Habitat Selection by American Redstarts along a Successional Gradient in Northern Hardwoods Forest: Evaluation of Habitat Quality

Hunt, Peter D.

doi:10.2307/4088865

Cited by 47 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 49 publications

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“…In landbirds, advances in distinguishing yearlings from older adults for many species (Jenni & Winkler, 1994;Pyle, 1997) provide new opportunities to estimate proportions of first-year breeding adult landbirds in populations. Yearling proportions have been found to correlate negatively with landbird population densities (Graves, 1997;Sillett & Holmes, 2005) and positively with marginal, lowerquality, or disturbed habitats, likely the result of competitive exclusion of yearlings by older birds from higher-quality breeding habitats (Graves, 1997;Holmes, Marra & Sherry, 1996;Hunt, 1996;Bayne & Hobson, 2001;Haché & Villard, 2010). Yearling proportion has also correlated positively with reproductive success within a population the previous year (Sillett, Holmes & Sherry, 2000), reflecting a direct demographic effect.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Yearling proportion correlates with habitat structure in a boreal forest landbird community

Pyle

Foster

Godwin

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Landbird vital rates, such as productivity and adult survivorship, can be estimated by modeling mist-netting capture data. The proportion in which an adult breeding bird is 1 year of age (a “yearling”), however, has been studied only minimally in a few landbird species. Here we relate yearling proportion to habitat-structure covariates, including reclamation age, in a boreal forest landbird community. Data were collected at 35 constant-effort mist-netting stations over a 6-year period, and consisted of 12,714 captures of adults, of 29 landbird species, including 4,943 captures of yearlings. Accuracy of age determination (yearling or older) was assessed based on recapture data and error rates were estimated at a mean of 8.1% (range 0.0–19.4%) among the 29 species, with 20 species showing age-error rates <10%. The estimated mean yearling proportion was 0.407, ranging from 0.178 to 0.613 among species. Remote-sensed Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), a measure of habitat greenness, was positively correlated with age since reclamation up to 20 years, at which time it became comparable to that of natural stations. The probability of capturing a yearling for species associated with mature forest was lower at stations with higher EVI and the opposite was the case for species favoring successional habitats. These results suggest that yearling birds are being excluded from preferred breeding habitats by older birds through despotism and/or that yearlings are simply selecting poorer habitat due to lack of breeding experience or other factors. This dynamic appears to be operating in multiple species within this forest landbird community. Captured yearlings may also be “floaters”, or non-breeding individuals not holding territories. However, presuming that yearlings show lower reproductive success whether floating or not, our results suggest that stations with high yearling proportions could be located within sink as opposed to source habitats. Overall, we infer that yearling proportion may become an important vital-rate measure of habitat quality and reclamation efforts, when combined with indices of population size, productivity, reproductive condition and survivorship.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Yearling proportion correlates with habitat structure in a boreal forest landbird community

Pyle

Foster

Godwin

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Effects of forest management on the conservation of bird communities in eastern North America: A meta‐analysis

et al. 2023

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Forest management affects conditions for both early‐ and late‐seral organisms, and managers and conservationists require information for balancing the ostensibly opposing habitat needs of both these guilds. We conducted meta‐analyses that examined silvicultural systems with a range of postharvest retention and their impacts on mature‐forest and shrubland bird species densities in eastern North America during the breeding season. Densities of mature‐forest bird species generally declined as canopy tree retention and basal area decreased, although some mature‐forest species had similar densities among unharvested and partially harvested (e.g., first‐entry shelterwood) stands, and others had their highest densities in shelterwoods. We conducted a previous meta‐analysis study, which showed most shrubland bird species in the region increase with harvest intensity, but some shrubland species had similar densities in clearcuts and shelterwoods. Given the contrasting effects of harvest intensity on the two avian guilds, we used Partners‐in‐Flight conservation values to generate objective community‐wide conservation indices relative to postharvest tree retention. Clearcuts and shelterwoods typically had the highest conservation values, and unharvested and lightly thinned stands (70%–100% tree retention) had the lowest conservation scores. Many declining shrubland bird species of conservation concern are abundant in low‐retention stands, thus elevating the conservation value of these stands. Additionally, high conservation values of harvested stands with 40%–70% tree retention represent the presence of both shrubland and mature‐forest species; the latter are potentially responding to enhanced understory structure needed for avian nesting or foraging. In contrast, contemporary closed‐canopy forests in eastern North America are generally characterized by low structural diversity and are mid‐seral stands due to historical patterns of land use and tree harvesting. Although avian community conservation values were lowest in high‐retention stands and many other threatened, non‐avian taxa depend on open‐canopy, managed forests, managers should note that late‐seral, unharvested stands can provide important habitat for old‐growth‐dependent taxa and any intensive forestry should also take into account other factors. Considering the growing interest in using postharvest retention of canopy trees to meet ecological objectives, our novel synthesis can assist managers in assessing species‐specific and community‐wide avian responses to tree retention levels along the entire gradient of canopy treatments.

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Small territory sizes and high densities of insectivorous birds in an Atlantic Forest secondary fragment, Brazil

Ribon

Marini

2016

Rev. Bras. Ornitol.

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Habitat Selection by American Redstarts along a Successional Gradient in Northern Hardwoods Forest: Evaluation of Habitat Quality

Cited by 47 publications

References 49 publications

Yearling proportion correlates with habitat structure in a boreal forest landbird community

Yearling proportion correlates with habitat structure in a boreal forest landbird community

Effects of forest management on the conservation of bird communities in eastern North America: A meta‐analysis

Small territory sizes and high densities of insectivorous birds in an Atlantic Forest secondary fragment, Brazil

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