Sara H. Schweitzer

Managed tidal impoundments are man-made wetlands constructed from natural tidal marshes and swamps with embankments and water control structures that manage water levels using tidal cycles. In South Carolina, 28,000 ha of managed tidal impoundments potentially provide important habitat for migrating and resident wildlife. The importance of traditionally-managed tidal impoundments relative to natural tidal marsh to migratory birds is poorly understood. Examining how birds allocate their time on managed tidal impoundments and natural tidal marshes can provide insight into whether birds are...

Changes in land use that reduce habitat availability and quality for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) are primarily responsible for a significant bobwhite population decline in the Southeast. Establishment of densely stocked pine plantations (Pinus spp.) on agricultural lands, encouraged by federal assistance programs of the 1980s, likely adversely affected northern bobwhite. To understand how bobwhite habitat my be improved on such land, we examined habitat selection by northern bobwhite (N = 61) during 1997-2000 in the Upper Coastal Plain of Georgia in a forest- and agriculture-...

Thousands of hectares of tidally-influenced, forested wetlands were cleared in the South Atlantic Coastal Zone and put into rice production during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many of these ricefields were abandoned in the late 1800s and were not maintained thereafter; hence, they no longer have functional dikes and provide poor habitat for waterfowl and wading birds due to colonization by dense stands of giant cutgrass (Zizaniopsis miliacea). Because efforts to open these extensive stands with herbicides and fire have been largely unsuccessful, in April 1997 we used an...

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...