W. Mark Ford

Currently, nearly 98% of the land area once dominated by longleaf pine ecosystems has been converted to other uses. The U.S. Forest Service is replanting logged areas with longleaf pine at the Savannah River Site, New Ellenton, South Carolina, in an effort to restore these ecosystems. To ascertain the effects of various silvicultural management techniques on the vertebrate communities, we surveyed small mammal, herpetofaunal, and avian communities in six 10- to 13-year-old longleaf pine plantations subjected to various thinning and herbicide regimes. Areas within each plantation were...

Shrews are an abundant and important component of the mammalian fauna in central and southern Appalachian forested habitats. Because most soricids are small, cryptic, and difficult to survey, they typically have been underrepresented in research examining effects of forest management on small mammals. To assess shrew response to clearcutting northern hardwood forests in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia, we conducted a pitfall trapping survey during the late spring and early summer of 1998 and 1999 across a chronosequence of northern hardwood stand-ages from recently clearcut to...

Ruffed grouse densities are lower in the southern portion of its range than in the more northern reaches. It has been suggested that the lower productivity of ruffed grouse in southern latitudes may account for lower population densities. We examined nesting success of ruffed grouse Bonasa umbellus at 2 sites in West Virginia during 1998 and 1999. We located nests of radio-collared female grouse and determined proportion of females that nested, nest success (proportion of hens successful in hatching ?1 chick), clutch size, hatching success, and hatch dates. Proportion of hens that...

Successful regeneration of oaks on better sites (SI50>60) has proven difficult in recent decades due to competition from faster growing species and well-established advanced regeneration from more shade-tolerant species. The suppression of fire is thought to have played a critical role in allowing this largely fire-intolerant competition to dominate many upland hardwood forests at the expense of oaks. As part of a larger study examining the role of prescribed fire in regenerating upland oaks, seasonal prescribed burns were applied to first-stage shelterwood harvested stands on Horsepen...

The effects of 2 years post-treatment of group selection and 2-aged timber harvests on woodland salamanders and mammals were assessed on stands in high elevation, southern Appalachian northern red oak (Quercus rubra)-flame azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum) communities, in the Nantahala National Forest. We collected 4 salamander species and 10 small mammal species. We detected no difference in woodland salamander relative abundance between timber harvests and uncut (control) stands. Similarly, relative abundance of all small mammal species, except masked shrews (Sorex cinereus), was...

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...