Habitat use and nest success of scrub-shrub birds in wildlife and silvicultural openings in western Massachusetts, USA. King, D. I., Chandler, R. B., Schlossberg, S., & Chandler, C. C. Forest Ecology and Management, 257(2):421 - 426, 2009.
Habitat use and nest success of scrub-shrub birds in wildlife and silvicultural openings in western Massachusetts, USA [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Many conservationists are concerned about reports of declining populations of scrub-shrub birds. Wildlife opening management, involving repeatedly burning or mechanically treating early-successional stands, is one strategy for creating habitat for these species, but this practice is costly. Some silvicultural treatments also create scrub-shrub habitat and have the advantage of potentially generating revenue, but the relative effectiveness of wildlife opening management and silviculture for creating bird habitat is not known. During 2004 and 2005, we compared scrub-shrub bird abundance, nest success, and habitat characteristics between wildlife and silvicultural openings in western Massachusetts to determine whether the habitats created by these practices are equivalent for birds. We recorded 1927 detections of 31 scrub-shrub bird species during the course of the study and monitored 368 nests. We found that although most species were present in both treatments, many differed in abundance between wildlife and silvicultural openings, including several species of high conservation concern. These differences were attributable to differences in habitat characteristics between treatments. The overall probability of a nest surviving to fledging was 0.43, and did not differ between wildlife and silvicultural openings. Our results indicate that the habitat quality of wildlife and silvicultural openings is not equivalent for scrub-shrub birds, but the two management approaches serve as complementary strategies for maintaining these declining species.
@ARTICLE{King2009a,
  author = {David I. King and Richard B. Chandler and Scott Schlossberg and Carlin
	C. Chandler},
  title = {Habitat use and nest success of scrub-shrub birds in wildlife and
	silvicultural openings in western Massachusetts, USA},
  journal = {Forest Ecology and Management},
  year = {2009},
  volume = {257},
  pages = {421 - 426},
  number = {2},
  abstract = {Many conservationists are concerned about reports of declining populations
	of scrub-shrub birds. Wildlife opening management, involving repeatedly
	burning or mechanically treating early-successional stands, is one
	strategy for creating habitat for these species, but this practice
	is costly. Some silvicultural treatments also create scrub-shrub
	habitat and have the advantage of potentially generating revenue,
	but the relative effectiveness of wildlife opening management and
	silviculture for creating bird habitat is not known. During 2004
	and 2005, we compared scrub-shrub bird abundance, nest success, and
	habitat characteristics between wildlife and silvicultural openings
	in western Massachusetts to determine whether the habitats created
	by these practices are equivalent for birds. We recorded 1927 detections
	of 31 scrub-shrub bird species during the course of the study and
	monitored 368 nests. We found that although most species were present
	in both treatments, many differed in abundance between wildlife and
	silvicultural openings, including several species of high conservation
	concern. These differences were attributable to differences in habitat
	characteristics between treatments. The overall probability of a
	nest surviving to fledging was 0.43, and did not differ between wildlife
	and silvicultural openings. Our results indicate that the habitat
	quality of wildlife and silvicultural openings is not equivalent
	for scrub-shrub birds, but the two management approaches serve as
	complementary strategies for maintaining these declining species.},
  doi = {10.1016/j.foreco.2008.09.014},
  issn = {0378-1127},
  keywords = {Early-successional, Forestry, Invasive plants, Management, Shrubland,
	Silviculture },
  owner = {eric},
  subdatabase = {distance},
  timestamp = {2010.04.26},
  url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6T6X-4TR97MH-1/2/39e234011a9f466bf1b49780eb1b9505}
}

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