title: Reptile assemblage response to restoration of fire-suppressed longleaf pine sandhills.
abstract: Measuring the effects of ecological restoration on wildlife assemblages requires study on broad temporal and spatial scales. Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests are imperiled due to fire suppression and subsequent invasion by hardwood trees. We employed a landscape-scale, randomized-block design to identify how reptile assemblages initially responded to restoration treatments including removal of hardwood trees via mechanical methods (felling and girdling), application of herbicides, or prescribed burning alone. Then, we examined reptile assemblages after all sites experienced more than a decade of prescribed burning at two- to thee-year return intervals. Data were collected concurrently at reference sites chosen to represent target conditions for restoration. Reptile assemblages changed most rapidly in response to prescribed burning, but reptile assemblages at all sites, including reference sites, were generally indistinguishable by the end of the study. Thus, we suggest that prescribed burning in longleaf pine forests over long time periods is an effective strategy for restoring reptile assemblages to the reference condition. Application of herbicides or mechanical removal of hardwood trees provided no apparent benefit to reptiles beyond what was achieved by prescribed fire alone.
authors.affiliation: Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, 3988 Jones Center Drive, Newton, Georgia 39870, USA. davidasteen@gmail.com
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Steen
authors.forename: Lora L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Conner
authors.forename: Andrea R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Litt
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Provencher
authors.forename: J Kevin
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Hiers
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pokswinski
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guyer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005390:Fires; D028223:Pinus; D012104:Reptiles / Q000145:classification* / Q000502:physiology*