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Monitoring of wildlife at Hubbard Brook is essential to understand how these species are responding to forest and environmental condition over time, while also placing those wildlife species in the context of ecosystem structural and functional attributes. The presence and persistence of wildlife species common to an area can indicate suitable habitat conditions as well as refugia for less common species. Changes in species presence and activity, such as fewer to no sightings, may point to shifting conditions not suitable to the species missing from the area. Camera trap monitoring allows for continuous, non-obtrusive observation of many different species of wildlife and can be used as part of our understanding of current suitability of habitat condition. To better understand integrated forest condition, we established a camera trap network located at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the White Mountains of central New Hampshire. The cameras have logged over 1,500 wildlife observations, confirming the presence of many species, including those not previously reported (pine marten and river otter). A total of 15 mammal species have been detected and have also been effective at detecting some bird species, including the Northern Harrier. Natural history observations have provided insight into the lives of the species detected, including reproduction (Bull moose following cow during rut, moose calves, deer fawns), predation (red fox with snow-shoe hare) and presence of parasites (winter ticks on moose with hairless shoulders). These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 

This dataset contains confirmed observations of mammal species at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest and adjacent Mirror Lake. The original list was published in Holmes, R. T. and G. E. Likens. 1999. Organisms of the Hubbard Brook Valley, New Hampshire. USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station, General Tech. Report NE-257. 32 pp. The list is updated here (January 2021) to include additional species observed since the original publication, with annotated comments by R.T. Holmes, H. ter Hofstede (bats) and L. Christenson (from motion-detecting cameras, 2014-2019).