Short-term effects of tree thinning on microhabitat variables and rodents in Japanese larch Larix kaempferi forest

Figures & data

Table 1. Results of generalized linear mixed models explaining variation in microhabitat factors using stands and year.

Microhabitat factor	Model	AICc	△AICc	ωi
GV	[Intercept + Stands + Year + Stands*Year]	1673.50	0.00	1.00
UV	[Intercept]	1288.57	0.00	0.73
	[Intercept + Year]	1290.51	1.95	0.27
MV	[Intercept + Stands]	1603.80	0.00	1.00
SOV	[Intercept + Stands + Year]	1609.84	0.00	0.36
	[Intercept + Stands + Year + Stands*Year]	1609.90	0.06	0.35
	[Intercept + Stands]	1610.28	0.45	0.29
OV	[Intercept + Year]	1027.00	0.00	0.61
	[Intercept]	1027.91	0.91	0.39
BAS	[Intercept + Stands]	5533.96	0.00	0.57
	[Intercept + Stands + Year]	5534.53	0.57	0.43
VFT	[Intercept + Stands + Year + Stands*Year]	11,950.30	0.00	1.00

GV: ground vegetation; UV: understory vegetation; MV: mid-story vegetation; SOV: sub-overstory vegetation; OV: overstory vegetation; BAS: basal area; VFT: volume of felled trees.

Models were selected using Akaike Information Criterion with corrections for small sample size (AICc) (△AICc < 2).

Table 2. Descriptive statistics from the selected models of stands and year explaining variation in microhabitat factors.

Microhabitat factor	Variable	β	S.E.	Z	p	95% C.I.
						Lower	Higher
GV	Intercept	0.7085	0.110	6.47	<0.001	0.4654	0.9452
	2015	0.3351	0.092	3.63	<0.001	0.1548	0.5171
	25% thinned	−0.0296	0.155	−0.19	0.849	−0.3693	0.3106
	50% thinned	−0.5949	0.168	−3.55	<0.001	−0.9512	−0.2361
	25% thinned:2015	0.0687	0.131	0.53	0.599	−0.1875	0.3251
	50% thinned:2015	0.6481	0.145	4.47	<0.001	0.3655	0.9342
MV	Intercept	0.6723	0.054	12.48	<0.001	0.5667	0.7778
	25% thinned	−0.0814	0.078	−1.05	0.294	−0.2335	0.0706
	50% thinned	−0.4953	0.086	−5.73	<0.001	−0.6647	−0.3260
SOV	Intercept	0.6713	0.067	10.08	<0.001	0.5408	0.8017
	2015	0.0530	0.096	1.36	0.583	−0.1360	0.2420
	25% thinned	−0.1180	0.087	3.57	0.173	−0.2876	0.0516
	50% thinned	−0.4389	0.123	0.55	<0.001	−0.6801	−0.1976
	25% thinned:2015	0.0406	0.148	0.28	0.783	−0.2485	0.3297
	50% thinned:2015	0.3045	0.160	1.90	0.057	−0.0096	0.6185
BAS	Intercept	2.8961	0.066	44.03	<0.001	2.7672	3.0250
	2015	−0.0290	0.024	1.21	0.23	−0.0761	0.0181
	25% thinned	−0.6699	0.093	7.18	<0.001	−0.8528	−0.4871
	50% thinned	−0.7848	0.094	8.38	<0.001	−0.9684	−0.6012
VFT	Intercept	3.0090	0.176	17.13	<0.001	2.6022	3.4155
	2015	−0.2421	0.034	−7.21	<0.001	−0.3080	−0.1763
	25% thinned	−0.0204	0.248	−0.08	0.935	−0.5955	0.5548
	50% thinned	0.1146	0.248	0.46	0.644	−0.4607	0.6892
	25% thinned:2015	0.3133	0.046	6.83	<0.001	0.2234	0.4033
	50% thinned:2015	0.0977	0.045	2.16	<0.001	0.0092	0.1862

GV: ground vegetation; MV: mid-story vegetation; SOV: sub-overstory vegetation; BAS: basal area; VFT: volume of felled trees.

Table 3. Results of generalized linear mixed models explaining variation in rodent species density (number of individuals per trapping station) using stands and year.

Species	Model	AICc	△AICc	ωi
Apodemus agrarius	[Intercept + Year]	740.88	0.00	0.51
	[Intercept + Stands + Year + Stands*Year]	740.98	0.10	0.49
Apodemus peninsulae	[Intercept + Stands + Year]	1091.80	0.00	1.00
Myodes regulus	[Intercept + Year]	1569.00	0.00	0.41
	[Intercept + Stands + Year]	1569.06	0.06	0.40
	[Intercept + Stands + Year + Stands*Year]	1570.46	1.46	0.20

Models were selected using Akaike Information Criterion with corrections for small sample size (AICc) (△AICc < 2).

Table 4. Descriptive statistics from the selected models of stands and year explaining variation in rodent species abundances.

Species	Variable	β	S.E.	Z	p	95% C.I.
						Lower	Higher
Apodemus agrarius	Intercept	−1.9484	0.278	7.00	<0.001	−2.4938	−1.4031
	2015	0.7345	0.273	2.69	0.007	0.1988	1.2702
	25% thinned	0.4258	0.455	0.94	0.349	−0.4656	1.3171
	50% thinned	−0.5520	0.533	1.04	0.301	−1.5973	0.4933
	25% thinned:2015	−0.2659	0.425	0.63	0.531	−1.0984	0.5666
	50% thinned:2015	0.9527	0.507	1.88	0.060	−0.0410	1.9464
Apodemus peninsulae	Intercept	−0.4116	0.209	−1.97	0.049	−0.9033	0.0583
	2015	0.3442	0.115	3.00	0.003	0.1198	0.5715
	25% thinned	−0.5370	0.288	−1.87	0.062	−1.2045	0.1356
	50% thinned	−1.1189	0.302	−3.71	<0.001	−1.8032	−0.4274
Myodes regulus	Intercept	−0.2801	0.167	1.68	0.093	−0.6074	0.0472
	2015	0.5237	0.107	4.89	<0.001	0.3136	0.7337
	25% thinned	−0.4313	0.242	1.78	0.075	−0.9061	0.0434
	50% thinned	0.1224	0.243	0.50	0.615	−0.3547	0.5996
	25% thinned:2015	0.0383	0.228	0.17	0.866	−0.4079	0.4845
	50% thinned:2015	−0.2706	0.197	1.37	0.170	−0.6574	0.1162

Table 5. Results of generalized linear mixed models explaining variation in rodent species density (number of individuals per trapping station) using microhabitat factors.

Species	Model	AICc	△AICc	ωi
Apodemus agrarius	[Intercept + GV + MV + SOV]	723.47	0.00	0.19
	[Intercept + GV + MV + SOV + BAS]	723.51	0.05	0.19
	[Intercept + GV + UV + MV + SOV]	724.38	0.91	0.12
	[Intercept + GV + UV + MV + SOV + BAS]	724.68	1.22	0.10
	[Intercept + GV + MV + SOV + VFT]	725.03	1.56	0.09
	[Intercept + GV + MV + SOV + OV + BAS]	725.05	1.58	0.09
	[Intercept + GV + MV + SOV + BAS + VFT]	725.19	1.73	0.08
	[Intercept + GV + MV + SOV + OV]	725.38	1.91	0.07
	[Intercept + GV + MV + BAS]	725.41	1.94	0.07
Apodemus peninsulae	[Intercept + GV]	1095.37	0.00	0.25
	[Intercept + GV + BAS]	1096.16	0.79	0.17
	[Intercept + GV + UV]	1096.32	0.95	0.16
	[Intercept + GV + VFT]	1096.89	1.52	0.12
	[Intercept + GV + OV]	1097.10	1.73	0.11
	[Intercept + GV + SOV]	1097.10	1.73	0.11
	[Intercept + GV + MV]	1097.33	1.96	0.09
Myodes regulus	[Intercept + GV + SOV]	1579.42	0.00	0.42
	[Intercept + GV]	1580.67	1.25	0.23
	[Intercept + GV + UV + SOV]	1580.96	1.54	0.20
	[Intercept + GV + MV + SOV]	1581.41	1.99	0.16

GV: ground vegetation; UV: understory vegetation; MV: mid-story vegetation; SOV: sub-overstory vegetation; OV: overstory vegetation; BAS: basal area; VFT: volume of felled trees.

Models were selected using Akaike Information Criterion with corrections for small sample size (AICc) (△AICc < 2).

Table 6. Descriptive statistics from the selected models of microhabitat factors explaining variation in rodent species abundances.

Species	Variable	β	S.E.	Z	p	95% C.I.
						Lower	Higher
Apodemus agrarius	Intercept	−1.6223	0.157	10.35	<0.001	−1.9296	−1.3150
	GV	0.5942	0.120	4.95	<0.001	0.3590	0.8294
	UV	0.0748	0.073	1.02	0.306	−0.0684	0.2180
	MV	−0.2300	0.095	2.43	0.015	−0.4153	−0.0448
	SOV	−0.1966	0.093	2.10	0.036	−0.3799	−0.0132
	OV	0.0533	0.097	0.55	0.582	−0.1364	0.2430
	BAS	−0.1586	0.111	1.43	0.154	−0.3768	0.0595
	VFT	0.0560	0.083	0.67	0.502	−0.1075	0.2194
Apodemus peninsulae	Intercept	−0.7898	0.217	3.64	<0.001	−1.2148	−0.3648
	GV	0.1935	0.067	2.88	0.004	0.0616	0.3254
	UV	0.0563	0.053	1.06	0.290	−0.0480	0.1606
	MV	0.0154	0.059	0.26	0.795	−0.1005	0.1313
	SOV	−0.0321	0.059	0.54	0.586	−0.1479	0.0836
	OV	−0.0320	0.059	0.54	0.587	−0.1476	0.0836
	BAS	−0.0706	0.064	1.10	0.271	−0.1962	0.0551
	VFT	0.0422	0.058	0.73	0.467	−0.0716	0.1560
Myodes regulus	Intercept	−0.0794	0.160	0.50	0.621	−0.3937	0.2349
	GV	0.2166	0.047	4.66	<0.001	0.1255	0.3077
	UV	−0.0319	0.046	0.70	0.487	−0.1218	0.0580
	MV	0.0101	0.047	0.05	0.830	−0.0820	0.1022
	SOV	0.0817	0.046	0.05	0.077	−0.0090	0.1724

GV: ground vegetation; UV: understory vegetation; MV: mid-story vegetation; SOV: sub-overstory vegetation; OV: overstory vegetation; BAS: basal area; VFT: volume of felled trees.