camp house.
The work was supported by the Michigan Geological and Biological Survey.
Dr. Alexander G. Ruthven directed the work and gave much assistance in
securing the needed collecting equipment. Much help was given by George
R. Fox, Director of the Warren Foundation, not only in getting to and
from the camp at the Woods and in numerous other courtesies, but also in
information about the Woods and about the mammals there. The plant
identifications were made by Mr. C. Billington.
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