| Prescribed fire and herbicide are used in southeastern pine forests to control hardwood competition. I tested effects of burning and herbicide treatments on plant and avian communities in thinned, mid-rotation loblolly pine plantations, in Mississippi. Within 6 replicate stands, 4, 10-ha plots were assigned randomly to one of 4 treatments: prescribed burning, herbicide, combination herbicide/burn, and control. I measured vegetation structure, composition, and biomass to examine plant response to treatments. I estimated relative bird abundance to examine avian response to treatments. Midstory basal area was greatest in control and prescribed burn treatments one and 2-years post-treatment. Individual species relative abundances differed among treatments in 2000 and 2001, midstory/shrub birds were most abundant in control plots, whereas pine/grassland and early successional species were more abundant in herbicide/burn plots. Selective herbicide used with prescribed fire will set back understory succession and shift bird communities toward early successional species of regional conservation concern. |
