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birds and pine plantations



A research team has published the results of an assessment of the impacts of 
conversion of natural forests on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee to pine 
plantations and urban areas.  The report was prepared as a part of the 
recently released Southern Forest Resource Assessment.  This federal study 
identified conversion of millions of acres of natural forests in the 
Southeast to plantations and urban areas as the principal causes of forest 
change.  These are major concerns in the Carolinas.  Much debate exists on 
the relative value of pine plantations as bird habitat and the effects of 
urbanization on birds.  Few comparative studies exist and this research is a 
welcome addition to the ongoing debate.  The following summary is from the 
report:  

Bird Community Assessment 
Our field surveys of breeding birds found that pine plantations had the
lowest bird diversity and had the lowest conservation value, as measured by
independently-derived Partners in Flight (PIF) priority scores. The intact
native forests had the next highest diversity and PIF conservation value.
These intact native forests had some of the highest levels of bird diversity
found anywhere in the forests of the south-eastern U.S., indicating that
this region offers high quality habitat for forest-dwelling birds.
Residential/rural areas (including suburban areas and rural areas with low
housing density) and thinned native forests had the highest diversity of
breeding birds and the highest PIF conservation value.
Neither pine plantations nor residential areas can support the bird
communities found in the native forests of the Cumberland Plateau. However,
residential areas provide habitat for several species that are found in no
other habitat types on the Plateau. In addition, residential areas, young
pine plantations, and thinned native forests all provide habitat for a few
specialist bird species that require a more open or grassy habitat. Some of
these specialists are also present in patches of natural disturbance in
native forests. 
Our findings are in broad agreement with field studies conducted elsewhere.
There is, however, evidence that the species-rich bird communities of the
Cumberland Plateau are more vulnerable to loss of bird diversity when
subjected to intensive timber management than are bird communities with
relatively low species richness in other regions such as boreal and
sub-boreal forests.

The full study can be accessed at:

http://lal.sewanee.edu/saa/intro.html


Derb Carter
Chapel Hill
derbc@selcnc.org