Conserving avian richness through structure retention in managed forests of the Pacific Northwest, USA

Linden, Daniel W.; Roloff, Gary J.; Kroll, Andrew J.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2012.08.002

Cited by 27 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Site preparation, planting of specific genotypes or clones and control of competing vegetation are critical tools for meeting production targets [14,15]. Implementing these tools at the harvest unit (i.e., stand) scale, combined with a reduction or absence of natural disturbances and application of forest practice regulations, creates novel landscape patterns that differ substantially from those created by historic disturbance regimes alone [16][17][18]. Increasing intensity of forest management, which compresses successional development, particularly the duration in which stands reside in mature structural stages, has unique implications for organisms with limited dispersal capabilities and slow rates of population growth, such as salamanders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slow Lives in the Fast Landscape: Conservation and Management of Plethodontid Salamanders in Production Forests of the United States

Homyack

Kroll

2014

Forests

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Intensively-managed forest (IMF) ecosystems support environmental processes, retain biodiversity and reduce pressure to extract wood products from other forests, but may affect species, such as plethodontid salamanders, that are associated with closed canopies and possess limited vagility. We describe: (1) critical aspects of IMF ecosystems; (2) effectiveness of plethodontid salamanders as barometers of forest change; (3) two case studies of relationships between salamanders and coarse woody debris (CWD); and (4) research needs for effective management of salamanders in IMF ecosystems. Although plethodontid salamanders are sensitive to microclimate changes, their role as ecological indicators rarely have been evaluated quantitatively. Our case studies of CWD and salamanders in western and eastern forests demonstrated effects of species, region and spatial scale on the existence and strength of relationships between plethodontid species and a "critical" microhabitat variable. Oregon slender salamanders (Batrachoseps wrighti) were more strongly associated with abundance of CWD in managed second growth forests than ensatina salamanders (Ensatina eschscholtzii). Similarly, CWD was not an important predictor of abundance of Appalachian salamanders in managed hardwood forest. OPEN ACCESSForests 2014, 5 2751Gaining knowledge of salamanders in IMF ecosystems is critical to reconciling ecological and economic objectives of intensive forest management, but faces challenges in design and implementation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slow Lives in the Fast Landscape: Conservation and Management of Plethodontid Salamanders in Production Forests of the United States

Homyack

Kroll

2014

Forests

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“…These findings suggest that nest‐site availability may be a limiting factor for white‐headed woodpeckers in this system, a common scenario observed for cavity‐nesting species in managed forests (Newton ). An initial analysis of these data came to a somewhat similar conclusion regarding the importance of snag density (Linden ), yet this previous effort only considered observations from the single year (2010) that used a repeated survey design. Using a hierarchical modeling framework made the inclusion of the 2009 single‐visit data trivial, as the separation of the state and observation processes allowed us to use information from the observation process in 2010 to inform observations from 2009 while fully accounting for uncertainty in the ecological states.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These conditions reflect the similar time‐since‐harvest (4–5 years) and forest vegetation composition for the sampled sites. Thus, we considered snag density an appropriate proxy for nest‐site availability and chose the 25 cm diameter threshold to reflect white‐headed woodpecker nest‐site preferences demonstrated by previous studies (Milne and Hejl ) and our own observations (95% of nest trees >25 cm [ n = 89]; Linden ). We assumed the loss of standing snags between 2009 and 2010 was minimal (Russell et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It could also happen when a site is occupied by an adult that does not eventually nest (e.g., unsuccessful mate pairing) and leaves the area. While early season nest failures may have gone unobserved, we had ancillary information on the status of monitored nests during each season and observed high nest survival rates (>0.85; Linden ). We also modeled the change in detectability as nests progressed from eggs to fledglings to account for an increased ability to observe nests later in the season (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Linden et al. ). Dead trees, or snags, are ephemeral resources that are particularly difficult to manage for because they are naturally created by stochastic events and eventually decay over time (Morrison and Raphael ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Improving inferences from short‐term ecological studies with Bayesian hierarchical modeling: white‐headed woodpeckers in managed forests

Linden

Roloff

2015

Ecology and Evolution

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Pilot studies are often used to design short-term research projects and long-term ecological monitoring programs, but data are sometimes discarded when they do not match the eventual survey design. Bayesian hierarchical modeling provides a convenient framework for integrating multiple data sources while explicitly separating sample variation into observation and ecological state processes. Such an approach can better estimate state uncertainty and improve inferences from short-term studies in dynamic systems. We used a dynamic multistate occupancy model to estimate the probabilities of occurrence and nesting for white-headed woodpeckers Picoides albolarvatus in recent harvest units within managed forests of northern California, USA. Our objectives were to examine how occupancy states and state transitions were related to forest management practices, and how the probabilities changed over time. Using Gibbs variable selection, we made inferences using multiple model structures and generated model-averaged estimates. Probabilities of white-headed woodpecker occurrence and nesting were high in 2009 and 2010, and the probability that nesting persisted at a site was positively related to the snag density in harvest units. Prior-year nesting resulted in higher probabilities of subsequent occurrence and nesting. We demonstrate the benefit of forest management practices that increase the density of retained snags in harvest units for providing white-headed woodpecker nesting habitat. While including an additional year of data from our pilot study did not drastically alter management recommendations, it changed the interpretation of the mechanism behind the observed dynamics. Bayesian hierarchical modeling has the potential to maximize the utility of studies based on small sample sizes while fully accounting for measurement error and both estimation and model uncertainty, thereby improving the ability of observational data to inform conservation and management strategies.

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Conservation and production responses vary by disturbance intensity in a long‐term forest management experiment

Kroll

Springford

Verschuyl

2020

Ecological Applications

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Reductions in management intensity are often proposed to support a broader range of beneficial ecosystem responses than traditional management approaches. However, few studies evaluate ecosystem responses across approaches. Also, managers lack information about how species traits mediate responses across management approaches, a potentially substantial source of spatial and temporal variation in population and community responses that if ignored may hinder effectiveness of management programs. We used data collected over eight years from a manipulative experiment to test how four forest management strategies influenced avian community composition and wood production. After harvesting, we evaluated responses to three levels of plant cover suppression (Light, Moderate, and Intensive herbicide applications) in relation to a control without herbicide. We predicted the Moderate and Intensive treatments would exert strong negative effects on leaf-gleaning insectivores, including species of conservation concern due to long-term population declines. However, given high forest productivity, we expected temporal duration of effects to be short. Richness of leaf-gleaning bird species was reduced by 20-50% during the first four years post-harvest (when herbicide treatments were ongoing), but the effect size declined over the next four years once treatments were completed (13-20% reduction). Effect sizes were substantially smaller for the non-leaf-gleaner group during years 1-4 (19-27%) and disappeared during years 5-8 (2-3%). However, in our final year of observation, we did find an average of five fewer non-leaf-gleaner species on Light vs. Control units. In the last two years of observation, turnover probabilities for the leaf-gleaner species remained higher on all treatments compared to the Control (0.11-0.21), indicating that new species continued to colonize treatments. Planted conifers were 40-44% taller and 74-81% larger in diameter in the Moderate and Intensive treatments compared to the Control, leading to substantial gains in wood biomass. Current practices provided more balance between two ecosystem responses, avian diversity and wood production, compared to less intensive alternatives. When short-term negative effects occur, the spatial distribution of harvesting and regeneration regionally indicates that habitat is often available locally to support leaf-gleaning and non-leaf-gleaning bird populations while releasing other portions of the region for high priority conservation objectives including late-successional forest reserves.

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Conserving avian richness through structure retention in managed forests of the Pacific Northwest, USA

Cited by 27 publications

References 36 publications

Slow Lives in the Fast Landscape: Conservation and Management of Plethodontid Salamanders in Production Forests of the United States

Slow Lives in the Fast Landscape: Conservation and Management of Plethodontid Salamanders in Production Forests of the United States

Improving inferences from short‐term ecological studies with Bayesian hierarchical modeling: white‐headed woodpeckers in managed forests

Conservation and production responses vary by disturbance intensity in a long‐term forest management experiment

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