Progress 06/01/08 to 05/31/13
Outputs
(N/A)
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
It is now the final year of the project, but major impacts are still in the process of occurring. However, our initial work on intensive forest management (IFM effects combined with our initial extension efforts have resulted in a high degree of success in terms of the application of forest management treatments in our experimental design. To date, we have five government or industrial partners involved. Each has agreed to a defined forest management treatment schedule (decided upon by a collaborative group of industry/government and OSU representatives). These treatments (control, two intermediate , and a high intensity) have been randomly allotted to 32 regnerating stands in the Oregon Coast Range (8 blocks). To our knowledge, this is the most extensive manipulative study in IFM in the world to date. Treatments have been effective at producing a gradient in amount of competing hardwood vegetation. (1) We have now collected one year of bird abundance and reproduction data across all stands. We found that the abundance of some bird species was strongly influenced by IFM treatment (Betts et al. In Press). Also, the species most likely to be negatively affected are the ones with long-term population declines according to the U.S. Breeding Bird Survey Data. (2) We have also collected demographic information for two focal species - the House Wren and the White-crowned Sparrow. Publications on demography are still in preparation, but the overall finding is that reproduction is ~2x greater in light treatments and the un-sprayed control. This approximates the differences we are seeing in abundance as a function of treatment. (3) To date, most evidence points toward supporting the hypothesis that food availability - not direct effects of herbicide - is the main driver of differences in bird abundance and reproductive success. Monitored nests indicate food limitation (lower body condition) in nestlings. Also food is in much lower abundance in heavily treated stands (Betts et al. Unpublished). In addition, data on insect biomass and diversity has been collected at all bird survey locations. We are still in the process of measuring tree growth and survival to enable quantification of trade-offs between biodiversity and timber growth. Finally, bird exclosures were constructed in 2012. We now have 28 15 x 30 m exclosures in 7 of 8 research blocks. Our preliminary results indicate that birds have top-down effects on the numerical abundance of large herbivorous arthropods (there are approximately 1.5 x the number of insects in locations where birds have been excluded). Extensive sampling of seedlings will now enable us to determine if this increase in insects results in reduced rates of tree growth, and whether this top-down effect is mediated by forest management intensity.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Yegorova, S., Betts, M.G., Hagar, J., and Puettmann, K.J. 2013. Bird-vegetation associations in thinned and unthinned young Douglas-fir forests 10 years after thinning. Forest Ecology and Management.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Cahall, R.E., Hayes, J.P., and Betts, M.G. 2013. Will they come? Long-term response by forest birds to experimental thinning supports the Field of Dreams hypothesis. Forest Ecology and Management 304:137-149.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Verschuyl, J. & Betts M.G. 2013. Influence of intensive forest management on bird abundance. The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Betts, M.G. 2013. Why do species occur where they do? An examination of land-use, climatic and behavioral drivers of animal distributions. Invited seminar, University of Illinois, November 2013*.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Rivers, J.W., Liebl, A.L., Martin, L.B., and Betts, M.G. 2013. Corticosterone in territorial male Swainsons Thrushes varies in relation to forest age but not vegetation cover. Journal of Ornithology
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Betts, M.G., Verschuyl, J., Giovanini, J., Stokely, T., and Kroll, A.J. 2013. Initial experimental effects of intensive forest management on avian abundance. Forest Ecology and Management.
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Our results have been disseminated using four main methods: 1. Meetings with landowners and forest managers. Many of these meetings have been to both disseminate current results and to plan for the intensive forest management manipulative study that is now underway. We conducted several field days in the summer of 2012 to take managers to the field to see preliminary treatment results. 2. Peer reviewed scientific literature (see below). 3. Public/ scientific meetings. These include the The Oregon Society for American Foresters meeting, The National Council for Air and Stream Improvement annual meeting, and the Wildlife Society Meeting (both national and regional). 4) Various presentations to a variety of organizations including the research delegation at the Seoul National University, Texas Tech University, Plum Creek Company executives, Forest Ecosystems and Society graduate student symposium and the RAFWE Symposium in the Fish and Wildlife Department at Oregon State University. PARTICIPANTS: 1. Dr. Matthew G. Betts (PI) 2. Dr. Stephen Fitzgerald (co-PI) 3. Thomas Stokely (Masters Student) 4. Dr. Paul Hammond (Oregon State University) Partners: 1. Oregon Department of Forestry 2. Plum Creek Timer 3. Weyerhaeuser Inc. 4. Forest Capital Partners 5. Hancock Land Management 6. National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) 7. Boreal Songbird Monitoring Network. Collaborators: 1. Dr. Jake Vershyul, NCASI 2. Dr. Erin Bayne, University of Alberta 3. Dr. Marc Andre Villard, Universite du Moncton 4. Dr. John Gunn, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences 5. Dr. Rob Rempel, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources 6. Dr. Ben Wigley, NCASI. Dr. Paul Hammond is an expert entemologist at Oregon State University who will be leading the moth and butterfly identification part of the project. This coming field season we are again doing extensive sampling of both adult and larval butterflies and moths. TARGET AUDIENCES: We do not have extensive results to report to target audiences because we only have one year of data. However, as expected our efforts to implement the manipulative part of the IFM study have resulted in extensive knowledge transfer (in both directions) between industry, government and OSU scientists. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
It is now the third year of the project, so major impacts are still in the process of occurring. However, our initial work on intensive forest management (IFM effects combined with our initial extension efforts have resulted in a high degree of success in terms of the application of forest management treatments in our experimental design. To date, we have five government or industrial partners involved. Each has agreed to a defined forest management treatment schedule (decided upon by a collaborative group of industry/government and OSU representatives). These treatments (control, two intermediate , and a high intensity) have been randomly allotted to 32 regnerating stands in the Oregon Coast Range (8 blocks). To our knowledge, this is the most extensive manipulative study in IFM in the world to date. Treatments have been effective at producing a gradient in amount of competing hardwood vegetation. We have now collected one year of bird abundance and reproduction data across all stands. In addition, data on insect biomass and diversity has been collected at all bird survey locations. We are now in the process of measuring tree growth and survival to enable quantification of trade-offs between biodiversity and timber growth. Finally, bird exclosures were constructed in 2012. We now have 28 15 x 30 m exclosures in 7 of 8 research blocks. Our preliminary results indicate that birds have top-down effects on the numerical abundance of large herbivorous arthropods. Extensive sampling of seedlings will now enable us to determine if this increase in insects results in reduced rates of tree growth, and whether this top-down effect is mediated by forest management intensity.
Publications
- Jones, J., A.J. Kroll, J. Giovanini, S.D. Duke, T.M. Ellis and M.G. Betts. 2012. Avian species richness in relation to forest management practices in early seral tree plantations. PLoS One 7:e43290.
- Rivers, J.W., A.L. Liebl, L.B. Martin and M.G. Betts. 2012. Baseline corticosterone is positively related to juvenile survival in a migrant passerine bird. Functional Ecology 26:1127-1134.
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Our results have been disseminated using three main methods: 1. Meetings with landowners and forest managers. Many of these meetings have been to both disseminate current results and to plan for the intensive forest management manipulative study that is now underway. We conducted a major field day in Oct. 2011 to take managers to the field to see preliminary treatment results. 2. Peer reviewed scientific literature (see below). 3. Public/ scientific meetings. These include the Oregon State University Graduate Student Symposium, The Oregon Society for American Foresters meeting, The National Council for Air and Stream Improvement annual meeting. PARTICIPANTS: 1. Dr. Matthew G. Betts (PI) 2. Dr. Stephen Fitzgerald (co-PI) 3. Thomas Stokely (Masters Student) 4. Dr. Paul Hammond (OSU - new) Partners 1. Oregon Department of Forestry 2. Plum Creek Timer 3. Weyerhaeuser Inc. 4.Forest Capital Partners 5. Hancock Land Management 6. National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) 7. Boreal Songbird Monitoring Network. Collaborators 1. Dr. Jake Vershyul,NCASI 2. Dr. Erin Bayne, University of Alberta 3. Dr. Marc Andre Villard, Universite du Moncton 4.Dr. John Gunn, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences 5. Dr. Rob Rempel, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources 6. Dr. Ben Wigley, NCASI. Dr. Paul Hammond is an expert entemologist at OSU who will be leading the moth and butterfly identification part of the project. This coming field season we are doing extensive sampling of both adult and larval butterflies and moths. TARGET AUDIENCES: We do not have extensive results to report to target audiences because we only have one year of manipulative study data. However, as expected our efforts to implement the manipulative part of the IFM study have resulted in extensive knowledge transfer (in both directions) between industry, government and OSU scientists. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Major impacts are still in the process of occurring. However, our initial work on intensive forest management (IFM effects combined with our initial extension efforts have resulted in a high degree of success in terms of the application of forest management treatments in our experimental design. To date, we have five government or industrial partners involved. Each has agreed to a defined forest management treatment schedule (decided upon by a collaborative group of industry/government and OSU representatives). These treatments (control, two intermediate , and a high intensity) have been randomly allotted to 32 regnerating stands in the Oregon Coast Range (8 blocks). To our knowledge, this is now the most extensive manipulative study in IFM in the world to date. Treatments have been effective at producing a gradient in amount of competing hardwood vegetation. We have now collected one year of bird abundance and reproduction data across all stands. In addition, data on insect biomass and diversity has been collected at all bird survey locations. We are now in the process of measuring tree growth and survival to enable quantification of trade-offs between biodiversity and timber growth. Finally, bird exclosures were constructed last field season. We now have 28 15 x 30 m exclosures in 7 of 8 research blocks. This coming season we will begin to test the top-down effect of birds in affecting insect abundance and subsequent tree herbivory.
Publications
- Ellis, T.M., A.J. Kroll and M.G. Betts. 2012. Early seral hardwood vegetation increases adult and fledgling bird abundance in Douglas-fir plantations of the Oregon Coast Range. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. (In Press).
- Jones, J., A.J. Kroll, J. Giovanini, S.D. Duke and M.G. Betts. 2011. Estimating occupancy thresholds with imperfect species detection. Ecology 92:2299-2309.
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Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Our results have been disseminated using three main methods: 1. Meetings with landowners and forest managers. Many of these meetings have been to both disseminate current results and to plan for the intensive forest management manipulative study that is now underway. 2. Peer reviewed scientific literature (see below). 3. Public/ scientific meetings. These include the Oregon State University symposium on Forest Health and the Society for American Foresters - Wildlife Society of Oregon Joint Meeting. PARTICIPANTS: 1. Dr. Matthew G. Betts (PI) Partners 1. Oregon Department of Forestry 2. Plum Creek Timer 3. Weyerhaeuser Inc. 4. Forest Capital Partners 5. Hancock Land Management 6. National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) 7. Boreal Songbird Monitoring Network. Collaborators 1. Dr. Jake Vershyul, NCASI. TARGET AUDIENCES: As expected our efforts to implement the manipulative part of the IFM study have resulted in extensive knowledge transfer (in both directions) between industry, government and OSU scientists (see Outcomes/Impacts) above. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Our work on thresholds in bird abundance as a function of hardwood in early seral Douglas-fir plantations is the first quantitative evidence that even small proportions (<10%) of deciduous shrubs may have substantial impact on bird abundance (Ellis and Betts 2011). This finding is currently being considered by the USFS, Oregon Department of Forestry and several of our industrial collaborators as evidence the will potentially influence management; indeed, it was part of the incentive to launch a broader-scale manipulative study on the impact of intensive forest management on bird populations. This initial work on intensive forest management (IFM) effects combined with our initial extension efforts have resulted in a high degree of success in terms of the application of forest management treatments in the experimental design of the manipulative study. To date, we have five government or industrial partners involved. Each has agreed to a defined forest management treatment schedule (decided upon by a collaborative group of industry/government and OSU representatives). These treatments (control, two intermediate , and a high intensity) have been randomly allotted to 32 regnerating stands in the Oregon Coast Range (8 blocks). To our knowledge, this is now the most extensive manipulative study in IFM in the world to date.
Publications
- Ellis, T. and M.G. Betts. 2011. Bird abundance and diversity across a hardwood gradient within early seral plantation forest. Forest Ecology and Management 261(8):1372-1381. doi:10.1016/ j.foreco.2011.018.
- Betts, M.G., J. Hagar, J. Rivers, J. Alexander, K. McGarigal and B.C. McComb. 2010. Thresholds in songbird occurrence in relation to early seral broadleaf forest. Ecological Applications 20:2116-2130.
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Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Presentations: Betts, M.G.* 2009. Thresholds in songbird occurrence as a function of early seral hardwood forest at the landscape scale. Western Working Group - Partners in Flight and Aquatic Birds annual meeting, Forest Grove, OR, Nov. 3, 2009. Betts, M.G. and Ellis, T. 2009. Thresholds in songbird abundance and productivity in relation to forest management. Practical Applications in Wildlife Management on Working Forests. Society of American Foresters, Oregon Chapter Wildlife Society, December 2, 2009. Betts, M.G. 2010. Songbird thresholds in planted forests: forest health implications. Forest Health Conference: The State of the State. Feb. 24th, 2010. PARTICIPANTS: Betts, M.G. (PI): Conducted data analysis, organized field data collection, wrote papers and reports, Hagar, J.: Contributed to hypotheses and research design, some writing of papers, Rivers, J.: Field data collection and field study design, Alexander, J.: Supply of existing data and some editing, McGarigal, K.: Supply of existing data, McComb, B.C.: Hypothesis formulation. TARGET AUDIENCES: Forest Managers, Policy Makers, Public, Scientists PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Data from this project contributed valuable pilot data for the successful acquisition of a grant from the Agriculture and Forest Research Initiative (AFRI). This will enable us to continue a manipulative experiment that also tests for demographic effects of intensive forest management on songbirds. The key question in this research relates to trade-offs between ecosystem services and timber management. Betts, M.G., Wilson, D., Rivers, J., Fitzgerald, S., Maguire, D., Rose, R., Johnson, J. 2009-2011. Quantifying trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and timber production in intensively managed forests. Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI; United States Department of Agriculture). Amount: $497,677. Findings in brief: Recent declines in broadleaf-dominated, early-seral forest globally as a function of intensive forest management and/or fire suppression have raised concern about the viability of populations dependent on such forest types. However, quantitative information about the strength and direction of species associations with broadleaf cover at landscape scales are rare. Uncovering such habitat relationships is essential for understanding the demography of species and in developing sound conservation strategies. It is particularly important to detect points in habitat reduction where rates of population decline may accelerate, or the likelihood of species occurrence drops rapidly (i.e., thresholds). Here, we use a large avian point count dataset (N=4375) from southwestern and northwestern Oregon along with segmented logistic regression to test for thresholds in forest bird occurrence as a function of broadleaf forest and early seral broadleaf forest at local (150 m radius) and landscape (500 - 2000 m radius) scales. All 12 bird species examined showed positive responses to either broadleaf forest in general, and/or early seral broadleaf forest. However, regional variation in species response to these conditions was high. We found considerable evidence for landscape thresholds in bird species occurrence as a function of broadleaf cover; threshold models received substantially greater support than linear models 8 of 12 species. Landscape thresholds in broadleaf forest ranged broadly from 1.35% to 24.55% mean canopy cover. Early seral broadleaf thresholds tended to be much lower (0.22 - 1.87%). We found a strong negative relationship between the strength of species association with early-seral broadleaf forest and 42-year bird population trends; species most associated with this forest type have declined at the greatest rates. Taken together, these results provide the first support for the hypothesis that reductions in broadleaf-dominated early-seral forest due to succession and intensive forest management have led to population declines of constituent species in the Pacific Northwestern USA. Forest management treatments that maintain or restore even small amounts of broadleaf vegetation could mitigate further declines.
Publications
- Betts, M.G., J. Hagar, J. Rivers, J. Alexander, K. McGarigal and B.C. McComb. 2010. Thresholds in songbird occurrence in relation to early seral broadleaf forest. Ecological Applications. (In press).
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Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Presentation Betts, M.G. 2008. Intensive forest management influences on forest bird abundance. Update presentation to the Fish and Wildlife in Managed Forests Program. December, 2008. Report Betts, M.G. et al. 2009. Thresholds in songbird occurrence in relation to early seral forest at the landscape scale. Preliminary Report. I am also involved with an ongoing collaboration with Weyerhaeuser Inc. and NCASI. These collaborations effectively disseminate our preliminary results to the timber management community. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals 1. Tana Ellis (Masters Student) 2. Dr. Jim Rivers (Post-Doc) 3. Dr. A.J. Kroll (Weyerhaeuser Inc.) Partner Organizations: 1. National Council for Air and Stream Improvement 2. Weyerhaeuser, Inc. 3. Oregon Department of Forestry. TARGET AUDIENCES: 1. Forest Managers (industrial, family forests) PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Our orange-crowned warbler nest finding study has not materialized as planned; we have only found 8 nests. The species is extremely cryptic and the line of site in these plantation is tiny which prevents us following females to nests. In late June we switched to focus on white-crowed sparrow, another very common species in these plots that also consumes lepidopteron larvae during the breeding season. We found 71 nests of this species. All nests were monitored to determine fate.
Impacts
Study Area and Sampling Design This research is being conducted in the Coast Mountains (ecoregion: Central Pacific Coastal Forests on consolidated large private ownerships (Forest Capital, Weyerhaeuser Inc., Starker Forests), Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) land, and small private ownership. Study plots. From March - April 2008 we established 12, 10 ha plots in 7-9 year old plantations that reflected a gradient from from <5% - 40% deciduous cover. To do this we surveyed >110 individual plantations on the landownerships listed above. Sites were chosen to represent a gradient in deciduous composition and to minimize a variety of confounding factors including: %deciduous cover in the landscape, slope, aspect, stand size, elevation. Field Data Collection Objective 1: Demography. To address objectives, we are collecting reproductive data during two key phases of the annual cycle of neotropical migrant birds: breeding and post-breeding. Breeding season: Nest success. Our orange-crowned warbler nest finding study has not materialized as planned; we have only found 8 nests. The species is extremely cryptic and the line of site in these plantation is tiny which prevents us following females to nests. In late June we switched to focus on white-crowed sparrow, another very common species in these plots that also consumes lepidopteron larvae during the breeding season. We found 71 nests of this species. All nests were monitored to determine fate. Breeding Season: Point Counts To provide a more spatially extensive measure of the influence of intensive forest management on songbird occurrence, we conducted 125 point counts in the same general study location as our nest-success and mist-net study. Sites were selected to span a gradient from low (<1%) to high (~40%) deciduous cover. This more extensive sampling will enable us to test for thresholds (non-linearities) in occurrence as a function of a gradient in deciduous shrub cover (e.g., Betts et al. 2007 Cons. Biol.). Preliminary results indicate that several species are strongly associated with deciduous cover, but thresholds in occurrence are quite low (<15% deciduous cover). Post-breeding season: Adult and fledgling habitat use, productivity, and body condition. In all 12 plots described above we have established mist-net arrays. Arrays comprise 8, 12 m nets and are monitored from 5:30 am - 11 am each day. Nets are being rotated across our 12, 10 ha plots throughout the remainder of the breeding and post-breeding seasons. We tend to capture ~30-60 birds/ day in 8 passive 12 m nets spread throughout plantations. Focal species (Orange-crowned Warbler, White-Crowned Sparrow, Wilson's Warbler) are being color-marked, aged, and bled. All captured individuals are being sexed and aged. We will use blood as an addition measure of body condition (CORT, Bacterial killing assays).
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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