Short- and long-term implications of clearcut and two-age silviculture for conservation of breeding forest birds in the central Appalachians, USA

Effects of clearcutting, patch cutting, and low-density shelterwoods on breeding birds and tree regeneration in New Hampshire northern hardwoods

“…Richness and abundance of birds in this habitat category peaked between 3 and 6 years post-harvest and, although still present 9 years post-harvest, data from this study and others show decreasing observations of early successional birds with age of cut (DeGraaf 1987, McDermott andWood 2009). These observations demonstrate the need to keep the time period between regeneration cuts short enough to maintain the presence of early successional bird species regardless of the system used.…”

Threshold responses of songbirds to long-term timber management on an active industrial forest

“…Studies in heavily forested areas have found limited edge effects (Rudnicky and Hunter, 1993), low populations of nest predators and Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater; Annand and Thompson, 1997;Rodewald and Yahner, 2001;Moorman et al, 2002), and little overall effect on nest success (Duguay et al, 2001;Moorman et al, 2002;Gram et al, 2003), however, smaller residual forest patches can support less prey biomass for ground foraging bird species (Burke and Nol, 1998) and gap formation and harvesting can depress arthropod availability (Duguay et al, 2000). Harvests increase availability of early successional habitats which increases abundance of early successional and generalist species (Duguay et al, 2001;McDermott and Wood, 2009) and which are used by forest-interior bird species and their young post-breeding (Marshall et al, 2003;Dellinger, 2007;McDermott 2007). Therefore, in a forest-dominated landscape harvesting might be an important management tool to support a broad array of bird species.…”

“…Clear-cutting, the complete removal of mature trees, creates habitat for early successional species and temporarily displaces mature forest species (Annand and Thompson, 1997;Duguay et al, 2001;Gram et al, 2003;Keller et al, 2003). Heavy partial harvests, including shelterwood and deferment harvests, create habitat for early successional species, whereas retained overstory trees benefit mature forest species (Annand and Thompson, 1997;Rodewald and Yahner, 2000;Augenfeld et al, 2008;McDermott and Wood, 2009). Clear-cuts and heavy partial harvests simulate large, infrequent natural disturbances such as large windstorms and fire (Thompson and DeGraaf, 2001); whereas, light partial harvests create small forest openings similar to light to moderate intensity wind and ice storms (Greenberg and Lanham, 2001;Faccio, 2003).…”

Avian response to timber harvesting applied experimentally to manage Cerulean Warbler breeding populations

“…Species such as Chestnut-sided Warbler and Yellow-breasted Chat, which are often found in regenerating central hardwoods clearcuts (Eckerle and Thompson, 2001;McDermott and Wood, 2009;Richardson and Brauning, 2013), increased at the low end of the RBA gradient. Harvests achieving low levels of RBA (e.g., $5 m 2 ha…”

“…Of the many studies that have addressed stand level, numeric responses of bird species to various harvest prescriptions (e.g., see review by Haulton, 2008), those that examine a wide range in the amount of timber removed (e.g., Annand and Thompson, 1997;Baker and Lacki, 1997;McDermott and Wood, 2009;Norris et al, 2009) clearly indicate a continuum of early to late successional forest bird responses along a harvest intensity gradient. At a much broader scale, Vanderwel et al (2007) modeled this continuum in a meta-analysis of 42 North American studies of harvesting effects on birds.…”