Songbird Habitats and Preferences When

¶ … songbird habitats and preferences when planting and harvesting timber forests, because due to the relatively long time between planting and harvesting (upwards of 50 years), forest planners must be extra selective when determining when and how to harvest trees for timber. According to the article, "the group [of researchers] engaged in a complicated birds-eye view of the forest, seeking to understand how four key songbirds -- the black-throated green warbler, eastern wood-pewee, least flycatcher and rose-breasted grosbeak -- dealt with neighborhood upheaval." The current method of harvesting and encouraging the growth of hardwoods is called "gap harvesting," which essentially means cutting down the trees in a small portion of a forest, then letting them grow back before cutting down any more nearby. This method does not always work, however, because "sometimes it appears deer are chowing on the maple seedling trying to grow in the sunny gaps left by harvest," thus prohibiting the gaps from filling in again. This is especially important because the researchers found that the sugar maple tree has the biggest effect on birds' choice of habitats, because its large canopy cover dictates which kinds of songbirds will live where. In short: "regeneration in harvest gaps of species that become large canopy dominant trees such as sugar maple is crucial for forest managers to have choices," because "if trees aren't growing back well, there's no opportunity to even start watching out for the forest's residents," including the four songbirds mentioned above.

The study examined in the article "Managing Forests Requires a Bird's-Eye View" demonstrates the importance of considering how animals interact with and choose their environment, because subtle changes in a forest's makeup can lead to drastic changes for the local wildlife. This study not only highlights the importance of considering animal life alongside the needs of industry, but points out the necessity of thinking long-term about the effects of human interaction with and manipulation of the environment.

The second article examined for this essay was concerned with the effects of a warming climate on transportation and access in the Arctic. According to Laurence C. Smith, one of the co-authors of the study examined by the article, "popular perception holds that climate warming will mean an opening up of the Arctic, but our study shows that this is only partly so," because while maritime access will increase, inland areas which rely on ice roads for access will find themselves cut off. In order to determine the accessibility of certain areas in the event of a warming climate, "the researchers averaged month-to-month accessibility rates for two time periods: 2010 to 2014 and 2045 to 2059" and "then compared the two scenarios," finding that Canada and Russia will lose the most land access, although they will gain much greater maritime access along with the United States and Greenland. While this will likely result in a boon for coastal communities, and especially those located on the busiest trade routes, inland communities will be forced to change how they move goods across the Arctic, likely having to resort to air travel, which greatly increases the costs of transporting goods.