Martes pennanti

Habitat 

Photo from Wikipedia Commons  

Habitat & Geography

 

Where does this organism live? 

                        The Martes pennanti is found in coniferous or mixed forests in the northern United States and southern Canada. Due to extensive trapping of the Fisher in the 18 and 19 hundreds, populations have diminished in these areas. The reintroduction of fishers has once again repopulated areas that have long been sparse in numbers.

 

What is its distribution and ecological niche?

                        Distribution fishers are solitary, and only associate with each other for mating purposes. Populations of the Martes pennani have been reduced because of the devastation of fur trade and the loss of forest habitat.

                        The Martes pennani has three main limiting factors that define its habitat: foraging habitat den sites and overhead cover. The diet of a fisher consists of any animal it can catch and overtake. Since fishers prey on small animals, forests with underbrush are needed to provide cover for the prey. This is a very touchy necessity because to much undergrowth can impede the fishers hunt.  

                        Fishers tend to exist in areas that provide good den sites. These sites include standing hollow deciduous trees and openings in rock ledges. Coniferous dominated mixed woods tend to provide a sufficient den sites.

                        The third and final factor that seems to formulate a habitat is an overhead cover. Since the fisher lives in a climate that is covered in snow in the winter time a canopy is a necessity that makes up for that lack of the fishers adoptions to deep snow. The cover intercepts the snow and provides relief for the Martes pennani.

                       

What other kinds of organisms live in its habitat? 

                        The mixed coniferous and mixed forests contain an abundance of different organisms from all of the major kingdoms in the classification system. The Animalia kingdom is represented by fox, porcupines and rodents. They also include smaller organisms from the arthropoda phylum such as the honey bee, millipedes, and termites. The Plantae kingdom is present in the conifers and soft wood trees of the mixed wood forests. Like any other habitat, Fungi are present to decompose dead animalia and plantea species. As with all habitats the protista kingdom is also present in the habitat of the Martes pennani.

 

How does it fit into its niche?

            As defined by Webster’s dictionary a niche is the function or position of an organism or population within an ecological community. The fisher is a carnivore, seeing that it eats other organism. The main contribution that it gives to the habitat that it lives in is the control of populations such as the snow shoe hair and the porcupine. The reintroduction of the Martes pennai has been in large part because of porcupine populations that have become over dominant in an area.

 

Supporting Websites

 Martes pennanti

Fisher Habitat Requirements

 

 

Interesting Quotes About Martens:

 

“Time Spent With A Marten Is Never Wasted”

“You Can Lead A Marten To Water But You Can’t Make It Drink”