| Abstract | Danny examined successional stage, forest structure and forest edges as factors which contribute to the diversity of birds in subalpine forests of Kootenay National Park, British Columbia. In 1989 and 1990, a total of 75 circular breeding bird plots were censused in herb-shrub, pole-sapling, young, mature and old growth successional stages (3, 21, 65, 163 and 241 years post-fire respectively). Density, species richness and diversity of birds generally increased with stand age, although minor decreases occurred in young and old growth stages. Increases in density and diversity are related to the development of diverse vegetation structure which increases with successional age of the forest. Structural components of the vegetation are related to bird community characteristics as well as the occurrence of feeding and nesting guilds of birds. To examine edge effects, transects were conducted across edges between the pole-sapling and old growth stages as well as between mature and old growth stages. Although bird densities were greater at edges than within the homogeneous interior of successional stages, they did not decrease with increasing distance from edge. His results reveal that changes in subalpine bird communities follow these habitat alterations. |
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