Publications by authors named "Petra B Wood"

Contemporary forest management often requires meeting diverse ecological objectives including maintaining ecosystem function and promoting biodiversity through timber harvesting. Wildlife are essential in this process by providing ecological services that can facilitate forest resiliency in response to timber harvesting. However, the mechanisms driving species' responses remain ambiguous.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We sampled headwater streams to characterize impacts of unconventional shale gas development (SGD) on aquatic ecosystems. The study area was relatively un-impacted by confounding activities. Intensity of SGD over the study decreased then increased again but not to levels seen the first year.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The proliferation of energy rights-of-way (pipelines and powerlines; ROWs) in the central Appalachian region has prompted wildlife management agencies to consider ways to use these features to manage and conserve at-risk songbird species. However, little empirical evidence exists regarding best management strategies to enhance habitat surrounding ROWs for the songbird community during stopover or breeding periods. We used a before-after-control-impact design to study cut-back border (linear tree cuttings along abrupt forest edges) harvest width (15, 30, and 45 m wide into the forest), and harvest intensity (14 and 4.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We related Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) demographic response and nest survival to benthic macroinvertebrate aquatic prey and to shale gas development parameters using models that accounted for both spatial and non-spatial sources of variability in a Central Appalachian USA watershed. In 2013, aquatic prey density and pollution intolerant genera (i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Migratory species can experience limiting factors at different locations and during different periods of their annual cycle. In migratory birds, these factors may even occur in different hemispheres. Therefore, identifying the distribution of populations throughout their annual cycle (i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Forest cover in the eastern U.S. has increased, benefitting some late-successional species while others, like the cerulean warbler, are declining due to reduced small-scale disturbances such as fire and treefalls.
  • An experimental study using partial timber harvest found that while cerulean warbler densities improved after disturbances, reproduction rates remained low, especially in southern regions.
  • The findings suggest that managing disturbances needs to balance attracting cerulean warblers to improved habitats while being cautious of creating ecological traps, particularly in southern regions where the species currently thrives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF