Longleaf pine management practices and their impact on small mammal populations

Karmacharya, Binab; Hostetler, Jeffrey A.; Conner, L. Mike; Morris, Gail; Oli, Madan K.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2012.01.031

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…(Robinson ) or a decrease in seed availability, an important food source for Peromyscus mice (Sharp et al ). Karmacharya et al () documented greater P. gossypinus survival soon after prescribed fire treatments, which could explain the slightly greater abundance in more recently burned forest stands. Similarly, other studies (Converse et al , Greenberg et al ) documented short‐term increases in P. maniculatus populations after forest thinning and immediately after prescribed fire.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Small mammals are an important component of many terrestrial ecosystems and depend on the ground‐level vegetation most commonly affected by prescribed fire. Small mammals are primary consumers and an important prey source for many larger mammals, snakes, and raptors (Masters and Lochmiller , Karmacharya et al ). Consumption of plant material and seeds by small mammals can affect succession of plant communities and stability of plant populations (Davidson , Valone and Schutzenhofer ).…”

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Influence of vegetation type and prescribed fire onPeromyscusabundance in a longleaf pine ecosystem

et al. 2017

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Prescribed fire temporarily can alter food and cover resources for ground-dwelling wildlife, potentially leading to changes in animal abundance. Small mammals are an important ecosystem component in many terrestrial communities and depend on ground-level vegetation most commonly affected by prescribed fire. In this complex system of food and cover availability where easier access to food might compromise cover, and vice versa, it is imperative to study postfire habitat use by mice and other grounddwelling wildlife. We evaluated effects of time since burn and vegetation type on Peromyscus spp. abundance in a longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) ecosystem in Fort Bragg Military Installation, North Carolina, USA, during 2011 and 2012. We trapped in 5 vegetation types and captured 208 individual Peromyscus. Peromyscus abundance did not differ among 1, 2, and 3 years postburn upland pine vegetation types, although we noted a trend of decreasing abundance as time since burn increased; however, abundance was greater in the lowland hardwood vegetation type than in open areas (i.e., military drop zones). The lack of an effect of time since burn could be due to the short fire-return interval at the study site, which limited the time for postburn shifts in the composition of the understory from herbaceous to woody plant species. Therefore, we suggest future research in the longleaf pine ecosystem incorporate a wider time frame to assess short-and long-term effects of fire on small mammal populations. Ó 2017 The Wildlife Society.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of vegetation type and prescribed fire onPeromyscusabundance in a longleaf pine ecosystem

et al. 2017

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“…Although alternative methods are available to control fire-intolerant woody vegetation, such as mechanical thinning and the use of herbicides, prescribed fire best mimics natural disturbance processes and maintains a diverse herbaceous layer (Barnett 1999, Frost 2006. Furthermore, frequent fire, used either exclusively or in addition to other treatment methods, has proved beneficial for a variety of wildlife in longleaf pine systems (Wilson et al 1995, Russell et al 1999, Litt et al 2001, Karmacharya et al 2012.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relative importance of multiscale factors in the distribution of Bachman's Sparrow and the implications for ecosystem conservation

2015

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“…Each site was relatively homogenous in soil type, slope, and fire frequency (see Brudvig et al 2013 for further details). Since fire regime is an important driver of rodent population dynamics, habitat structure, and plant communities in this system (Frost 2006, Morris et al 2011a, b, Karmacharya et al 2012), we selected sites that spanned a fire regime ranging from 0 to 12 yr since the last prescribed burn to capture the range of variation typical in managed longleaf pine woodlands (Frost 2006). A primary obstacle to studying land‐use history is that agricultural history can be confounded with other properties of the site that were favored for agriculture (Flinn and Vellend 2005).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Past and present disturbances generate spatial variation in seed predation

Bartel

Orrock

2020

Ecosphere

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Seed survival is a key process for plant populations; variation in the activity and abundance of animals that consume seeds can lead to dramatic shifts in seed fate. Because granivores may respond to contemporary disturbance as well as to enduring changes in habitats caused by past disturbances, understanding seed fate requires studies capable of evaluating how past and present disturbances modify granivore communities, foraging activity, and ultimately, seed predation. Historic agricultural land use and contemporary canopy harvesting are widespread disturbances that could generate large-scale patterns of seed fate by modifying environmental characteristics that determine granivore identity and behavior. To evaluate whether land-use history and canopy harvesting affect seed-animal interactions, we conducted an experiment distributed across 80,000 ha of longleaf pine woodlands that coupled large-scale canopy harvesting at seven 4-ha sites containing both post-agricultural land use and nonagricultural land use in South Carolina, United States. We deployed a total of 28,000 nail-tagged seeds and recovered the tags to quantify seed fate. Past agricultural land use and contemporary canopy harvesting interacted to affect the rate of seed predation. Seed predation rates in harvested sites depended on land-use history: Seed predation was 30% lower in post-agricultural plots than in nonagricultural plots. This interaction was driven by the differential effect of land-use history and canopy harvesting on rodent activity. Camera traps revealed that Sigmodon hispidus only foraged in harvested plots and was most active in nonagricultural plots. In harvested plots, seed removal increased with S. hispidus activity. In unharvested plots, seed removal increased with Sciurus niger activity, but S. niger was not affected by land-use history. In finding that land-use history and canopy harvesting determine the outcomes of seed-animal interactions, we show that understanding patterns of seed predation is contingent upon the interplay of disturbances in both the distant past and recent past. These results suggest that patterns of past land use and present land use may help reconcile the considerable variation in seed fate observed in ecological communities.

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Longleaf pine management practices and their impact on small mammal populations

Cited by 6 publications

References 27 publications

Influence of vegetation type and prescribed fire onPeromyscusabundance in a longleaf pine ecosystem

Influence of vegetation type and prescribed fire onPeromyscusabundance in a longleaf pine ecosystem

The relative importance of multiscale factors in the distribution of Bachman's Sparrow and the implications for ecosystem conservation

Past and present disturbances generate spatial variation in seed predation

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