Southern Research Station

Title: Soricid response to coarse woody debris manipulations in Coastal Plain loblolly pine forests.

Author: Moseley, Kurtis R.; Owens, Audrey K.; Castleberry, Steven B.; Ford, W. Mark; Kilgo, John C.; McCay, Timothy S.

Date: 2009

Source: Forest Ecology and Management doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2007.12.043

Description: 

We assessed shrew (soricids) response to coarse woody debris (CWD) manipulations in managed upland loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) stands in the upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina over multiple years and seasons. Using a completely randomized block design, we assigned one of the following treatments to 12, 9.3-ha plots: removal (n = 3; all CWD ≥ 10 cm in diameter and ≥ 60 cm long removed), downed (n = 3; 5-fold increase in volume of down CWD), snag (n = 3; 12-fold increase in standing dead CWD), and control (n = 3; unmanipulated). Therein, we sampled shrews during winter, spring, and summer seasons, 2003–2005, using drift-fence pitfall arrays. During 1680 drift-fence plot nights we captured 253 Blarina carolinensis, 154 Sorex longirostris, and 51 Cryptotis parva. Blarina carolinensis capture rate was greater in control than in snag treatments. Sorex longirostris capture rate was lower in removal than downed and control plots in 2005 whereas C. parva capture rate did not differ among treatments. Overall, the CWD input treatments failed to elicit the positive soricid response we had expected. Lack of a positive response by soricid populations to our downed treatments may be attributable to the early CWD decay stage within these plots or an indication that within fireadapted pine-dominated systems of the Southeast, reliance on CWD is less than in other forest types. # 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Coarse woody debris; Cryptotis; Pine management; short-rotation forestry; Shrews; Sorex; Soricids

View and Print this Publication (155.26 KB)

Publication Notes: 

• We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
• This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
• You may send email to pubrequest@fs.fed.us to request a hard copy of this publication. (Please specify exactly which publication you are requesting and your mailing address.)

 Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility

Citation

Moseley, Kurtis R.; Owens, Audrey K.; Castleberry, Steven B.; Ford, W. Mark; Kilgo, John C.; McCay, Timothy S.  2009.  Soricid response to coarse woody debris manipulations in Coastal Plain loblolly pine forests..   Forest Ecology and Management doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2007.12.043.