The Effect of Birds in the Families Ardeidae and Corvidae on Stand Structure in Bamboo Groves

We investigated death rates, growth rates and recruitment of culms in two neighboring bamboo (Phyllostachys bamboosoides) stands nested in by two different bird species to analyze stand structure and to design conservation strategies. A third bamboo grove not used by birds, the Taewha stand, was included as a control stand. The bamboo stand occupied by birds in the family Ardeidae (the Ardeidae stand) had an approximately 1.5 times higher culm density than the stand occupied by birds in the family Corvidae (the Corvidae stand). The crude death rate and the number of newly emerged shoots were also higher in the Ardeidae stand than the Corvidae stand. The death rate for bamboo in the Ardeidae stand was not dependent on diameter at breast height (DBH) and was almost 40% for culms of all sizes, whereas most dead culms in the Corvidae stand were < 4 cm DBH. Consequently, we conclude that in the Ardeidae stand, density-independent causes of death are operating, while density-dependent factor are more important in the Corvidae site. The results of soil analysis in these stands suggest that the density-independent death pattern observed in the Ardeidae stand may be due to soil acidification resulting from wastes produced by the birds during breeding. On the other hand, the culm distribution and death patterns in the Corvidae stand suggest that the stand characteristics were not affected by the nesting birds. These results suggest that different conservation strategies must be applied to conserve bamboo groves used by ardeids and corvids for nesting.