The effect of postfire salvage logging on bird communities in Mediterranean pine forests: the benefits for declining species

Abstract

Summary 1.Postfire salvage logging is the most commonly applied forestry practice in burned forests worldwide, mainly for economic reasons. However, it strongly affects bird communities and is generally considered to be detrimental for bird conservation. In Europe, many open-habitat species are currently declining owing to land use changes. Wildfires, which are common disturbances in the Mediterranean Basin, can create suitable habitat for these species but the effect of postfire salvage logging on bird communities is unknown. 2. We surveyed breeding birds in two burned secondary pine forests from the western Mediterranean Basin and analysed the effect of salvage logging and vegetation regeneration as determinants of individual species and community parameters. We used a pseudoexperimental before-after-control-impact approach to study the changes in the bird community during the first three springs after fire. 3. Most bird species were affected by salvage logging (measured by snag density), a relationship that was positive for forest birds and negative for open-habitat species. Species linked to shrub and edge habitats were positively affected by vegetation regrowth. Bird communities in logged areas held more species of conservation concern than those in unlogged areas. Species richness and overall density tended to decrease from the first to the second year after fire and to increase from the second to the third. 4. Salvage logging benefits a number of open-habitat species, although its effect on bird conservation depends strongly on the specific threats that birds face in each region or ecosystem. 5. Synthesis and applications. In the Mediterranean Basin, some postfire salvage logging of pine forests can be compatible with bird conservation. We recommend that managers retain some standing dead trees during logging operations and that logged forest is interspersed with unlogged stands. This will provide suitable habitat for the widest range of species.

Beauty and the beast: how a bat utilizes forests shaped by outbreaks of an insect pest

“…For example, bark insectivorous birds profit from bark beetle outbreaks and the concomitant dieback of infested trees because of the increasing food availability (Drever, Goheen & Martin, 2009). On the other hand, farmland birds in Mediterranean pine forests profit from the habitat opening caused by post-fire salvage logging (Rost et al, 2012). In the case of B. barbastellus not the food availability but the fissures between bark and trunk that create roosting possibilities are favorable.…”

Aridity influences the recovery of vegetation and shrubland birds after wildfire

“…In semiarid areas, plant species richness may correlate well with rainfall during the first five years after fire [61]. Moreover, the presence of plant debris–either scattered or stacked in piles on the ground after logging–seemed to assist the regeneration of the lower and intermediate layers of vegetation in a number of ways: it may provide protection to plants and seeds from herbivores [62]; it can create microclimates favourable to plant growth and development [63]; it can increase the number of seeds in the soil due to deposition by birds that use such structures as perches [25] and soil depth and nutrient concentration may increase around such debris as it retains runoff [64]. Furthermore, the presence of unburnt or partially burnt areas contributed to greater foliage cover of the upper layer because tall shrubs and trees are maintained in these patches.…”

“…On the other hand, salvage logging reduces the density of snags and affects the quantity of wood debris. Snags and fallen dead branches remaining after timber harvesting, affect Mediterranean warblers abundance after wildfire [25, 26]. These factors should be taken into account in postfire bird studies.…”

Using Bird Ecology to Learn About the Benefits of Severe Fire

“…Although the ecological responses of birds to postfire salvage logging may differ among globally different ecosystems (Rost et al, 2012), there is absolutely no ecological justification for this kind of logging in the mixed-conifer forests of the western United States, nor is there an economic justification to salvage log after fire, because there are always better places to harvest timber without anywhere near the negative ecological consequences associated with postfire salvage logging. This is a matter of setting priorities for timber harvest, and burned forests should be at the bottom of the list.…”