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Introduction

Wildlife communities are important components of southern forests (Dickson 2001). Many wildlife species have the potential to impact forest structure and species composition, and they are all affected by forest disturbance. Forest disturbance may be human-induced through prescribed burning, silvicultural treatments, or road building; or natural, by storms, insects and disease, or wildfire. These disturbance mechanisms influence forest communities by locally setting back succession. With fire, succession can be arrested at a desired point. With clearcuts, forest communities may be brought back to stand initiation and allowed to make the transition through several successional stages.

A diverse array of wildlife species exists in southern forests. Each species requires certain forest types and successional stages. Many species thrive in early successional habitat, while others require mature forests to maintain viable populations. Proper forest management has the potential to benefit a variety of wildlife species by providing a variety of forest conditions in many successional stages.

Many wildlife species or populations impact the environment in which they live. For example, white-tailed deer can affect midstory growth and tree species reproduction by overbrowsing. Beavers, which are now common in many southern forests, can impact forest communities by flooding the land. Other rodents can have major impacts by feeding on acorns in artificially reforested areas. Birds disperse the seeds of many plant species, potentially adding to plant diversity or introducing exotic species.

Relationships between animal communities and plant communities are complex. Any forest-community disturbance has the potential to positively impact some wildlife species and negatively impact others.

Wildlife communities are most affected by forest structure and species composition. Forest management, by nature, impacts these variables to produce desirable conditions for wood production. Since wildlife are dependent on the plant communities where they live, the bulk of this chapter addresses the impacts of forest management on native plant communities and subsequent effects on wildlife. Much attention is devoted to the ecology of southern forest plant communities.