Managing the Southern Pine Forest—Retained Wetland Interface for Wildlife Diversity: Research Priorities

• Published in: Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.) N.C.), 2010-06, Vol.30 (3), p.381-391
• Main Authors: Jones, Phillip D., Hanberry, Brice B., Demarais, Stephen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptive management; Bears; Biodiversity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Certification; Coastal plains; Coastal Sciences; Coniferous forests; Demographics; Demography; Ecology; Environmental Management; Environmental protection; Forest management; Forestry; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Habitats; Hydrogeology; Hydrology; Information management; Landscape Ecology; Life Sciences; Literature reviews; Long-term planning; Multiscale analysis; Nature conservation; Observational studies; Original Paper; Plantations; Ponds; Precipitation; Predation; Reptiles & amphibians; Riparian land; Similarity; Timber; Water shortages; Wetlands; Wildlife; Wildlife conservation
• ISSN: 0277-5212; 1943-6246
• DOI: 10.1007/s13157-010-0060-8

Forest certification programs require program participants to manage for biodiversity using science-based information. Management at the interface of retained wetland features and plantations provides opportunities to enhance wildlife diversity on commercial pine forest lands. We review the scientific literature to document how wildlife in managed pine forests might benefit from retention of isolated wetlands and riparian zones, and potential effects of forest management on conservation of wetland-associated wildlife on managed pine forests of the southern USA. We suggest research goals and methodologies to address information gaps critical to improved management. Many available studies lacked inferential power, and most depended on measures of diversity, richness, or abundance rather than community similarity or demographic measures of fitness. Observational studies have yielded potential hypotheses that should be tested with manipulative experiments. Demographic measures of fitness should replace potentially misleading measures of abundance or density, and diversity measures supplemented with comparisons of community similarity. Researchers should institute long-term studies to account for temporal variability. Multi-scale analyses would help determine appropriate management scale for isolated wetlands and the utility of riparian areas and associated streamside management zones as dispersal corridors. Landscape-level models would facilitate long-term planning and provide a framework for adaptive management.