Date: May 23, 2018
Source: American Ornithological Society Publications
Office
Eastern hemlock forests have been
declining due to a non-native insect pest, the hemlock woolly adelgid. A new
study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications presents some of
the best long-term data showing how the decline of a single tree species
(eastern hemlock) leads to the disappearance of birds specialized to those
trees. The data also indicate birds associated with non-hemlock habitat
features (deciduous forest, woodland edge, and shrubs) are spreading into
former hemlock forests. A single insect species has led to a less diverse bird
community across this landscape.
Pennsylvania State University's
Matthew Toenies and colleagues analyzed a long-term response to the decline of
eastern hemlocks using vegetation and bird abundance surveys. The researchers
took advantage of surveys they had conducted in 2000 before adelgids had caused
hemlock decline and compared those data to new data from the same forests in
2015-16, after decline. They then analyzed how both individual bird species and
groups of species responded to this habitat change.
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