Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Ezell, Andrew W.

Committee Member

Strickland, Bronson

Committee Member

Demarais, Stephen

Date of Degree

8-14-2015

Original embargo terms

MSU Only Indefinitely

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Campus Access Only

Major

Forestry

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Forestry

Abstract

Timber and wildlife habitat management may be conflicting objectives, but both benefit from increasing light in bottomland forests through harvesting and midstory control, and a target residual basal area may be used to optimize both. Six areas were used to evaluate effects of partial harvest and midstory control on oak regeneration, diameter growth of residual trees, and white-tailed deer carrying capacity. Partial harvest treatments consisted of residual basal areas of 70ft2/ac (16.07m2/ha), 60ft2/ac (13.77m2/ha), 50ft2/ac (11.48 m2/ha), 40ft2/ac (9.18m2/ha), 30ft2/ac (6.89m2/ha), and untreated controls. All partial harvest areas received midstory control using injection with imazapyr. Available light was related to residual basal area (R2 = 0.808). Treatments with 50ft2/ac residual basal area exhibited the optimal amount of oak regeneration and white-tailed deer carrying capacity. Treatments with 30ft2/ac had greatest diameter growth. This research provided guidelines for managers that wish to optimize white-tailed deer habitat and oak regeneration.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/20710

Comments

Partial Harvest||Bottomland Hardwoods||midstory control||oak regeneration||white-tailed deer||habitat managment

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