@article{powell_buehler_moorman_zobel_harper_2022, title={Vegetation structure and food availability following disturbance in recently restored early successional plant communities}, ISSN={["2328-5540"]}, DOI={10.1002/wsb.1372}, abstractNote={Fields dominated by nonnative grasses, such as tall fescue ( Schedonorus arundinaceus ), are being restored to native plant communities across the eastern U.S. Upon restoration, disturbance is necessary to maintain native communities in an early seral stage, and plant response to different management practices is of interest to managers to guide habitat enhancement for various wildlife species. We evaluated effects of burning and mowing following restoration of native plant communities via 2 methods (planting native grasses and forbs and seedbank response without planting), across 11 replicated sites in Tennessee and Alabama, 2019 – 2020. We compared vegetation composition and structure, openness at ground level, forage availability, and nutritional carrying capacity (NCC) following 4 treatments (Seedbank Burned, Seedbank Mowed, Planted Burned, Planted Mowed, and tall fescue Control), and we related these measurements to the food and cover requirements for 3 popular game species: white ‐ tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus}, journal={WILDLIFE SOCIETY BULLETIN}, author={Powell, Bonner L. and Buehler, David A. and Moorman, Christopher E. and Zobel, John M. and Harper, Craig A.}, year={2022}, month={Oct} }
 @article{harper_gefellers_buehler_moorman_zobel_2021, title={Plant Community Response and Implications for Wildlife Following Control of a Nonnative Perennial Grass}, ISSN={["2328-5540"]}, DOI={10.1002/wsb.1232}, abstractNote={Restoration of early successional plant communities dominated by nonnative plant species is a central focus of many state and federal agencies to improve habitat for wildlife associated with these communities. Restoration e ff orts largely have concentrated on controlling nonnative species followed by planting native grasses and forbs. However, there are numerous establishment problems associated with planting that warrant evaluation of alternative approaches for restoration. We conducted a fi eld experiment to compare vegetation composition and structure as related to habitat for focal wildlife among plant communities established by planting (Planted) native grasses and forbs and revegetation from the seedbank (Seedbank) without planting following control of tall fescue ( Schedonorus arundinaceus ) at 15 replicated sites in Tennessee and Alabama, USA. Planted and Seedbank treatments produced similar plant communities. Vegetation structure providing cover for nesting and brooding northern bobwhite ( Colinus virginianus ) and wild turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo ) was similar between Seedbank and Planted treatments except native grass cover was greatest in Planted, and we recorded greater openness at ground level in Seedbank than Planted or tall fescue control (Control). Abundance of northern bobwhite food plants and selected white ‐ tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) forage were similar between Planted and Seedbank treatments, but nutritional carrying capacity for deer was greatest in Seedbank. Despite similarities in food abundance, and even though all forbs included in the planting mixtures were food plants, the majority of food plants in Planted were from the seedbank. The compositional and structural characteristics deemed most in fl uential in previous studies to selection of breeding sites by dickcissel ( Spiza americana ), fi eld sparrow ( Spizella pusilla ), grasshopper sparrow ( Ammodramus savannarum ), Henslow ’ s sparrow ( Ammodramus henslowii ), and northern bobwhite were similar in Planted and Seedbank. Tall fescue Control was most similar to char - acteristics of eastern meadowlark ( Sturnella magna ) breeding sites. Revegetation following Seedbank pro - duced a plant community that provided habitat for many wildlife species equal to or better than Planted and was 3.7 times less expensive than Planted. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.}, journal={WILDLIFE SOCIETY BULLETIN}, author={Harper, Craig A. and Gefellers, J. Wade and Buehler, David A. and Moorman, Christopher E. and Zobel, John M.}, year={2021}, month={Dec} }
 @article{richardson_kroeger_moorman_harper_gardner_jones_strope_2020, title={Nesting Ecology of Northern Bobwhite on a Working Farm}, volume={44}, ISSN={["2328-5540"]}, DOI={10.1002/wsb.1125}, abstractNote={ABSTRACT}, number={4}, journal={WILDLIFE SOCIETY BULLETIN}, author={Richardson, Andy D. and Kroeger, Anthony J. and Moorman, Christopher E. and Harper, Craig A. and Gardner, Beth and Jones, Mark D. and Strope, Benjy M.}, year={2020}, month={Dec}, pages={677–683} }
 @article{kroeger_deperno_harper_rosche_moorman_2020, title={Northern Bobwhite Non‐Breeding Habitat Selection in a Longleaf Pine Woodland}, volume={84}, ISSN={0022-541X 1937-2817}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21925}, DOI={10.1002/jwmg.21925}, abstractNote={ABSTRACT}, number={7}, journal={The Journal of Wildlife Management}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Kroeger, Anthony J. and DePerno, Christopher S. and Harper, Craig A. and Rosche, Sarah B. and Moorman, Christopher E.}, year={2020}, month={Jul}, pages={1348–1360} }
 @article{gefellers_buehler_moorman_zobel_harper_2020, title={Seeding is not always necessary to restore native early successional plant communities}, volume={28}, ISSN={["1526-100X"]}, DOI={10.1111/rec.13249}, abstractNote={Restoration of native early successional plant communities in the eastern United States is a conservation priority because of declining populations of associated plants and wildlife. Restoration typically involves seeding native species and is often fraught with problems including weedy competition, expensive seed, and slow establishment. Pairing seed bank response with strategic herbicide applications may be an alternative approach for restoring these plant communities. We compared early successional plant communities established by seeding (SD) paired with selective herbicide use to natural revegetation (NR) from the seed bank paired with selective herbicide use at 18 locations that were previously row‐crop or tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) fields in Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky, the United States. We did not detect differences in species diversity and richness, coverage of non‐native grasses and forbs, or number and coverage of native flowering forbs by season between NR and SD treatments at tall fescue or fallow crop sites. Species evenness was greatest in NR and coverage of native‐warm‐season grasses in SD. Species richness and coverage of native forbs were least in untreated tall fescue units (CNTL). More flexibility to use herbicides with NR reduced coverage of sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) in NR units compared to SD units at tall fescue sites. NR was 3.7 times cheaper than seeding. Land managers should consider using an NR approach to establish native early successional plant communities.}, number={6}, journal={RESTORATION ECOLOGY}, author={GeFellers, James Wade and Buehler, David A. and Moorman, Christopher E. and Zobel, John M. and Harper, Craig A.}, year={2020}, month={Nov}, pages={1485–1494} }
 @article{kroeger_moorman_lashley_chitwood_harper_deperno_2020, title={White-tailed deer use of overstory hardwoods in longleaf pine woodlands}, volume={464}, ISSN={0378-1127}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118046}, DOI={10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118046}, abstractNote={Restoration of the longleaf pine ecosystem is a conservation priority throughout the southeastern United States, but the role of hardwoods in providing food and cover for wildlife within this system is poorly understood. We investigated white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) movement and habitat selection relative to overstory hardwood distribution in a longleaf pine ecosystem at Fort Bragg Military Installation in the Sandhills physiographic region of North Carolina from March 2011–July 2013. We monitored GPS-collared female white-tailed deer and used generalized linear mixed models and step-selection functions to determine the influence of overstory composition and understory cover on seasonal white-tailed deer habitat selection. During fall and winter, deer selection increased with increasing upland hardwood overstory until reaching an upper threshold (12% and 7%; respectively) where increasing cover of upland hardwoods no longer increased selection. Also, in the fall and winter, deer selected areas with greater bottomland hardwood overstory until an upper threshold of 33% bottomland hardwood overstory was reached. In the spring, deer selected areas with <22% upland hardwood overstory. The effect size of understory cover, defined as lidar-classified vegetation with height <2 m, was larger than any other variable, regardless of season, and deer consistently selected areas with 20–75% understory cover. When managing longleaf pine woodlands for white-tailed deer, our results indicate maintaining a well-developed woody understory with 20–50% canopy closure is important, ideally with mature upland hardwood overstory cover between 4 and 12% to ensure mast production in fall and winter.}, journal={Forest Ecology and Management}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Kroeger, Anthony J. and Moorman, Christopher E. and Lashley, Marcus A. and Chitwood, M. Colter and Harper, Craig A. and DePerno, Christopher S.}, year={2020}, month={May}, pages={118046} }