The importance of disturbance and forest structure to bird abundance in the Black Hills

Elizabeth A. Matseur; Joshua J. Millspaugh; Frank R. Thompson; Brian E. Dickerson; Mark A. Rumble

doi:10.1093/condor/duy023

The importance of disturbance and forest structure to bird abundance in the Black Hills

Elizabeth A. Matseur
, Joshua J. Millspaugh
, Frank R. Thompson
, Brian E. Dickerson
, Mark A. Rumble

Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Many North American birds associated with forest disturbances such as wildfire and mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks are declining in abundance. More information on relationships between avian abundance and forest structure and disturbance is needed to guide conservation and management. Our objective was to determine densities of American Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis), Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus), Redbreasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), Brown Creeper (Certhia americana), and White-winged Junco (Junco hyemalis aikeni) in relation to vegetation characteristics and disturbance at the point and landscape level in the Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains of South Dakota and Wyoming. We conducted 3 point counts from late March to late June 2015 and 2016 at more than 2,300 locations distributed across a gradient of forest structure and disturbance types. We estimated densities using 3-level hierarchical time-removal models that simultaneously estimated abundance, availability, and detection probability. Black-backed Woodpeckers were positively related to percent area in 1-to 3-year-old wildfires and Brown Creepers were positively associated with percent area in 4-to 5-year-old wildfires; however, Redbreasted Nuthatches were negatively related to percent area in 3-to 5-year-old wildfires. With the exception of American Three-toed Woodpeckers, species were positively related to percent cover of beetle-killed trees. Brown Creepers, Whitewinged Juncos, and Red-breasted Nuthatches had mixed responses to percent overstory canopy cover. White-winged Juncos also had a positive association with percent ground vegetation at the point and landscape level. Brown Creepers were strongly linked with spruce vegetation type. American Three-toed Woodpeckers, which are thought to occupy spruce forest in the Black Hills, did not show a strong relationship with any covariates. Maintaining some areas of natural disturbances along with heterogeneity of vegetation characteristics within stands and at the landscape scale will benefit the needs of a diverse bird community in the Black Hills.

Original language	English
Article number	duy023
Journal	Condor
Volume	121
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/condor/duy023
State	Published - May 23 2019

Funding

We thank J. Guenther, J. Wilson, C. Yeager, T. Jacobs, L. McCullough, S. Freeman, Z. McDonald, and N. Meadows for their help with fieldwork. Funding statement: Major funding for this project was provided by U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station agreement 14-JV-11221632-104, Black Hills National Forest agreement ISA_0203-14-009, South Dakota Division of Agriculture, Division of Conservation and Forestry agreement 14-CO-11221532-090, South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, Division of Wildlife agreement 14-CO-11221632-151, and Wyoming Game and Fish Commission agreement 14-CO-11221632-144. This study was funded in part by federal funding through State Wildlife Grant T-65-R-1, Study 2476, administered through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and provided by the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks. None of these funding agencies had input into the content of this manuscript or required approval of the manuscript before submission or publication. Ethics statement: The University of Missouri Standard of Conduct was followed throughout this study and university employees completed the required training “Building a Foundation: Discrimination Prevention and Title IX.” No animal subjects were handled in this research. # These authors contributed equally to the paper. Author contributions: E.A.M, J.J.M., F.R.T., and M.A.R. formulated the questions; E.A.M. and B.E.D. collected data and supervised research; E.A.M., F.R.T., and J.J.M. analyzed the data; and E.A.M. wrote the paper. Data deposits: Data is deposited with the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, and can be accessed at https://www.fs.fed.us/rmrs/search/data?f%5B0%5 D = type%3Adatasets.

Funders	Funder number
14-CO-11221532-090
Wildlife Resources Division	14-CO-11221632-151
Wyoming Game and Fish Commission	T-65-R-1, 14-CO-11221632-144
U.S. Forest Service-Retired	ISA_0203-14-009, 14-JV-11221632-104

Keywords

Bird abundance
Black Hills
disturbance
point counts
time-removal models

Access to Document

10.1093/condor/duy023

Cite this

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title = "The importance of disturbance and forest structure to bird abundance in the Black Hills",

abstract = "Many North American birds associated with forest disturbances such as wildfire and mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks are declining in abundance. More information on relationships between avian abundance and forest structure and disturbance is needed to guide conservation and management. Our objective was to determine densities of American Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis), Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus), Redbreasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), Brown Creeper (Certhia americana), and White-winged Junco (Junco hyemalis aikeni) in relation to vegetation characteristics and disturbance at the point and landscape level in the Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains of South Dakota and Wyoming. We conducted 3 point counts from late March to late June 2015 and 2016 at more than 2,300 locations distributed across a gradient of forest structure and disturbance types. We estimated densities using 3-level hierarchical time-removal models that simultaneously estimated abundance, availability, and detection probability. Black-backed Woodpeckers were positively related to percent area in 1-to 3-year-old wildfires and Brown Creepers were positively associated with percent area in 4-to 5-year-old wildfires; however, Redbreasted Nuthatches were negatively related to percent area in 3-to 5-year-old wildfires. With the exception of American Three-toed Woodpeckers, species were positively related to percent cover of beetle-killed trees. Brown Creepers, Whitewinged Juncos, and Red-breasted Nuthatches had mixed responses to percent overstory canopy cover. White-winged Juncos also had a positive association with percent ground vegetation at the point and landscape level. Brown Creepers were strongly linked with spruce vegetation type. American Three-toed Woodpeckers, which are thought to occupy spruce forest in the Black Hills, did not show a strong relationship with any covariates. Maintaining some areas of natural disturbances along with heterogeneity of vegetation characteristics within stands and at the landscape scale will benefit the needs of a diverse bird community in the Black Hills.",

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N2 - Many North American birds associated with forest disturbances such as wildfire and mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks are declining in abundance. More information on relationships between avian abundance and forest structure and disturbance is needed to guide conservation and management. Our objective was to determine densities of American Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis), Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus), Redbreasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), Brown Creeper (Certhia americana), and White-winged Junco (Junco hyemalis aikeni) in relation to vegetation characteristics and disturbance at the point and landscape level in the Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains of South Dakota and Wyoming. We conducted 3 point counts from late March to late June 2015 and 2016 at more than 2,300 locations distributed across a gradient of forest structure and disturbance types. We estimated densities using 3-level hierarchical time-removal models that simultaneously estimated abundance, availability, and detection probability. Black-backed Woodpeckers were positively related to percent area in 1-to 3-year-old wildfires and Brown Creepers were positively associated with percent area in 4-to 5-year-old wildfires; however, Redbreasted Nuthatches were negatively related to percent area in 3-to 5-year-old wildfires. With the exception of American Three-toed Woodpeckers, species were positively related to percent cover of beetle-killed trees. Brown Creepers, Whitewinged Juncos, and Red-breasted Nuthatches had mixed responses to percent overstory canopy cover. White-winged Juncos also had a positive association with percent ground vegetation at the point and landscape level. Brown Creepers were strongly linked with spruce vegetation type. American Three-toed Woodpeckers, which are thought to occupy spruce forest in the Black Hills, did not show a strong relationship with any covariates. Maintaining some areas of natural disturbances along with heterogeneity of vegetation characteristics within stands and at the landscape scale will benefit the needs of a diverse bird community in the Black Hills.

AB - Many North American birds associated with forest disturbances such as wildfire and mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks are declining in abundance. More information on relationships between avian abundance and forest structure and disturbance is needed to guide conservation and management. Our objective was to determine densities of American Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis), Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus), Redbreasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), Brown Creeper (Certhia americana), and White-winged Junco (Junco hyemalis aikeni) in relation to vegetation characteristics and disturbance at the point and landscape level in the Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains of South Dakota and Wyoming. We conducted 3 point counts from late March to late June 2015 and 2016 at more than 2,300 locations distributed across a gradient of forest structure and disturbance types. We estimated densities using 3-level hierarchical time-removal models that simultaneously estimated abundance, availability, and detection probability. Black-backed Woodpeckers were positively related to percent area in 1-to 3-year-old wildfires and Brown Creepers were positively associated with percent area in 4-to 5-year-old wildfires; however, Redbreasted Nuthatches were negatively related to percent area in 3-to 5-year-old wildfires. With the exception of American Three-toed Woodpeckers, species were positively related to percent cover of beetle-killed trees. Brown Creepers, Whitewinged Juncos, and Red-breasted Nuthatches had mixed responses to percent overstory canopy cover. White-winged Juncos also had a positive association with percent ground vegetation at the point and landscape level. Brown Creepers were strongly linked with spruce vegetation type. American Three-toed Woodpeckers, which are thought to occupy spruce forest in the Black Hills, did not show a strong relationship with any covariates. Maintaining some areas of natural disturbances along with heterogeneity of vegetation characteristics within stands and at the landscape scale will benefit the needs of a diverse bird community in the Black Hills.

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The importance of disturbance and forest structure to bird abundance in the Black Hills

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