Mature forest-breeding bird use of early-successional habitat

"December 2013.""A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri--Columbia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts."Thesis supervisor: Dr. John R. Faaborg.Some late-successional birds shift habitat-use from mature forestbreeding habitat to early-successional habitat. Management efforts have primarily focused on breeding habitat for migratory songbirds, but the post-breeding period could be equally important given that birds can spend an equal or greater amount of time in this stage. More information is needed to determine how widespread this habitat shift is for mature forest-breeding birds. In species such as the Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina), Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla), and Worm-Eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum) all hatchyear birds appear to disperse to early-successional vegetation. Netting studies have captured other species of forest-breeding birds in regeneration cuts and report higher captures of mature forest species than early-successional species in this habitat in the post-breeding season. The presence of mature forest birds in early-successional habitat does not mean that it is a requirement during their annual cycle. Radio telemetry studies suggest that adult Scarlet Tanager are using more than one type of habitat during the post-breeding period. My Thesis research investigates to what extent mature forest-breeding birds utilize early-successional habitat, focusing on the postxii breeding season. Specifically, I (1) identify habitat selection by stand treatment and tree size for three species of independent juvenile mature forest-breeding birds (Ovenbird, Worm-eating Warbler, and Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)); (2) explore variation in abundance of mature forest-breeding bird species in early-successional habitat during the post breeding season, (3) examine species' abundances between age classes of mature forest-breeding birds between the breeding and post-breeding season, (4) identify species for further study that appear to require early-successional habitat. Our study was located in the Ozarks of southeastern Missouri in the Current River and Logan Creek Conservation Areas. We used constant effort mist netting to capture mature fIncludes bibliographical references