Herpetofaunal responses to intensification of woody bioenergy production in a global biodiversity hotspot
2020
Jones, Gavin M. | Smith, Lora | Gottlieb, Isabel G.W. | Ober, Holly K. | Brosi, Berry | Fletcher, Robert J.
Bioenergy produced from woody biomass in managed forest systems represents a substantial portion of the global supply of renewable energy. As societies transition to renewable energy and demand for wood-based bioenergy increases, timber-producing forests and other agricultural and marginal lands may transition to bioenergy management regimes. Limited empirical information exists regarding how wildlife communities will respond to bioenergy intensification. We investigated herpetofaunal occurrence across 75 study sites located in two types of bioenergy feedstocks (corn and pine) to evaluate effects of bioenergy alternatives in a global biodiversity hotspot in the southeastern United States: the North American Coastal Plain. We found that removing harvest residue following clearcut management in pine forests as a source of woody biomass resulted in either neutral or positive effects for six of the seven herpetofaunal species examined. Other bioenergy alternatives, such as mid-rotation thinning and short-rotation practices, resulted in highly variable effects among individual species and generally contrasting effects between amphibians and reptiles. Similarly high variability was observed when comparing species occurrence patterns between corn and managed pine bioenergy feedstocks. Our study suggests herpetofaunal community responses to changing land-use practices in the era of bioenergy may be taxa- and species-specific. Some land-use practices (e.g., residue removal following clearcuts) may be generally compatible with conservation of most species examined, but conserving herpetofaunal diversity within the Southeast as bioenergy production increases may involve promoting heterogeneous managed landscapes in which a diversity of harvest approaches are used.
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