Habitat Quality Following Mid‐Rotation Treatment in Conservation Reserve Program Pines

Abstract

Evaluation of habitat management practices at mid‐rotation is needed for pine (Pinus spp.) plantations enrolled in cost‐share programs. Plantations established in abandoned agricultural fields may have different understory plant communities than those with a long history of forest cover. Mid‐rotation pine plantations often have a hardwood midstory that limits development of early succession habitat components important to white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; deer) and northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; bobwhite). We treated with imazapyr herbicide and prescribed burning (HB) 11 thinned, 13–22‐year‐old pine plantations in the Upper East Gulf Coastal Plain of Mississippi, USA, enrolled in cost‐share programs, and we sampled plant community response during the summers of 2003 and 2004, years 1 and 2 posttreatment. The HB treatment created a more open structure with greater coverage of debris and herbaceous plants than in controls. Increased forb coverage in HB plots yielded a more seasonally diverse foraging base for deer. Horizontal screening cover developed slowly in HB plots and was more abundant in control plots. Autumn and winter food‐plant coverage for bobwhite was provided by either treatment, but accessibility was improved in HB plots relative to controls. Bobwhite nesting cover was improved by HB relative to controls but was still of marginal quality. Brood‐rearing habitat was precluded in both treatments due to lack of bare ground. Our results indicate that imazapyr followed by prescribed fire is a beneficial tool for creating early succession habitat for deer and bobwhite in mid‐rotation pine plantations with a history of agricultural use. Continued management with periodic prescribed fire and overstory thinning should be instituted to maintain and perhaps improve these conditions.

Northern bobwhite habitat use in a food subsidized pyric landscape

“…Although bobwhites face a myriad of nest predators (Hernandez et al , Staller et al ), in the Southeast, nest mortality can largely be attributed to mesopredators and snake depredation (Staller et al , DeGregorio et al ). Fire can create vegetation conditions that promote quality nesting cover, increase food resources (i.e., insects), and support mobility through an increase in bare ground (Stoddard , Jones et al , Adams et al ). Cover created by a 2‐year fire frequency may provide concealment for nests while still allowing ease of mobility and decreased visual obstruction for predator avoidance.…”

Influence of landscape composition on northern bobwhite population response to field border establishment

“…Large-scale farming and intensive pine silviculture reduced habitat quality and landscape heteroge-neity (Brennan 1991, Fies et al 1992, Burger 2002, Pociak 2007, Jones et al 2010. Fire suppression facilitated forest maturation and degradation of herbaceous ground cover, and urbanization eliminated bobwhite habitat and fragmented residual habitat patches (Best et al 1997, Burger 2002, Terhune et al 2006, Okay 2008, Jones et al 2009).…”

Successional trajectory of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantations established using intensive management in Southern Mississippi, USA

“…However, each treatment yielded an economically viable plantation (Jones et al, 2010), and use of broadcast HWC in particular may be biologically and financially unnecessary. Thus, investment in broadcast HWC may be more usefully diverted to treat stands following thinning, when an open-canopied condition again allows for understory manipulations that can enhance biodiversity (Harrington and Edwards, 1999;Zobrist et al, 2005;Jones et al, 2009a;Iglay, 2010).…”