The use of forest maps for the description of wildlife habitats: limits and recommendations

We evaluated the reliability of forest maps for describing wildlife habitats. During the summer of 1997, we sampled 186 boreal forest stands located in Jacques-Cartier Park, Quebec. In each stand, we measured slope, crown closure, basal area, as well as tree height and age. We determined if map classifications, with regard to dominant species composition, density, tree height, tree age, and slope, correlated with field observations. We also measured lateral cover and deciduous browse availability, variables that are considered useful for the characterization of wildlife habitats, to examine how these habitat features were related to map classification. Age (57% of the sites correctly classified) and density (34%) were the variables for which map classification had the best and worst correspondence with field measurements, respectively. Dominant species on maps were correctly identified in <74, <55, and <40% of the sites in coniferous, mixed, and deciduous stands, respectively. The use of a simple classifi...

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