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Habitat use of two songbird species in pine-hardwood forests treated with prescribed burning and thinning: first year results

Formally Refereed

Abstract

We evaluated habitat use and home range size of hooded warblers (Wilsonia citrine) and worm-eating warblers (Helmitheros vermivorus) in six treated mixed oak-pine stands on the Bankhead National Forest in north-central AL. Study design is a randomized complete block with a factorial arrangement of three thinning levels (no thin, 11 m2/ha residual basal area, and 17 m2/ha residual basal area) and two burn treatments (burn and no burn). Data used in this analysis included those collected from the first of three replications during the first post-treatment year, between May and July 2006. Habitat use and territory size were quantified via territory mapping based on radio telemetry and burst sampling methods. Habitat variables collected within and outside territories were used to determine habitat preferences. Our results suggest that birds on the treatment plots relied on areas left untreated in the stand or uncut areas adjacent to cut stands. Home ranges of both species were relatively large. Habitat within home range had a greater slope, canopy cover, number of trees, basal area, and tree species richness than unused areas.

Parent Publication

Citation

Wick, Jill M.; Wang, Yong. 2010. Habitat use of two songbird species in pine-hardwood forests treated with prescribed burning and thinning: first year results. In: Stanturf, John A., ed. 2010. Proceedings of the 14th biennial southern silvicultural research conference. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS–121. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 501-504.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/35925