Bird community ecology on power-line corridors in East Tennessee

Abstract

Breeding bird density and vegetation structure were determined during three breeding seasons in 14 plots on power-line corridors through forests in East Tennessee. The purpose was to describe the corridor bird community and to relate bird density and diversity to a number of environmental variables. The relative abundance of forbs, blackberry Rubus ssp., saplings, and areas of planted grasses varied significantly among plots. Thirteen bird species appeared to be attracted to the corridors. Seven of these species were classified as brush species, three as edge species, and three as generalist species, depending on their relative abundance in corridor, edge, and forest, respectively. Control of bird community density on the corridors was complex because individual species densities correlated significantly with several different variables. These variables were Rubus density and patchiness, sapling density and patchiness, corridor width, length of coniferous or deciduous forest edge, coverage of planted grasses, and number of years following vegetation maintenance by cutting. Bird community density varied among plots from 210 to 750 pairs km −2, and increased asymptotically with Rubus density. Rubus density explained most of the variation and Rubus patchiness explained a significant additional portion. Species number varied little. Within plots, birds were registered significantly less often in grass-dominated areas than in forb- Rubus-dominated areas.