Ten species of bats occur in the Oregon Coast Range and are hypothesized to be associated with late-successional forests. The development of characteristics of late-successional forests in young forest stands can be accelerated through silvicultural practices such as thinning I examined the effects of thinning on the use of forests by bats in the Oregon Coast Range. I used automated ultrasonic detectors to record bat calls in 50- to 100-year-old thinned and =thinned stands as well as in old-growth (2200-year-old) stands in 11 sites in the Oregon Coast Range during the summers of 1994 and 1995. I compared bat activity levels among the 3 stand types. In addition, I classified bat calls into 1 of 5 species groups: Eptes/Las, Myev/vo, Myyu/ca, MythCory, and Mysp. I measured selected vegetation and environmental variables in conjunction with bat activity. I also compared bat activity on roads with activity in the stand interior at 1 site. Bat activity was higher in old growth than in young stands, and higher in thinned than in =thinned stands in 1995 and over both seasons combined. I did not detect a difference in bat activity among stand types in 1994, until I removed 1 site from the analysis. The Mysp and MythCory species groups exhibited differences among stand types. Bat activity along roads was higher than activity within stands. Tree density, tree diameter, tree height, shrub cover, and shrub height varied significantly between old-growth and young stands. Tree density, tree diameter, shrub cover, canopy cover, and crown height varied significantly between thinned and unthinned stands. Bat activity, overall or by species group, was significantly related to structural variables, including mean snag diameter, mean distance from the detector to snags, and percent shrub cover. My results suggest that bats are sensitive to stand structure and that silvicultural practices, such as thinning, which promote development of structural characteristics found in old-growth stands, would benefit bat populations. Further study is needed to clarify the habitat preferences of separate bat species and to specify habitat elements required by bat species. / Graduation date: 1997

Forest stands were studied to determine if old-growth forest structure could be mimicked in younger stands via overstory manipulation. Cover and species composition of understory plants were systematically sampled in sixteen thinned second-growth stands and sixteen adjacent unthinned second-growth Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirabel) Franco.) stands. The stands were thinned twenty-four to thirteen years ago. These were compared to seven nearby old-growth stands. Thinned and unthinned stands had matching elevations, aspect, and soils, yet differed primarily in management treatment. Leaf area indices were determined for these stands. Thinned stands differed from the old-growth and unthinned stands in having significantly higher cover values and species numbers, apparently resulting from increased light to the forest floor and a greater variety of microhabitats created by thinning. Young unthinned and old-growth stands were comparable in terms of cover and richness, but differed in species composition. Diversity indices showed no difference in species diversity between the three types of stands. Ordination of the species/sample data using Detrended Correspondence Analysis showed that understory species composition of the young unthinned and thinned stands was nearly identical. Species composition of old-growth stands differed from thinned and unthinned stands. The ordination indicated that age of the stands, structure of the canopy layers and climate were major determining factors in the species composition of the understory plant communities. Management manipulation of the second growth stands did not yield stands with understory vegetation communities that mimicked those of old-growth stands. The conclusions of this study were: 1) Shrub cover increased with thinning as compared to unthinned and old-growth stands. 2) Thinning increased the species richness of the stands, without increasing the number of exotics. 3) Diversity was not altered by thinning. Old-growth, thinned and unthinned stands did not differ in diversity values. 4) Patterns of community composition in thinned stands were more similar to unthinned equivalent stands than to nearby old-growth. / Graduation date: 1996