1 / 59

Pine-grassland Birds and the Effects of Fire Frequency, Seasonality, and Scale

Pine-grassland Birds and the Effects of Fire Frequency, Seasonality, and Scale. Jim Cox Tall Timbers Research Station. Pine-grassland forests in Florida support more species of breeding birds per acre than hardwood-dominated forests. Frequency Season Scale. Frequency Season Scale.

leoma
Download Presentation

Pine-grassland Birds and the Effects of Fire Frequency, Seasonality, and Scale

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Pine-grassland Birds and the Effects of Fire Frequency, Seasonality, and Scale Jim Cox Tall Timbers Research Station

  2. Pine-grassland forests in Florida support more species of breeding birds per acre than hardwood-dominated forests

  3. Frequency Season Scale

  4. Frequency Season Scale

  5. NB-66 Fire suppression for 40 years 1966 Loblolly-shortleaf 1981 Water oak, sweetgum, pine 2001

  6. Bird Counts on NB66: 1966-1983

  7. Breeding birds on NB66 (1965-2010) 1966 1981

  8. Fire Frequency and Bachman’s Sparrow Trend -2.3%

  9. Nest Site Selection 43 nests in areas burned <10 months 4 nests in areas burned >18 months

  10. Changes in % bare ground with time since burn Bare Ground Bare Ground %

  11. Changes in % bare ground with time since burn Bare Ground % Nests

  12. 6 Months Post-burn 18 Months Post-burn

  13. Burn frequencies optimal for some species may seem extreme Eastern Meadowlark Florida BBS trend: -5.45% per year

  14. Meadowlark Trends on Wade Tract

  15. RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER Cavities excavated only in living pine trees Requires large areas of mature (>90 yrs) pine forests (BA 40-80+) Requires frequent (≤ 3 year) burning.

  16. Greater diversity of arboreal ants on sites burned ≤3 year Red-cockaded Woodpecker

  17. Higher Frequency Improves Nest Productivity • Higher frequency burning puts more calcium into food cycle. • Larger clutches laid in first year after a fire regardless of season.

  18. Global Population <95,000 Winters throughout southeastern pinelands (Oct – Apr) Henslow’s Sparrow

  19. Florida Grasshopper Sparrow and Migratory Grasshopper Sparrow

  20. Burn class = number of growing seasons post-burn M. Korosy , UCF dissertation

  21. Frequency: <3 year return intervals best meet needs of declining pine-grassland birds

  22. Frequency Season Scale

  23. Summer Burns Help to Control Thickets on Apalachicola National Forest

  24. Thickets 1992 Thickets 2008

  25. Bare Ground % Two-year return interval Nests

  26. Return of Breeding Birds Following a Late May Burn 12 ha study area 70 ha burn block burned 5/28/2003 4 surveys prior to burn 9 surveys conducted after burn (1 visit every 5-7 days )

  27. Northern Bobwhite Abundance Effect Coefficient Std Error CONSTANT 0.400 1.418 REG 1.368 0.638 ANOVA Source SS df MS F-ratio P Regression 35.4 1 35.4 3.3 0.06 Residual 118.8 11 10.8 Pre Week1-3 Week4-6 Week6+

  28. Winter Bachman’s Sparrow Abundance Wade Tract Wade Tract Burns

  29. Tall Timbers Fire Plots Established in 1958 Can Early Season Burns Get the Job Done? 2 Year Interval 1 Year Interval 40 Years No Fire 3 Year Interval

  30. …where nearly everyone nests on the ground

  31. Effects of burn season on breeding birds may be different… Nesting season Winter burns Growing season burns

  32. Don’t rush to mimic Mother Nature

  33. Frequency Season Scale

  34. “…burn at the smallest scale possible to improve bobwhite survival and productivity.” Wellendorf and Palmer 2006

  35. Autumn Bobwhite Densities on Large- & Small-scale Burn Plots

  36. 25 acre 50 acre 100 acre Growing season Dormant season

  37. Quail Productivity

  38. Quail Abundance

More Related