Winter Habitat Ecology of Sables (Martes Zibellina) in Relation to Forest Management in China

The stable (Martes zibellina), a little‐known forest carnivore of the Asian taiga, has undergone reductions in distribution and abundance that have been attributed, in part, to habitat changes resulting from forest management. Like its circumboreal sibling species, the boreal forest martens (M. martes, M. melampus, and M. americana), the sable has been hypothesized to select for forest attributes associated with late successional stages, and to respond negatively to reductions in the amount of physical structure near the ground, especially the loss of large tree boles. The sable now is endangered in China. To investigate how forestry practices in northern China, which emphasize extensive selective cutting of large‐diameter larch (Larix gmelini), affect behavioral preferences of sables, and to test for hypothesized ecological similarities among the boreal forest martens, we studied habitat selection by sables in the Daxinganling Mountains, Heilongjiang, People's Republic of China, for three winters. We sampled topographic and vegetative features of three study sites by systematically located plots. We studied sable selection of habitats while traveling by following sable trails in snow, and while resting by locating sables with telemetry. Sables selected for (preferred) sites with dense tree canopy, mixed tree species dominants, and high densities and diameters of larch tree boles. Sables were more selective of habitat for resting than for traveling, like other martens (M. americana). Sables were indifferent to attributes of hardwood trees (Betula sp.) in their habitat, but preferred mixed tree species stands to single species stands. The sable responds negatively to the absence of tree canopy, of large live trees, and of coarse woody debris, and resembles other boreal forest martens in its habitat associations. The sable may be a useful model for examining the responses of vertebrates to forestry practices in boreal east Asia. Conserving late successional stands of conifer forest appears crucial to the persistence of the sable in China.