A Giant Loss: Losing sequoias could be a blow to Sierra Nevada birds
Siegel RB and Wilkerson RL. 2022. A Giant Loss: Losing sequoias could be a blow to Sierra Nevada birds. The Wildlife Professional. 16(3):55-56
Changing climate and forest structure have led to high intensity fires that threaten even fire-adapted giant sequoias. This article describes how giant sequoia groves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are suffering uncharacteristically heavy losses due to fire. Many years of data quantifying bird densities show sequoia groves may be the “birdiest” forests in these parks. Earlier work by these authors documented that 12 bird species reached their highest observed density in giant sequoia groves, twice the number of any other montane forest type. In addition to being valuable songbird habitat today, historically giant sequoias provided nesting sites for California Condors in some areas of their range. This short article is a commentary highlighting the importance of giant sequoia groves to birds, and why it is important for land managers to factor the high value of groves to wildlife into decision-making about interventions that may be needed to sustain giant sequoias as a functional part of Sierra Nevada ecosystems.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Siegel, Rodney; Wilkerson, Robert
- Units
- SEKI , SIEN
- Keywords
- bird habitat, bird monitor, bird population density, birds, California Condor, fire behavior, fire regimes, giant sequoias, sequoia mortality, Sierra Nevada, wildfire