Economic and Ecological Effects of Coarse Woody Debris Cecilia Hennessy LaBonte PhD, Dept of Forestry and Natural Resources (FNR), Purdue John B. Dunning PhD, FNR, Purdue Michael Saunders PhD, FNR, Purdue Eva Haviarova PhD, FNR, Purdue Keith Summerville PhD, College of Arts and Sciences, Drake University Jeff Holland PhD, Dept of Entomology, Purdue Patrick Ruhl MS, FNR, Purdue

Economic and Ecological Impacts of Biomass Harvest Biomass: coarse woody debris (CWD) that typically remains after a timber harvest Tree tops, roots, small diameter trees, rotting wood, etc. In the past, this was considered to have no value, so it was left behind Recent advances in wood pellets and cellulosic ethanol production Potential new markets for CWD

Economic Benefits Does the landowner recoup the cost of labor and equipment? What are the estimated costs of labor and equipment? What are the estimated costs of shipment to processing plant? Online biomass calculator Manuscript: “Leave the chips where they lay, or cash them in? Weighing the costs of collecting and processing biomass material as part of a hardwood harvest” – In Prep

Ecological Impacts What effect does removal of post-harvest biomass have on animal communities? Compare species richness and abundance between treatments What effect does removal have on pollinators and detritivores? Future forest regeneration and health Beetle and moth communities used

Ecological Products Masters Thesis: Patrick Ruhl Effects of Biomass Harvest on Red-Backed Salamanders Field-testing an estimation technique for eastern red-backed salamanders – Journal of Herpetology Effect of biomass harvesting on the abundance and physiological health of eastern red-backed salamanders – Journal of Wildlife Management 1 Beetle, 1 Moth manuscript each, in prep 1 meta-analysis manuscript of salamander, beetle, and moth communities, in prep

Study Area: Jennings County IN DNR

SEPAC 2010 USDA Farm Service

SEPAC 2013 Harvest occurred Sept 2012 Control Control Clear CWD Clear Control CWD Clear CWD

Importance of Woodland Salamanders Indicator taxon for forest ecosystem health Completely terrestrial Nearly ubiquitous distribution Specific microclimate requirements Leaf litter, canopy cover, soil moisture, CWD Flickr My research focuses on the plethodontid salamander response. Plethodontids have been suggested as a bioindicator for forest ecosystem health. They are completely terrestrial so study sites don’t have to have a permanent water source to hold plethodontids. Some species are nearly ubiquitous throughout the Northeastern united states They have been suggested to form an essential trophic link between invertebrate fauna and larger predators And they have relatively specific microhabitat and microclimate requirements making them sensitive to disturbance. Nat Geo Creative Brian Gratwicke

Salamander Sampling Artificial Cover Object arrays (25m x 25m) Checked biweekly for six weeks Timber harvest (Fall 2012) Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Environmental covariates Temperature, soil moisture, humidity, leaf litter depth

Salamander Results

Maximum Refugium Temperature Spring 2013 CWD% 17 32 52 67 82 100 UH

Conclusions Abundance CWD retention positively correlated with salamander abundance Bayesian N-Mixture Model Larger temperature variance in harvested stands. In conclusion, our results suggest that CWD retention in the context of a biomass harvest is positively correlated with salamander abundance.

Beetle Methods (volant only) 2012, 2013, 2014 Panel trap 10 m 10 m 10 m 10 m Multiple funnel trap Purple sticky trap Window trap

Preliminary Beetle Results Beetles categorized as longhorned or jewel Total longhorns: 1176 Total species: 41 (up to ~2000 individuals from ~70 species)

Preliminary Beetle Results Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling 2012 2013 2014

Clearcut, No CWD 2012 2013 2014

Clearcut, 20% CWD Retained 2012 2013 2014

Control – Unharvested 2012 2013 2014

Species Richness Cleared CWD Unharvested

Lepidopteran Communities Categorize moth species as: Pollinators or detritivores Specialists, generalists, or oligophagous By qualifying species, we can analyze the effects of harvest treatments on functional groups of moths

Moth Methods Traps set out 5 times at each location, left on overnight, collected the next morning Collected June 18, 2014 – August 11, 2014 Sam Evans-Brown

Moth Species by Treatment Total Individuals Identified: 1956 Total Species Identified: 183

Detritivores and Pollinators

B (Cleared), C (CWD), G (Unharvested)

Future Plans Analyze beetle trap locations Check for spatial independence NO spatial autocorrelation for moths Functional group correlation with spatial location Proximity to forest, agriculture fields Evaluate relationship between treatment and functional group membership Analyze shift in beetle communities over time Control for year factor

Questions? chenness@purdue.edu