Vermivora Chrysoptera) Habitat and Populations in the Cumberland Mountains Confer (1992) North American Breeding Bird Survey
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Effects of Prescribed Burning on Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) Habitat and Populations in the Cumberland Mountains Confer (1992) North American Breeding Bird Survey -3.36%/yr in U.S. (N=239) 2011 population = ~20% of 1966 population -7.3%/yr in TN (N=5) >95% population decline since 1966 (Sauer et al. 2008) 1. Hybridization with Blue-winged Warbler 2. Nest parasitism 3. Stop-over and wintering habitat 4. Loss of breeding habitat Golden-wing Hybrid Blue-wing (Confer 1992, Hunter and Buehler 2001, Vallender et al. 2007 , Buehler et al. 2007) Forest Edge Shrub/Sapling Layer Grass/Forb Layer (Confer 1992) N. Klaus photo • Reclaimed 15 – 30 years ago • Reclamation procedures involved planting of non-native, invasive species: • cool season grasses (Festuca spp.) • Sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) • Also established since reclamation: • black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) • yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) • thickets of blackberry (Rubus spp.) Prescribed Burning 1) Evaluate the effects of prescribed burning on reclaimed mine lands on Golden-winged Warbler abundance and reproductive success 1) Evaluate the effects of prescribed burning on reclaimed mine lands and on forest management areas on Golden-winged Warbler abundance and reproductive success 2) Evaluate the effectiveness of prescribed burning on clearcut land at creating Golden-winged Warbler habitat (Klaus and Buehler 2001) 75,000 ha of state- owned contiguous forest 600 ha managed for GWWA Mountain Sites 1. Massengale 2. Ashlog 3. Fork 4. Burge 5. Bootjack 6. McNew Gap 7. Brushy 8. Anderson 9. Hatfield Knob 10. Red Oak Presence – absence surveys . 8 sites . May – June 15th . Playback every 200 meters (Klaus and Buehler 2001, Kubel and Yahner 2007, Rosenberg and Blancher 2005) Nest searching . Monitor every 2 – 3 days Mark-resight . Color bands (Dinsmore et al. 2002, Battin 2004) Vegetation . Territory transects . Nested-plot 1-m Radius Plots . % cover of: ▪ Grasses ▪ Forbs ▪ Ferns ▪ Rubus spp. ▪ Solidago spp. ▪ Surface Water ▪ Bare Ground ▪ Shrubs < 1 m ▪ Shrubs > 1 m ▪ Saplings < 10 cm dbh ▪ Canopy cover contributed by trees >10 cm dbh ▪ Distance (m) to micro-edge 11.3-m Radius Plots . Basal area . Number of snags 5-m Radius Plots . Number of shrubs 1 - 2 m tall . Number of shrubs > 2 m tall . Number of saplings > 1 cm and < 10 cm dbh, > 0.5 m tall Nest height GWWA territory boundary Plant species nest built in R Height of plant(s) in which the nest was 11.3m radius circles built Plot center (1m2 ): . Litter depth . Percent cover N ▪ Litter ▪ bare ground N ▪ Grasses ▪ Forbs ▪ woody species ▪ vines 11.3m radius GWWA territory boundary . Basal area R . No. snags 11.3m radius circles . Average sapling height . Average N height of N shrub layer . Density board . Percent cover ANOVA, logistic regression and PCA . used vs. unused territories x burn history . used vs. available nesting x burn history Program MARK . model the relationship of daily nest survival rates ▪ habitat covariates ▪ group by burn history . return rate x burn history (Dinsmore et al. 2002,Shaffer 2004 , Anderson 2008) Habitat factors influencing: Male territory selection Female nest site selection Reproductive success Develop management prescription Unexplained variance Predatory community University of Tennessee Committee members National Fish and Wildlife Foundation . Dr. David A. Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources Buehler . Dr. Craig A. The Garden Club of America Harper . Dr. Joseph Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency D. Clark U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Tennessee Ornithological Society The Nature Conservancy Anderson, D. R. 2008. Model based inferences in the life sciences: A primer on evidence. Springer Science + Business Media, LLC. New York, NY. Battin, J. 2004. When good animals love bad habitats: Ecological traps and the conservation of animal populations. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 18, no. 6 (December): 1482-1491. Buehler,D. A.,A. M. Roth,R. Vallender,T. C. Will,J. L. Confer,R. A. Canterbury,S. B. Swarthout,K. V. Rosenberg,and L. P. Bulluck. 2007. Status and conservation priorities of Golden-wingedWarbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) in North America. Auk 124:1439–1445. Bulluck, L. P. 2007. Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) demographics and habitat use and the potential effects of land use change on Golden-winged and Cerulean Warblers (Dendroica cerulean) in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee. Dissertation.University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee. Bulluck, Lesley P., and David A. Buehler. 2006. Avian use of early successional habitats: Are regenerating forests, utility right-of-ways and reclaimed surface mines the same? Forest Ecology and Management 236, no. 1 (November 15): 76-84. Confer, J. L. 1992. Golden-winged Warbler. in Poole, A., P. Stettenheim and F. Gill, eds. The birds of North America, No. 20. The Birds of North America, Inc. Philadelphia, PA. Dinsmore,S. J.,G. C. White,and F. L. Knopf. 2002. Advanced techniques for modeling avian nest survival. Ecology 83: 3476–3488. Hunter, W. C., D. A. Buehler, R. A. Canterbury, J. L. Confer, and P. B. Hamel. 2001. Conservation of disturbance-dependent birds in eastern North America. Wildlife Society Bulletin 29:440-455. Klaus,N. A.,and D. A. Buehler. 2001. Golden-winged Warbler breeding habitat characteristics and nest success in clearcuts in the southern Appalachian Mountains. WilsonBulletin113: 297–301. Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2008. The North American breeding bird survey, results and analysis 1966-2007. U.S. Geological Service, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, Maryland, USA..