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Breeding, Early-Successional Bird Response to Forest Harvests for Bioenergy

Forest regeneration following timber harvest is a principal source of habitat for early-successional birds and characterized by influxes of early-successional vegetation and residual downed woody material. Early-successional birds may use harvest residues for communication, cover, foraging, and nest...

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Autores principales: Grodsky, Steven M., Moorman, Christopher E., Fritts, Sarah R., Castleberry, Steven B., Wigley, T. Bently
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5079583/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27780221
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165070
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author Grodsky, Steven M.
Moorman, Christopher E.
Fritts, Sarah R.
Castleberry, Steven B.
Wigley, T. Bently
author_facet Grodsky, Steven M.
Moorman, Christopher E.
Fritts, Sarah R.
Castleberry, Steven B.
Wigley, T. Bently
author_sort Grodsky, Steven M.
collection PubMed
description Forest regeneration following timber harvest is a principal source of habitat for early-successional birds and characterized by influxes of early-successional vegetation and residual downed woody material. Early-successional birds may use harvest residues for communication, cover, foraging, and nesting. Yet, increased market viability of woody biomass as bioenergy feedstock may intensify harvest residue removal. Our objectives were to: 1) evaluate effects of varying intensities of woody biomass harvest on the early-successional bird community; and (2) document early-successional bird use of harvest residues in regenerating stands. We spot-mapped birds from 15 April– 15 July, 2012–2014, in six woody biomass removal treatments within regenerating stands in North Carolina (n = 4) and Georgia (n = 4), USA. Treatments included clearcut harvest followed by: (1) traditional woody biomass harvest with no specific retention target; (2) 15% retention with harvest residues dispersed; (3) 15% retention with harvest residues clustered; (4) 30% retention with harvest residues dispersed; (5) 30% retention with harvest residues clustered; and (6) no woody biomass harvest (i.e., reference site). We tested for treatment-level effects on breeding bird species diversity and richness, early-successional focal species territory density (combined and individual species), counts of breeding birds detected near, in, or on branches of harvest piles/windrows, counts of breeding bird behaviors, and vegetation composition and structure. Pooled across three breeding seasons, we delineated 536 and 654 territories and detected 2,489 and 4,204 birds in the North Carolina and Georgia treatments, respectively. Woody biomass harvest had limited or short-lived effects on the early-successional, breeding bird community. The successional trajectory of vegetation structure, rather than availability of harvest residues, primarily drove avian use of regenerating stands. However, many breeding bird species used downed wood in addition to vegetation, indicating that harvest residues initially may provide food and cover resources for early-successional birds in regenerating stands prior to vegetation regrowth.
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spelling pubmed-50795832016-11-04 Breeding, Early-Successional Bird Response to Forest Harvests for Bioenergy Grodsky, Steven M. Moorman, Christopher E. Fritts, Sarah R. Castleberry, Steven B. Wigley, T. Bently PLoS One Research Article Forest regeneration following timber harvest is a principal source of habitat for early-successional birds and characterized by influxes of early-successional vegetation and residual downed woody material. Early-successional birds may use harvest residues for communication, cover, foraging, and nesting. Yet, increased market viability of woody biomass as bioenergy feedstock may intensify harvest residue removal. Our objectives were to: 1) evaluate effects of varying intensities of woody biomass harvest on the early-successional bird community; and (2) document early-successional bird use of harvest residues in regenerating stands. We spot-mapped birds from 15 April– 15 July, 2012–2014, in six woody biomass removal treatments within regenerating stands in North Carolina (n = 4) and Georgia (n = 4), USA. Treatments included clearcut harvest followed by: (1) traditional woody biomass harvest with no specific retention target; (2) 15% retention with harvest residues dispersed; (3) 15% retention with harvest residues clustered; (4) 30% retention with harvest residues dispersed; (5) 30% retention with harvest residues clustered; and (6) no woody biomass harvest (i.e., reference site). We tested for treatment-level effects on breeding bird species diversity and richness, early-successional focal species territory density (combined and individual species), counts of breeding birds detected near, in, or on branches of harvest piles/windrows, counts of breeding bird behaviors, and vegetation composition and structure. Pooled across three breeding seasons, we delineated 536 and 654 territories and detected 2,489 and 4,204 birds in the North Carolina and Georgia treatments, respectively. Woody biomass harvest had limited or short-lived effects on the early-successional, breeding bird community. The successional trajectory of vegetation structure, rather than availability of harvest residues, primarily drove avian use of regenerating stands. However, many breeding bird species used downed wood in addition to vegetation, indicating that harvest residues initially may provide food and cover resources for early-successional birds in regenerating stands prior to vegetation regrowth. Public Library of Science 2016-10-25 /pmc/articles/PMC5079583/ /pubmed/27780221 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165070 Text en © 2016 Grodsky et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Grodsky, Steven M.
Moorman, Christopher E.
Fritts, Sarah R.
Castleberry, Steven B.
Wigley, T. Bently
Breeding, Early-Successional Bird Response to Forest Harvests for Bioenergy
title Breeding, Early-Successional Bird Response to Forest Harvests for Bioenergy
title_full Breeding, Early-Successional Bird Response to Forest Harvests for Bioenergy
title_fullStr Breeding, Early-Successional Bird Response to Forest Harvests for Bioenergy
title_full_unstemmed Breeding, Early-Successional Bird Response to Forest Harvests for Bioenergy
title_short Breeding, Early-Successional Bird Response to Forest Harvests for Bioenergy
title_sort breeding, early-successional bird response to forest harvests for bioenergy
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5079583/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27780221
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165070
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