Fire and resource managers of the southern Appalachian Mountains, USA, have many questions about the use of prescribed fire and mechanical treatments to meet various land management objectives. Three common

We compared the effects of 3 fuel reduction techniques and a control on breeding birds during 2001‐2005 using 50‐m point counts. Four experimental units, each >14 ha, were contained within each of 3 replicate blocks at the Green River Game Land, Polk County, North Carolina, USA. Treatments were 1) prescribed burn, 2) mechanical understory reduction (chainsaw‐felling of shrubs and small trees), 3) mechanical + burn, and 4) controls. We conducted mechanical treatments in winter 2001‐2002 and prescribed burns in spring 2003. Tall shrub cover was substantially reduced in all treatments compared to controls. Tree mortality and canopy openness was highest in the mechanical + burn treatment after burning, likely due to higher fuel loading and hotter burns; tree mortality increased with time. Many bird species did not detectably decrease or increase in response to treatments. Species richness, total bird density, and some species, including indigo buntings (Passerina cyanea) and eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis), increased in the mechanical + burn treatment after a 1‐year to 2‐year delay; eastern woodpewees (Contopus virens) increased immediately after treatment. Hooded warblers (Wilsonia citrina), black‐and‐white warblers (Mniotilta varia), and worm‐eating warblers (Helmitheros vermivorus) declined temporarily in some or all treatments, likely in response to understory and (or) leaf litter depth reductions. Densities of most species affected by treatments varied with shrub cover, tree or snag density, or leaf litter depth. High snag availability, open conditions, and a higher density of flying insects in the mechanical + burn treatment likely contributed to increased bird density and species richness. In our study, fuel reduction treatments that left the canopy intact, such as low‐intensity prescribed fire or mechanical understory removal, had few detectable effects on breeding birds compared to the mechanical + burn treatment. High‐intensity burning with heavy tree‐kill, as occurred in our mechanical + burn treatment, can be used as a management tool to increase densities of birds associated with open habitat while retaining many forest and generalist species, but may have short‐term adverse effects on some species that are associated with the ground‐ or shrub‐strata for nesting and foraging.

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Forest restoration efforts commonly employ silvicultural methods that alter light and competition to influence species composition. Changes to forest structure and microclimate may adversely affect some taxa (e.g., terrestrial salamanders), but positively affect others (e.g., early successional birds). Salamanders are cited as indicators of ecosystem health because of their sensitivity to forest floor microclimate. We used drift fences with pitfall and funnel traps in a replicated Before-After-Control-Impact design to experimentally assess herpetofaunal community response to initial application of three silvicultural methods proposed to promote oak regeneration: prescribed burning; midstory herbicide; and shelterwood harvests (initial treatment of the shelterwood-burn method) and controls, before and for five years post-treatment. Species richness of all herpetofauna, amphibians, reptiles, frogs, salamanders, or snakes was unaffected by any treatment, but lizard species richness increased in the shelterwood harvest. Capture rate of total salamanders decreased post-harvest in shelterwood units after a 2-3 year delay; Plethodon teyahalee decreased post-harvest in shelterwoods, but also in control units. In contrast, capture rate of total lizards and Plestiodon fasciatus increased in shelterwood stands within the first year post-harvest. Prescribed burn and midstory herbicide treatments did not affect any reptile or amphibian species. A marginally lower proportion of juvenile to adult P. teyahalee, and a higher proportion of juvenile P. fasciatus in shelterwood than control units suggested that heavy canopy removal and associated change in microclimate may differentially affect reproductive success among species. Our study illustrates the importance of longer-term studies to detect potential changes in herpetofaunal communities that may not be immediately apparent after disturbances, and highlights the importance of including multiple taxa for a balanced perspective when weighing impacts of forest management activities.

Dean, "Bird response to fire severity and repeated burning in upland hardwood forest" (2013 a b s t r a c tPrescribed burning is a common management tool for upland hardwood forests, with wildlife habitat improvement an often cited goal. Fire management for wildlife conservation requires understanding how species respond to burning at different frequencies, severities, and over time. In an earlier study, we experimentally assessed how breeding bird communities and species responded to fuel reduction treatments by mechanical understory reduction, low-severity prescribed fires, or mechanical understory reduction followed a year later by high-severity prescribed fires in upland hardwood forest. Here, we assess longer-term response to the initial mechanical treatment (M), and a second low-intensity burn in twice burned (B2) and mechanical + twice burned (MB2) treatments and controls (C). Initial (2003) higher dead fuel loadings and consequently high-severity fires in MB2 created open-canopy structure with abundant snags, resulting in much higher species richness and density of breeding birds compared to other treatments. Relative bird density and richness remained much higher in MB2 after a second burn, but few changes were evident that were not already apparent after one burn. The initial (2003) burn in B2 had cooler, low-severity fires that killed few trees. Delayed tree mortality occurred in both burn treatments after one burn, and continued in both after a second low-intensity burn. In B2, this resulted in gradual development of a ''perforated,'' patchy canopy structure with more snags. Abundance of total birds and most species in B2 was similar to C, but several additional species associated with open-forest conditions occurred at low levels, increasing richness in B2. In both burn treatments, burning temporarily reduced habitat suitability for ground-nesting birds. Bird communities in M were similar to C, as shrubs recovered rapidly. Results indicate that one or two relatively low-intensity burns with patches of hotter fire may result in gradual, subtle changes to canopy cover and structure that may slightly increase bird species richness over time. In contrast, a single high-intensity, high severity fire can create young forest conditions and a heterogeneous canopy structure that can be maintained by repeated burning and increase breeding bird relative abundance and richness by attracting disturbance-adapted species while retaining most other forest species.Published by Elsevier B.V.