Response of bird community structure to habitat management in pinon-juniper woodland-sagebrush ecotones

FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

卷:400

Article

Knick, Steven T.¹  Hanser, Steven E.^1,4  Grace, James B.²  Hollenbeck, Jeffrey P.³  Leu, Matthias^1,5 

[1] US Geol Survey, Forest & Rangeland Ecosyst Sci Ctr, 970 Lusk St, Boise, ID 83706 USA

[2] US Geol Survey, Wetland & Aquat Res Ctr, 700 Cajundome Blvd, Lafayette, IA 70506 USA

[3] US Geol Survey, Forest & Rangeland Ecosyst Sci Ctr, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA

[4] US Geol Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr, Reston, VA 20192 USA

[5] Coll William & Mary, Dept Biol, Williamsburg, VA 23815 USA

关键词: Artemisia;    Disturbance;    Juniper;    Juniperus;    Pinon pine;    Pinus;    Sagebrush;    Structural equation modeling;    Treatment effects;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.foreco.2017.06.017

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Pinon (Pinus spp.) and juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodlands have been expanding their range across the intermountain western United States into landscapes dominated by sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) shrub lands. Management actions using prescribed fire and mechanical cutting to reduce woodland cover and control expansion provided opportunities to understand how environmental structure and changes due to these treatments influence bird communities in pinon-juniper systems. We surveyed 43 species of birds and measured vegetation for 1-3 years prior to treatment and 6-7 years post-treatment at 13 locations across Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. We used structural equation modeling to develop and statistically test our conceptual model that the current bird assembly at a site is structured primarily by the previous bird community with additional drivers from current and surrounding habitat conditions as well as external regional bird dynamics. Treatment reduced woodland cover by > 5% at 80 of 378 survey sites. However, habitat change achieved by treatment was highly variable because actual disturbance differed widely in extent and intensity. Biological inertia in the bird community was the strongest single driver; 72% of the variation in the bird assemblage was explained by the community that existed seven years earlier. Greater net reduction in woodlands resulted in slight shifts in the bird community to one having ecotone or shrubland affinities. However, the overall influence of woodland changes from treatment were relatively small and were buffered by other extrinsic factors. Regional bird dynamics did not significantly influence the structure of local bird communities at our sites. Our results suggest that bird communities in pinon-juniper woodlands can be highly stable when management treatments are conducted in areas with more advanced woodland development and at the level of disturbance measured in our study. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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