Bachman's Sparrow survival and nest predation response to a hardwood canopy reduction experiment

Where historical fire regimes have been disrupted, reduction in woody vegetation is often used to maintain or restore habitat for grassland and early successional birds. In pine savanna ecosystems of the southeastern USA, mechanical hardwood canopy reduction can restore pine savanna communities and is often employed on privately owned lands to improve habitat for the Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), although scant empirical evidence exists of its effects on target or non-target species. We measured the response of a pine savanna specialist, the Bachman's Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis), to large-scale hardwood reduction in a before-after-control-impact design on two properties where two-year fire-return intervals were established and the Bachman's Sparrow population was stable. We investigated the effects of mechanical hardwood reduction on Bachman's Sparrow daily nest survival, cause-specific nest mortality and adult male annual survival. During the four-year study, we monitored 107 Bachman's Sparrow nests, recorded 49 nest predation events, and banded 113 adult male Bachman's Sparrows. We found Bachman's Sparrow nest and adult survival were resilient to changes in the hardwood canopy and did not differ significantly between treatment and control sites. Average annual adult male survival was 0.41 (0.32-0.52) and daily survival rate of nests with surveillance declined annually from 0.94 (0.92-0.96) to 0.88 (0.83-0.92). The identity of predators at nests was dominated by two snake species, black racer (Coluber constrictor) and corn snake (Pantherophis guttata). We found evidence for opposing treatment effects on the frequency of nest depredations by the dominant species; racers responded positively and corn snakes responded negatively. Our results suggest a moderate midstory canopy does not limit Bachman's Sparrow vital rates when management includes frequent prescribed fire. Our results also suggest hardwood reduction to mitigate nest predation may be complicated with a diverse predator suite.