PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 4: Forest Management
Monday, August 8, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 514 A, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Effects of structural complexity enhancement on red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) in northern hardwood forests.
McKenny, Heather*,1, Keeton, William1, 1 University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
ABSTRACT- Forestry aimed at enhancing structural complexity has been proposed as a method for promoting microhabitat characteristics important to red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). We evaluated the effects of alternate silviculture on red-backed salamander populations at two research sites in northwestern Vermont. Treatments included two uneven-aged approaches (single-tree selection and group-selection) and one unconventional approach, termed "structural complexity enhancement," (SCE) that promotes late-successional forest structure including increasing levels of coarse woody debris (CWD). Each treatment was replicated twice, and two un-manipulated controls were applied to the Mount Mansfield State Forest site. Additional replicates of the SCE and control were applied to the Jericho Research Forest site. Permanent vegetation sampling plots were randomly located within each treatment. We surveyed red-backed salamanders using a natural cover search method of transects nested in the plots one year after logging. Abundance estimates corrected for detectability where calculated from survey data using binomial mixture models. Site, treatment and habitat covariates affected red-backed salamander abundance. Abundance was positively related to the three treatments, and abundance was higher at the Jericho Research Forest site. Density of coarse woody debris (CWD) and relative density of trees also had positive effects on abundance. The most parsimonious model, selected using Aikaike Information Criteria, showed abundance responded positively to density of CWD in decay class 1-2 and included the site effect. We conclude that structural complexity enhancement may benefit red-backed salamander populations by maintaining important microhabitat characteristics in the short-term. Over the long term especially, given rates of decay as a determinant of biological availability, forestry practices that enhance CWD availability and recruitment may result in associated population responses. Most importantly, we recommend that alternate forestry practices be used to maintain and enhance structural characteristics, such as CWD and closed overstory, to protect microhabitat characteristics important for conserving terrestrial salamander populations.
Key words: forest management, red-backed salamanders, structural complexity enhancement, microhabitat