Historically, heterogeneity in forested landscapes was
maintained by natural disturbances. But fire suppression,
alteration of flood plain disturbance, and the scarcity of other
natural disturbances coupled with loss of early-successional
habitat from forest maturation and farm abandonment in
North America suggests that anthropogenic disturbances
such as silviculture are important for maintaining successional
habitats (Brawn et al., 2001). Consequently, forest management
may be an important tool for mimicking natural
disturbances needed by early-successional species that have
recently lost habitat (Litvaitis, 1993; Brawn et al., 2001).