• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2007

We placed and monitored 2,137 nest boxes to determine how the size of the entrance hole and the box placement influenced nest box selection by secondary cavity-nesting birds and to derive recommendations for the use of nest boxes for management of cavity-nesting birds in forested environments. A total of 566 pairs of seven bird species used the nest boxes from 1997 to 2006, 562 of which were secondary cavity-nesters. Sympatric tits such as varied tits (Parus varius), great tits (P. major), and marsh tits (P. palustris) were common breeding birds in nest boxes, and showed clear preferences for 4.0 cm, 3.5 cm and 3.0 cm nest holes, respectively. Tree sparrows (Passer montanus) and Eurasian nuthatches (Sitta europaea) preferred 4 cm and 3.5 cm holes, respectively. We did not detect selection for the directional orientation for the entrance hole, but the birds appeared to avoid nest boxes that faced steep or gentle upward slopes and those less than 1.8 m from the ground. These results are probably related to avoidance of disturbance and predation. We suggest that diverse species can be supported by the placement of nest boxes with entrance holes of various sizes and that specific species can be targeted by selecting the hole sizes preferred by those species. To attract secondary cavity-nesters, managers should avoid placing nest boxes close to the ground and facing hills. This study also suggests that careful selection and placement of nest boxes is needed to avoid biases in research using nest boxes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.96 no.1
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• pp.115-123
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• 2007

We investigated the effects of postfire logging on bird populations and communities through 57 point counts in unburned, burned and logged burned plots of coniferous forests in Samcheok, Korea. We found that lower species richness, abundance, and diversity in logged plots where were controlled by a typical postfire management. As results of guild analysis for nest sites and food resources, postfire logging reduced densities of ground-shrub nesters, primary and secondary cavity nesters, but was also related to reduction in densities of some foraging groups such as timber drillers and foliage searchers. These results suggest that snag-retention is essential for birds in burned forests and that postfire logging is incompatible with the maintenance of bird populations and communities. Consequently we need to develope guidelines of postfire management for snag-retention in burned forests through intensive researches focused on some target species such as Great spotted woodpeckers Dendrocopos major.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.508-515
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• 2015

Post-fire restoration can affect breeding bird communities and species compositions over a long-term period by determining pot-fire succession, and a long-term monitoring is therefore required to understand its impacts on forest birds. This study aimed to document the effects of post-fire restoration methods on breeding bird communities in three areas: unburned and two burned (nonintervention and intervention with clear-cut logging and planting) stands 13 years after the stand-replacing Samcheok forest fire at Mt. Geombong in Samcheok, South Korea. According to 108 point counts during the breeding season from April to June 2013, we found that the number of individuals, observed bird species, and species diversity index in intervention stands with clear-cut logging and planting were lower than that in nonintervention and unburned control stands. Foraging and nesting guild analysis also showed a lower abundance of foliage searchers, timber drillers, primary cavity nesters and secondary cavity nesters in intervention stands than in the other stands, while no significant difference was detected between the nonintervention and unburned stands. These results imply that an interventional restoration method may deter the recovery of avian breeding communities after forest fires, and also suggest that non-interventional restoration methods may be an effective way to benefit the species diversity and density of breeding bird communities.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.828-835
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• 2011

This study was conducted to understand the characteristics of bird community, migration, nesting guild, ordination analysis of observed frequency of birds at Jeju Experimental Forests (JEFs) from November 2006 to September 2007 with surveys of two areas by line transect methods and point-count methods at five areas for three consecutive days in each month. Among observed 58 species could be classified into the 24 residents, 9 summer visitors, 9 winter visitors and 16 passage migrants according to migration habit. In species composition, passage migrants are dominant birds at study areas whereas summer and winter visitors are most dominant birds at mainland's forests. We could divide two groups of bird community in the view of monthly species composition, one is November to February group, the other March to July group by ordination analysis. Number of species did not show seasonal fluctuation which is common pattern of bird community in mainland. This pattern reflects that species composition can change during breeding and non-breeding periods, but overall number of species did not change. This can be related with the high use of passage migrants at study area, also suggests that the JEFs can be highly utilized as stopover sites during migration. At mainland's forests, we can observe about five species of woodpeckers, however we just observed the only one species of White-backed Woodpeckers (Dendrocopos leucotos) at study areas. In the view of nesting guild, breeding birds can be grouped into the 9 bush-& ground nesters, 8 canopy nesters, 7 hole nesters and one house nesters. Among hole nesters, we can observe only one species of primary cavity nesters White-backed woodpecker, and the five secondary cavity nesters, that is three species of tits, tricolor flycatchers (Ficedula zanthopygia) and ruddy kingfishers (Halcyon coromanda). Therefore, White-backed woodpeckers can be regarded as a keystone species and forest practice should consider the careful conservation of this species.