Effects of land use practices on neotropical migratory birds in bottomland hardwood forests

Abstract

Description of the system: Bottomland hardwood forests (including bald cypress and tupelo swamp forests) are historically the dominant natural community of riverine floodplains of the southeastern United States. Their greatest single expanse was in the 21 million acre floodplain of the lower Mississippi River Valley from southern Illinois to coastal marshes along the Gulf of Mexico, but the community also occurs along rivers of the piedmont and southern coastal plain from Virginia to east Texas (Patrick et al. 1981). The biotic and physical features of this system are determined by hydrology and sedimentation (Bedinger 1981). A key factor in the evolution of bottomland hardwood plants has been their ability to persist under anaerobic conditions when soil becomes saturated with water. As a result, the distribution of species within the community is dependant to a large extent upon the timing, frequency, and duration of flooding (Huffman and Forsythe 1981).

Parent Publication

• Status and management of neotropical migratory birds

Citation

Pashley, David N.; Barrow, Wylie C. 1993. Effects of land use practices on neotropical migratory birds in bottomland hardwood forests. In: Finch, Deborah M.; Stangel, Peter W. (eds.). Status and management of neotropical migratory birds: September 21-25, 1992, Estes Park, Colorado. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-229. Fort Collins, Colo.: Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service: 315-320