Influences of shelterwood prescriptions to aboveground carbon storage and herpetofaunal and small mammal communities
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We examined the response of herpetofaunal and small mammal communities to silvicultural treatments. In addition, differences between silvicultural treatments of carbon storage ratios in trees, shrubs, vines, herbaceous material, course woody debris, and fine woody debris were studied. A complete randomized design with multiple replications, 20 experimental stands of approximately 5 ha each, was used to test three prescriptions: (1) control (no alteration); (2) shelterwood (SW, 30 to 40 percent basal area retention); and (3) oak shelterwood (OSW, herbicide midstory treatment with triclopyr). Drift fences with pitfall and box funnel traps and Sherman live traps were used to assess herpetofaunal and small mammal communities. Above-ground materials for carbon quantification were either collected, dried, and weighed or derived using estimating equations to ascertain carbon ratios. We found more carbon in control and oak shelterwood compared to shelterwood. Overstory trees contained the majority of the carbon within all treatment types and accounted for most of the differences in total carbon between treatment types. In comparison between treatment types, OSW and SW had the highest herbaceous carbon content. Over both years, the most abundant reptile was eastern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus), the most abundant amphibian was American toad (Anaxyurus americanus), and the most abundant small mammal was the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus). Lizards were more abundant in the shelterwood stands in 2011 and 2012 compared to the other treatments.