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Increased growth rates of stream salamanders following forest harvesting

Timber harvesting can influence headwater streams by altering stream productivity, with cascading effects on the food web and predators within, including stream salamanders. Although studies have examined shifts in salamander occupancy or abundance following timber harvest, few examine sublethal eff...

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Autores principales: Guzy, Jacquelyn C., Halstead, Brian J., Halloran, Kelly M., Homyack, Jessica A., Willson, John D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8717314/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35003634
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8238
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author Guzy, Jacquelyn C.
Halstead, Brian J.
Halloran, Kelly M.
Homyack, Jessica A.
Willson, John D.
author_facet Guzy, Jacquelyn C.
Halstead, Brian J.
Halloran, Kelly M.
Homyack, Jessica A.
Willson, John D.
author_sort Guzy, Jacquelyn C.
collection PubMed
description Timber harvesting can influence headwater streams by altering stream productivity, with cascading effects on the food web and predators within, including stream salamanders. Although studies have examined shifts in salamander occupancy or abundance following timber harvest, few examine sublethal effects such as changes in growth and demography. To examine the effect of upland harvesting on growth of the stream‐associated Ouachita dusky salamander (Desmognathus brimleyorum), we used capture–mark–recapture over three years at three headwater streams embedded in intensely managed pine forests in west‐central Arkansas. The pine stands surrounding two of the streams were harvested, with retention of a 14‐ and 21‐m‐wide forested stream buffer on each side of the stream, whereas the third stream was an unharvested control. At the two treatment sites, measurements of newly metamorphosed salamanders were on average 4.0 and 5.7 mm larger post‐harvest compared with pre‐harvest. We next assessed the influence of timber harvest on growth of post‐metamorphic salamanders with a hierarchical von Bertalanffy growth model that included an effect of harvest on growth rate. Using measurements from 839 individual D. brimleyorum recaptured between 1 and 6 times (total captures, n = 1229), we found growth rates to be 40% higher post‐harvest. Our study is among the first to examine responses of individual stream salamanders to timber harvesting, and we discuss mechanisms that may be responsible for observed shifts in growth. Our results suggest timber harvest that includes retention of a riparian buffer (i.e., streamside management zone) may have short‐term positive effects on juvenile stream salamander growth, potentially offsetting negative sublethal effects associated with harvest.
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spelling pubmed-87173142022-01-06 Increased growth rates of stream salamanders following forest harvesting Guzy, Jacquelyn C. Halstead, Brian J. Halloran, Kelly M. Homyack, Jessica A. Willson, John D. Ecol Evol Research Articles Timber harvesting can influence headwater streams by altering stream productivity, with cascading effects on the food web and predators within, including stream salamanders. Although studies have examined shifts in salamander occupancy or abundance following timber harvest, few examine sublethal effects such as changes in growth and demography. To examine the effect of upland harvesting on growth of the stream‐associated Ouachita dusky salamander (Desmognathus brimleyorum), we used capture–mark–recapture over three years at three headwater streams embedded in intensely managed pine forests in west‐central Arkansas. The pine stands surrounding two of the streams were harvested, with retention of a 14‐ and 21‐m‐wide forested stream buffer on each side of the stream, whereas the third stream was an unharvested control. At the two treatment sites, measurements of newly metamorphosed salamanders were on average 4.0 and 5.7 mm larger post‐harvest compared with pre‐harvest. We next assessed the influence of timber harvest on growth of post‐metamorphic salamanders with a hierarchical von Bertalanffy growth model that included an effect of harvest on growth rate. Using measurements from 839 individual D. brimleyorum recaptured between 1 and 6 times (total captures, n = 1229), we found growth rates to be 40% higher post‐harvest. Our study is among the first to examine responses of individual stream salamanders to timber harvesting, and we discuss mechanisms that may be responsible for observed shifts in growth. Our results suggest timber harvest that includes retention of a riparian buffer (i.e., streamside management zone) may have short‐term positive effects on juvenile stream salamander growth, potentially offsetting negative sublethal effects associated with harvest. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-10-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8717314/ /pubmed/35003634 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8238 Text en © 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Guzy, Jacquelyn C.
Halstead, Brian J.
Halloran, Kelly M.
Homyack, Jessica A.
Willson, John D.
Increased growth rates of stream salamanders following forest harvesting
title Increased growth rates of stream salamanders following forest harvesting
title_full Increased growth rates of stream salamanders following forest harvesting
title_fullStr Increased growth rates of stream salamanders following forest harvesting
title_full_unstemmed Increased growth rates of stream salamanders following forest harvesting
title_short Increased growth rates of stream salamanders following forest harvesting
title_sort increased growth rates of stream salamanders following forest harvesting
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8717314/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35003634
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8238
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