There is little information on the effects of tree harvest on salamander populations in the midwestern United States. We present data on plethodontid salamander densities in replicated stands of three forest age classes in the southeastern Ozarks of Missouri. Forest age classes consisted of regeneration‐cut sites <5 years old, second‐growth sites 70–80 years old, and old‐growth sites> 120 years old. Salamander abundance on 21, 144‐m2 plots was determined by area‐ and time‐constrained searches. We also compared age‐class habitat characteristics, including downed woody debris, canopy cover, ground area cover, herbaceous vegetation, and woody vegetation. Salamander density was lowest in newly regenerated forests and highest in forests> 120 years old. Comparisons of recently regenerated forests with mature forests> 70 years old indicated that terrestrial salamanders were reduced to very low numbers when mature forests had been intensively harvested. This reduction may result from a decrease in microhabitat availability. Forest age‐class comparisons further indicated that salamander abundance slowly increased over time after forests had regenerated. Management decisions that take into account plethodontid salamander abundance and their response to forest structural diversity are important components in sustaining ecosystem integrity while maximizing economic yield.
As forest managers in the Midwest focus more attention toward understanding and maintaining ecosystem processes, greater emphasis is being placed on the role of snags and down wood in providing wildlife habitat, cycling nutrients, and maintaining continuity in forest structure following harvest. We measured five remnant old-growth hardwood tracts and six mature, second-growth, hardwood tracts in Missouri and compared findings concerning (1) the volume of down wood and (2) the number and size distribution of snags (i.e., standing dead trees). Volume of down wood ≥ 10 cm in diameter averaged 36 m³/ha on the old-growth tracts, double the 18 m³/ha mean volume for the second-growth sites. This difference in volume was concentrated in pieces of down wood with diameters larger than 20 cm; below diameters of 20 cm the number of pieces of down wood by diameter class was similar for the old-growth and second-growth sites. On the old-growth sites, the mean basal area of snags ≥ 10 cm dbh was 1.9 m²/ha. This was approximately 1.5 times greater than the mean basal area of snags on the second-growth sites. The number of snags ≥ 10 cm dbh on the old growth sites was approximately 9% pf the number of live trees on those sites. The corresponding value for second-growth sites was 8%. On both the old-growth and second-growth sites, the number of snags and the number of live trees by dbh class followed a negative exponential (reverse-J) form. Frequency distributions for the number of snags by dbh class closely followed those for live trees on the same sites. These results provide managers with general guidelines for the quantity of down wood likely to be found in mature second-growth forests and old-growth forests. We also provide some provisional rules of thumb for estimating the density and size distribution of snags from values observed for live trees in the same stand. North. J. Appl. For. 14(4):165-172.
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