Bird assemblages of intensively established pine plantations in Coastal Plain Mississippi

Abstract

Pine (Pinus spp.) plantations are a common type of managed forest in the southeastern United States that may supply habitat for early successional bird species, many of which are declining. To provide information about young pine plantations as bird habitat, we evaluated spring bird presence in 5 combinations of stand establishment practices during years 2 through 5 post‐establishment in the Lower Coastal Plain of Mississippi, USA. We detected 38 species with point counts and compared bird metrics among establishment practices using mixed general linear models. Species richness, total relative abundance, and relative abundance of many species were greater by at least a factor of 1.5–4 in the chemical‐only establishment practice than mechanically prepared establishment practices, and values declined by about 5–60% within mechanically prepared establishment practices as herbicide intensity increased. Tree and snag retention contributed to avian abundance and richness in the chemical‐only establishment practice. Our study, in conjunction with past research, demonstrated the conservation value to early successional bird species of managed pine stands established with tree retention, indicating that silvicultural and wildlife habitat objectives can be met within the range of stand establishment treatments available to managers. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.

Bird community dynamics and vegetation relationships among stand establishment practices in intensively managed pine stands

“…Without plot-level chemical control from chemical site preparation or broadcast herbicide application(s), woody encroachment could have expedited canopy closure thereby diminishing habitat quality for early successional associates. Therefore, greater bird relative abundance following chemical site preparation with banded herbaceous control could be attributed to a longer period of habitat availability prior to canopy closure (Hanberry et al, 2012) if canopy closure is not expedited by greater pine tree growth in greater intensity treatments (Jones et al, 2010a). Past studies have credited snag retention in regenerating pine plantations for greater bird relative abundances (Darden, 1980;Brooks et al, 1995;Hanberry et al, 2012).…”

“…Therefore, greater bird relative abundance following chemical site preparation with banded herbaceous control could be attributed to a longer period of habitat availability prior to canopy closure (Hanberry et al, 2012) if canopy closure is not expedited by greater pine tree growth in greater intensity treatments (Jones et al, 2010a). Past studies have credited snag retention in regenerating pine plantations for greater bird relative abundances (Darden, 1980;Brooks et al, 1995;Hanberry et al, 2012). Snag retention provides additional structure for bark foraging and sallying insectivores including many woodpeckers, Carolina chickadees, and flycatchers (Dickson et al, 1983;Caine and Marion, 1991).…”

“…Determination of bird-vegetation associations, the objective of our study, was not the original intent of the study design, which was instead focused on investigating biodiversity responses to stand-establishment treatments (e.g., Jones et al, 2009bJones et al, ,c, 2010aJones et al, ,b, 2012Hanberry et al, 2012). Future investigations of bird-vegetation relationships within a designed field experiment framework could benefit from bird-centered habitat measurements at larger and varying spatial scales (McCoy and Mushinsky, 1994;Mitchell et al, 2001;Saab and Powell, 2005) and among treatments that are economically feasible in an industrial forest setting .…”

“…Selectivity and application methods of forest herbicides further increase vegetation management options without the complete weed control typical of row-crop agriculture Shepard et al, 2004;Welch et al, 2004). Past research has focused on vegetation or bird responses to site preparation and herbaceous control treatments (e.g., O'Connell and Miller, 1994;Hanberry et al, 2012), but information is lacking regarding bird-vegetation relationships from site preparation through canopy closure ($year 8), particularly comparing varying intensities of treatments, in southeastern intensively managed pine stands (Lane et al, 2011).…”

“…Therefore, within the framework of an existing study (e.g., Hanberry et al, 2012;Jones et al, 2012), we investigated bird habitat associations from stand establishment through canopy closure with an experimental design that employed a gradient of stand establishment treatment combinations. We hypothesized that transitions in bird communities would reflect vegetation communities shifting from weed/forb/grass plant communities containing many high-priority bird species to shrub-scrub vegetation communities containing mostly lower-priority, forest generalists and edge associated bird species.…”