Do we create ecological traps when trying to emulate natural disturbances? A test on songbirds of the northern hardwood forest1This article is one of a selection of papers from the 7th International Conference on Disturbance Dynamics in Boreal Forests.

Abstract

Forest management inspired from natural disturbances is often claimed to have more benign effects on biodiversity than more traditional approaches but this premise has rarely been tested. In the northern hardwood forest, selection harvesting could be seen as a surrogate for the combined effects of windthrow, moderate ice storms, and senescence. Here, we quantified the response of two focal species of forest birds (Brown Creeper ( Certhia americana (Bonaparte, 1838)) and Ovenbird ( Seiurus aurocapilla (Linnaeus, 1766))) to this treatment (30%–40% basal area removal) in the first 5 years post-harvest using a replicated field experiment. We tested the possibility that selection harvesting creates ecological traps whereby individuals show a preference for a habitat type where their fitness is lower. We found that both focal species actually seemed to prefer control plots, where they reached a higher density than in treated plots. There was no evidence for a treatment effect on per capita productivity in either species. Hence, there was no evidence for an ecological trap. However, large-scale application of selection harvesting may have ecologically significant effects on productivity of the focal species per unit area of habitat. Future studies should test whether selection harvesting creates ecological traps for species naturally associated with canopy gaps.