The impacts of experimental selection silviculture on the breeding ecology of Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) in Southwestern Ontario, Canada

I designed an experimental study to examine the short-term impacts of selection harvest on Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) in a fragmented forest landscape. I compared experimental selection treatments (group and single-tree) against recovering single-tree selection and uncut reference treatments. Selection harvest significantly decreased the breeding density of Wood Thrush but had little effect on reproductive success despite significant increases in rates of brood parasitism following experimental single-tree selection. Population sustainability was dependent on estimates of annual survival. Wood Thrush selected nest sites with greater sapling and understory density than available, regardless of treatment. Nest site habitat variables had little effect on nest success. Abundance of ground invertebrates was not altered by harvest, and was not related to breeding density or nest success. I caution that group selection harvest may contribute to site-level reductions in Wood Thrush density, while stands recovering from single-tree selection may maintain or promote Wood Thrush populations.;Keywords: Wood Thrush, density, productivity, habitat, food, Ontario, silviculture...