5. Conclusion
Concerns over scrub-shrub birds have resulted in considerable
effort on the part of state and federal agencies as well as other
conservation entities to create and maintain habitat for these
species, yet we do not fully understand whether the vegetation
structure differs among different types of scrub-shrub habitats, and
if so, how these differences affect avian abundance and/or
composition (Bulluck and Buehler, 2006). Our observation that
substantial differences exist in bird abundance and species
composition between wildlife and silvicultural openings suggests
that neither management of wildlife openings nor even-aged
silvicultural can provide habitat for the entire suite of earlysuccessional
bird species in New England. Rather, these practices
should serve as complementary landmanagement strategies for the
maintenance of these declining species (Askins, 2001; Bulluck and
Buehler, 2006). Differences in bird communities among different
types of scrub-shrub habitats should be considered in regional
conservation planning for bird conservation (Askins, 2001). For
example, if maintenance of a target amount of early-successional
habitat is based on the amount of a single habitat type, the needs of
all species may not be met (Bulluck and Buehler, 2006).