Succession in Bird Assemblages over a Seven-year Period in Regrowth Dry Sclerophyll Forest in South-east Tasmania

Abstract

The Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service monitored bird populations in a clearfell coupe and an adjacent unlogged forest in dry sclerophyll forest in the south-east of Tasmania for one and a half years in 1977–78. The mature forest was subsequently logged and another unlogged mature forest control site was added to the north. Monitoring by Forestry Tasmania continued for a further seven years, using a modified method. Numbers of birds and numbers of species were greatest in the mature forest and greater in the young regrowth than in the older regrowth. The higher numbers and species in the younger regrowth compared with the older regrowth are probably a result of the influence of older trees that were retained in sections of the young regrowth, the greater diversity of habitats in the young regrowth and the greater visibility in young regrowth. The bird faunas of the mature forest, older regrowth and young regrowth differed from each other. Individual species showed a range of responses to logging. Three species (Golden Whistler, Spotted Quail-thrush and Satin Flycatcher) that occurred in mature forest were virtually absent from regrowth.