Sustaining Young Forest Communities: Ecology and Management of Early Successional Habitats in the Central Hardwood Region, USA

ISBN-13: 9789400737945 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 312 str.

Cathryn Greenberg;Beverly Collins;Frank Thompson

Opis

This edited volume addresses a rising concern among natural resource scientists and management professionals about decline of the many plant and animal species associated with early-successional habitats, especially within the Central Hardwood Region of the USA. These open habitats, with herbaceous, shrub, or young forest cover, are disappearing as abandoned farmland, pastures, and cleared forest patches return to forest. There are many questions about "why, what, where, and how" to manage for early successional habitats. In this book, expert scientists and experienced land managers synthesize knowledge and original scientific work to address questions on such topics as wildlife, water, carbon sequestration, natural versus managed disturbance, future scenarios, and sustainable creation and management of early successional habitat in a landscape context.

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"This book attempts to synthesize information from various fields about early successional habitats to help researchers and resource managers understand, sustain, and protect wildlife and plant species across these ecosystems. ... Chapters are thoroughly referenced with citation lists at the end of each. ... the book can serve as a useful practical management guide. Includes numerous black-and-white and color photographs, figures, and maps. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." (D. L. Richter, Choice, Vol. 49 (6), February, 2012)

"Sustaining Young Forest Communities is a good compilation of knowledge about an important forest ecosystem and belongs on the bookshelf of every natural resource practitioner tasked with managing this important resource. One of the principal benefits for anyone who reads this book is that it provides both a broad overview and a reference source for the various disciplines, particularly for those with which the reader is not familiar, allowing one to gain understanding of the opportunities and issues." (W. Keith Moser, Journal of Forestry, June, 2012)

Spis treści

1. Introduction: What are Early Successional Habitats, Why are they Important, and How Can they be Sustained? Cathryn H. Greenberg, Beverly Collins, Frank R. Thompson III, W. Henry McNab

2. Subregional Variation in Upland Hardwood Forest Composition and Disturbance Regimes of the Central Hardwood Region. W. Henry McNab

3. Natural Disturbances and Early Successional Habitats. Peter S. White, Beverly Collins, Gary R. Wein

4. Fire in Eastern Hardwood Forests through 14,000 Years. Martin A. Spetich, Roger W. Perry, Craig A. Harper, Stacy L. Clark

5. Structure and Species Composition of Upland Hardwood Communities After Regeneration Treatments Across Environmental Gradients. David L. Loftis, Callie J. Schweitzer, Tara L. Keyser

6. Spatial and Temporal Patterns in the Amount of Young Forests and Implications for Biodiversity. Stephen R. Shifley, Frank R. Thompson III

7. Herbaceous Response to Type and Severity of Disturbance. Katherine J. Elliott, Craig A. Harper, B. Collins

8. The Role of Young, Recently Disturbed Upland Hardwood Forest as High Quality Food Patches. Cathryn H. Greenberg, Roger W. Perry, Craig A. Harper, Douglas J. Levey, John M. McCord

9. Population Trends for Eastern Scrub-Shrub Birds Related to Availability of Small-diameter Upland Hardwood Forests. Kathleen E. Franzreb, Sonja N. Oswalt, David A. Buehler

10. Bats and Gaps: The Role of Early Successional Patches in the Roosting and Foraging Ecology of Bats. Susan C. Loeb, Joy M. O’Keefe

11. Reptile and Amphibian Response to Hardwood Forest Management and Early Successional Habitats. Christopher E. Moorman, Kevin E. Russell, Cathryn H. Greenberg

12. Managing Early Successional Habitats for Wildlife in Novel Places. J. Drew Lanham, Maria A. Whitehead

13. Conservation of Early Successional Habitats in the Applachian Mountains: A Manager’s Perspective. Gordon S. Warburton, Craig A. Harper, Kendrick Weeks

14. Early Successional Forest Habitats and Water Resources. James M. Vose, Chelcy R. Ford

15. Carbon Dynamics Following the Creation of Early Successional Habitats in Forests of the Central Hardwood Region. Tara L. Keyser

16. Forecasting Forest Type and Age Classes in the Appalachian-Cumberland Subregion of the Central Hardwood Region. David N. Wear, Robert Huggett

 

               

Blurb

There is a rising concern among natural resource scientists and managers about decline of the many plant and animal species associated with early successional habitats, especially within the Central Hardwood Region.  Open sites with grass, herbaceous, shrub, or incomplete young forest cover are disappearing as abandoned farmland and pastures return to forest and recently harvested or disturbed forests re-grow.  There are many questions about “why, what, where, and how” to manage for early successional habitats.  Tradeoffs among ecological services such as carbon storage, hydrologic processes, forest products, and biotic diversity between young, early successional habitats and mature forest are not fully understood.  Personal values and attitudes regarding forest management for conservation purposes versus "letting nature take its course," complicate finding common ground on whether and how to create or sustain early successional habitats.  In this book, expert scientists and experienced land managers synthesize knowledge and original scientific work to address critical questions sparked by the decline of early successional habitats.  We focus on habitats created by natural disturbances or management of upland hardwood forests and discuss how they can be sustainably created and managed in a landscape context.  Together, chapters written by ecologists, conservationists, and land managers provide a balanced view of how past, current, and future scenarios affect the extent and quality of early successional habitat and implications for ecosystem services and disturbance-dependant plants and animals in upland hardwood forest of the Central Hardwood Region.