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Wetland at Ft. Bragg created by beaver |
Ephemeral pond used for breeding
by rare amphibians (photo courtesy of Endangered Species Branch)
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Connectivity
for Rare Animals in Longleaf Pine Woodlands
Historically, longleaf pine woodlands covered much of the southeastern
United
States. These woodlands were harvested and the land converted to
agriculture. Now, longleaf pine woodlands cover just a few
percent of their former extent, and woodlands that remain are isolated
to federal (often military) lands and state parks and reserves.
Longleaf pine woodlands also provide habitat for many rare species,
including red-cockaded woodpeckers. Recovery of
these rare species depends on expanding their populations. One
approach to accomplish this goal is to connect large fragments of
longleaf pine woodland with corridors.
Our group is working on two projects to assess connectivity in longleaf
pine woodlands. In the sandhills of North Carolina, we are
working with a team that includes researchers from NC State, UNC-Chapel
Hill,
Duke, and Virginia Tech to evaluate the use of corridors by a a number
of rare animal species. These animals, including red-cockaded
woodpeckers, St. Francis satyr butterflies, Tiger salamanders, and
Carolina gopher frogs, all have very different habitat needs, but may
use longleaf pine woodlands for some part of their life cycles.
Our research focuses on their dispersal behaviors to determine whether
corridors may be effective for restoring connectivity from military
bases to other public lands. The ultimate goal of the work will
be to determine if we can identify optimal corridors that provide
connectivity for multiple species of rare animals.
The second study of connectivity in longleaf pine woodlands focuses on
the restoration of plant species at the Savannah River Site
(SRS). This research will use results
from the SRS Corridor Experiment to predict the effects of corridors on
plant population distributions across large landscapes. We'll
then test predictions by surveying patches of longleaf pine woodland
that vary in connectivity across the Savannah River Site.
Our research on connectivity in longleaf pine woodlands is funded by
DoD, Department of
the Army, Endangered
Species Branch at Ft. Bragg and the Strategic
Environmental Research
and Development Program,
the National
Science
Foundation, and the US Forest
Service/Savannah River |
