Brian R. Chapman

Prescribed fires are frequently used to restore and maintain pine savanna in the southeastern United States. Although several declining bird species occur within these pine savannas, few studies have directly compared the effects of growing versus dormant season prescribed fires on breeding birds. Therefore, we compared the effects of growing- versus dormant-season prescribed fires on breeding bird communities in mature pine (Pinus spp.) stands within the Fort Benning Military Reservation in west-central Georgia. We used 50 m fixed-radius point counts to sample breeding bird communities...

Prescribed fire is a commonly used land management tool in pine (Pinus spp.) forests of the southeastern United States to control understory vegetation and enhance wildlife habitat for early successional species, but its effects on the nesting success of understory and ground-nesting songbirds are not well understood. We compared the effects of growing and dormant-season prescribed burns on the nesting success of six ground- or shrub-nesting bird species in mature pine stands at one and two years post-treatment at Fort Benning Military Reservation in Chattahoochee and Muscogee counties,...

We radiotracked 6 eastern red (Lasiurus borealis), 6 Seminole (Lasiurus seminolus), and 24 evening bats (Nycticeius humeralis) to 55, 65, and 61 day-roosts, respectively, during summers 1996 and 1997 in the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina. For each species, we tested for differences between used roost trees and randomly located trees. We also tested for differences between habitat characteristics surrounding roost trees and randomly located trees. Eastern red and Seminole bats generally roosted in canopies of hardwood and pine (Pinus), respectively, clinging to foliage and small...

Although surface mining may affect wildlife communities adversely, the degree of impact depends upon the extent of mining activity and the reclamation efforts employed. We compared breeding bird and small mammal communities on sites of different successional stages in 1995 and 1996 to evaluate the wildlife value of the reclamation prescriptions currently used on kaolin surface mines in east-central Georgia. Sites were grouped according to tree ages during the first year of the study (age class I, 2-4 years; age class II, 5-7 years; and age class III, 8-11 years). Avian abundance in 1995...