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Habitat Selection by Birds Following a Forest Fire
Author(s) -
Emlen John T.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1933677
Subject(s) - habitat , ecology , shrub , physiognomy , geography , range (aeronautics) , slash (logging) , willow , snowshoe hare , selection (genetic algorithm) , fire ecology , biology , ecosystem , physics , materials science , astronomy , artificial intelligence , computer science , composite material
In the light of current opinion that habitat selection by birds is determined largely by gross visual aspects of the vegetational physiognomy (Hilden 1965), one might intuitively expect that drastic alteration of the ground and shrub strata of a forest would modify the composition and numerical status of resident bird populations. However, counts in a burned pine stand in southern Florida during the first few months after burning were essentially no different than counts in an immediately adjacent unburned stand. The lack of response to this habitat alteration may be attributed behaviorally to individual home range attachments by the resident birds. Its occurrence in this situation may be associated with the relatively brief during of these habitat disruptions and the frequency of forest fires as a normal feature of slash pine ecology.