Selection of mature and old stands by Corsican Nuthatch Sitta whiteheadi in harvested forests |
| |
Authors: | Pascal Villard Aurélien Besnard Jean‐Claude Thibault Bernard Recorbet Roger Prodon |
| |
Institution: | 1. Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Biogéographie et Ecologie des Vertébrés, , 34 293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France;2. Département Systématique et Evolution, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UMR7205, , F‐75005 Paris, France;3. Service Biodiversité, Sites et Paysage, Direction Régionale de l'Environnement, de l'Aménagement et du Logement de Corse, , 20180 Ajaccio Cedex, Corsica, France |
| |
Abstract: | In harvested forests, the bird community is largely determined by stand structure, which itself is determined by forestry practices. This study aimed to identify habitat variables determining the presence of Corsican Nuthatch Sitta whiteheadi – a threatened island endemic – in harvested Corsican Pine Pinus nigra laricio woods, with the aim of mitigating the impact of timber harvest on the bird. Comparison of occupied and unoccupied plots showed that this bird is found mostly in pure Corsican Pine stands, and is absent when more than 50% of trees are not this species. Nests were built in decaying pine snags between 20 and 100 cm diameter at breast height (dbh), but birds avoided stands with live pines < 70 cm dbh, and selected stands with pines > 80 cm dbh. Conservation of Corsican Nuthatch therefore depends on maintaining harvest rotations of more than 200 years, reducing the size of felling coupes in clear‐cutting systems or, preferably, practising selective cutting, maintaining a sufficient density of old trees and snags, and checking the encroachment of other tree species into Corsican Pine stands. |
| |
Keywords: | habitat selection islands logging modelling old growth rotation period |
|
|