Long-term effects of group-selection timber harvesting on abundance of forest birds.

Relatively few studies have examined the ecological effects of group-selection timber harvesting, and nearly all have been short-term and have lacked experimental manipulations that allow pre- and posttreatment comparisons. We have been documenting the effects of a group-selection timber harvest on bird abundance in a Maine forest for 24 years (preharvest, 1983-1987; postharvest, 1988-2006). Here we characterized the trends in bird abundance over the first 20 years of the study in the managed and control halves of the 40-ha study area. Species responses to the group-selection harvest were idiosyncratic, but in general the mature-forest bird community was retained and species dependent on early successional habitat temporarily (