The 2015 North Carolina Wildlife Action Plan defines 41 priority habitats for the state. More information about this habitat can be found in Section 4.4.17.

Habitat Priorities

Surveys

Conduct surveys for species associated with successional habitats, including species for which current distribution information is already available or for species that are considered common (e.g., Eastern Meadowlark, Blue Grosbeak, Eastern Cottontail). (Surveys Priority)
Continue surveys for all amphibian species associated with small wetland communities, but especially the Mole Salamander, Eastern Tiger Salamander, Dwarf Salamander, and Four-toed Salamander. (Surveys Priority)
Gather better information about the status and distribution of more common species associated with Piedmont wetland habitats (e.g., the Three-lined Salamander, Common Ribbonsnake). (Surveys Priority)

Monitoring

Monitor amphibian populations to detect incidence of fungal and viral infections (e.g., iridoviruses, chytridiomycosis).
Develop long-term monitoring strategies to document population trends, from which conservation strategies can be specifically designed to target those species.
Expand and/or target monitoring systems to assess current population status and trend information for all wildlife species associated with this habitat.

Research

Investigate Nutria population densities, population growth rates, dispersal range, and extent of property damage from burrowing and herbivory.
Determine minimum upland buffers required to sustain at-risk amphibian populations.
Research and identify important wildlife crossing areas; evaluate connectivity issues between intact and fragmented habitats used by priority species; work with partners to improve crossing and connectivity.
Focus habitat use studies on bats and small mammals to clarify how small mammals and bats use early succession habitats.
Study the efficacy and practicality of toad tunnels and other wildlife crossings that allow passage under roadways and help maintain connectivity between wetland metapopulations.

Management Practices

Limit the development of roads or other infrastructure within large unfragmented blocks, as this would promote the development of denser human settlement or create connectivity barriers through fragmentation.
Maintain and restore connections between habitat blocks, not only to allow adjustments in range in response to climate change, but to maintain genetic connectivity, population resilience, and adaptability more generally.
Develop transportation facilities that utilize longer bridges at streams and wetlands to minimize impacts (and thereby reduce mitigation requirements) and provide crossing options for wildlife that often travel riparian corridors. Wildlife underpasses should be constructed for all new highway projects, as these reduce wildlife–vehicle collisions, conserve important travel corridors, and provide linkages for bear populations and many other wildlife species.
Allow Beaver pond complexes to develop in natural areas where direct impacts to rare species are not at issue.
Work with partners to develop property tax incentives to mitigate damages suffered by landowners.
Explore management strategies to eradicate undesirable species, such as bullfrogs, from wetlands.
Maintain sufficient surrounding habitat for seasonal wetlands in order to support the life history requirements of amphibian and reptile populations. Every effort should be made to maintain continuous gradients between wetland and upland sites; roads, agriculture, or forestry operations between complimentary sites may render them ineffective at supporting amphibian and reptile populations (Bailey et al. 2004).

Conservation Programs and Partnerships

Description

Successional communities are also referred to as early successional habitats. Successional uplands are dominated by herbaceous vegetation and/or shrub cover because most trees have been removed, either through natural means or by human activity. Where tree species exist they are young and often not much taller than shrubs.

Successional wetlands are primarily dominated by herb and shrub communities that develop on frequently flooded, semi-permanently flooded, or other wetland sites following disturbance, either natural or manmade. Natural examples of successional wetlands include the communities that form as Beaver ponds become filled-in with sediments, par- ticularly following abandonment of a pond by the Beavers. Artificial examples include habitats that form along routinely maintained corridors (e.g., power line easements, rights-ofway) and where borrow pits, farm ponds, drainage ditches, or larger reservoirs become filled-in.

Successional communities can be described as grassland, shrubland, or woody types.

Grassland types are dominated by herbaceous vegetation such as mixed grasses, wildflowers, and vines. Examples of this habitat include fallow farm fields, hayfields, pastures with native grasses, savannas, prairies, meadows, and mountain balds. Grass balds are a unique community and are described in Section 4.4.5. While areas such as ball fields, golf courses, intensively managed horse farms, and mowed lawns are dominated by grasses, they do not provide quality grassland habitat for priority species.
Shrubland types have a mixture of young saplings, shrubs, and woody plants typically less than ten feet tall with scattered open patches of grasses, wildflowers, and vines. Vegetation composition is generally dependent on disturbance frequency and patterns. Hedgerows, clear-cut and regenerating forests, field borders, large canopy gaps, and transportation or utility rights-of-way in dry to mesic uplands are often shrubland communities. Scattered mature trees may be present but not to the point that they shade out the beneficial understory vegetation. Shrubland habitats provide structural diversity that offers a variety of nesting sites, escape cover, and food for wildlife.
Woody types represent late stage successional communities that have not developed the characteristics of a specific natural community. Dominant trees in the overstory and shrubs in the understory are often dense and most likely composed of common weedy species.

The niche that successional communities occupy probably has always existed, having once been associated primarily with openings created by natural disturbances such as storms, floods, or fire. Since they rely on patterns of disturbance to maintain them, these communities are characteristically transient, constantly emerging across the landscape. They are composed primarily of native species of annual plants, reptiles, small mammals, birds, and insects that are associated with successional habitats and are often found nowhere else. While early successional communities can be found statewide, composition and species associations will be highly correlated with the ecoregion where they occur.

Successional habitats in the Mountain ecoregion may range from broad ridge tops (containing a variety of unique grass and herb species) to lower elevation fields, meadows, pastures, and clear-cuts resulting from agriculture or forestry activities. Montane ‘old fields’ are open grassy areas that have occasionally been invaded by bald species but generally are either in agricultural use or have been abandoned to forest. Human influences, herbivore grazing, and environmental factors such as topographic position, climate, and natural fires have all played a role in the creation and maintenance of montane early successional areas.

All have been modified by human activity and all are subject to natural succession once controlling mechanisms, such as grazing or cutting, have been eliminated. Without the return of the management factors, natural succession will limit the longevity of these habitats and their dependent plant and animal species. Though many montane early successional habitat types support species uniquely dependent on them, other types provide little benefit to plant and animal species, especially those patches of small size, and thus could only be considered marginal wildlife habitat at best. These kinds of places generally reflect human use and activity as the primary goals of their management and include a number of places such as large lawns, monoculture hayfields, golf courses, residential development, and even urban development.

In the Piedmont, Sandhills, and Coastal Plain ecoregions, early successional habitats are often found associated with agricultural or forestry activities and can contain a diverse assemblage of plants, with Piedmont prairies being a notable example of this (Davis et al. 2002). Historically, the Piedmont contained some prairie-type habitats (Barden 1997) with high plant, and presumably insect, diversity that were maintained through fire and herbivore grazing. Today, remnant tracts of prairie are found primarily along powerline rights-of-way and sites managed specifically for prairie restoration and maintenance. Successional wetland communities associated with Beaver pond complexes are adapted to frequent disturbances and are likely to be among the most resilient and adaptable to the effects of climate change. By storing water during times of drought and mitigating the effects of flooding, they are also likely to enhance the survival of species found in adjoining habitats as well.

There are excellent opportunities for quality early successional habitat of large patch sizes for wildlife on industrial forestland in the Coastal Plain. Intensively managed habitats such as large lawns, golf courses, high production agricultural fields, monoculture hayfields, and intensively managed commercial timber stands often have low species and structural diversity that will have limited habitat value for wildlife.

Location of Habitat

This habitat type can be transient and is difficult to map but it occurs statewide. Powerline easements and other utility corridors are most likely to be perpetually maintained as successional habitat. Other examples are often found at the transition between agricultural fields and nearby woodlands, created by disturbances like clearcutting, disking, or burning.

Problems Affecting Habitats

Increased temperature is likely to have a strong effect on the composition of the plant communities in this group. These changes are also likely to affect host-plant specialist insects, but impacts to other animals are difficult to predict. Increased frequency of severe droughts is likely to have a strong effect on the composition of the plant communities in this group. These changes are also likely to affect host-plant specialist insects but impacts to other animals are difficult to predict. With milder winters and warmer average temperatures, Nutria populations could expand their range and become more invasive.

Beaver ponds can be a nuisance to landowners when they flood farm fields or commercial timber. Their activities cause damage to trees and property, which often results in the destruction of Beaver dams. Several techniques have been developed to minimize Beaver damage while maintaining some benefit from impounded waters. If allowed to continue their expansion, ecosystems in this group are likely to gain resilience and adaptability in the face of climate change. Wetlands associated with Beaver-pond complexes are among the best buffered against the effects of drought. However, prolonged droughts may cause significant local extirpation and hydrologic instability, with increased frequency of severe flooding as well as severe droughts likely to lead to degradation of these habitats.

Construction of new infrastructure to support development or to move facilities inland in response to sea level rise can lead to destruction of successional wetlands, especially smaller isolated patches. The hydrologic connectivity of larger wetlands may be affected when crossed by roads or underground utilities. Roads can cause heavy mortality for reptiles and amphibians and can effectively isolate breeding populations, or separate wetland habitats from upland habitats that are used during non-breeding portions of amphibian and reptile life cycles.

Routine land disturbance by agricultural operations provides the best opportunities for early succession habitat creation and maintenance in North Carolina. However, the value of modern farmland for early succession wildlife has been reduced as economic pressures, improvements in equipment and herbicides, and social factors have all led to larger, more uniformly shaped rowcrop fields, as well as “cleaner” fields with fewer weeds in the fields and less weedy edge. Few rowcrop fields are managed to include a fallow rotation. Some beneficial practices, such as no-till planting, have had mixed success in being adopted. In pastureland, the extensive use of exotic cool-season grasses has reduced habitat quality for wildlife. Cutting hay in mid-summer and overgrazing can adversely affect nesting grassland birds.

Clear-cutting timber creates early succession habitat for a short period of time until newly planted timber matures and the understory grass, forb, and shrub layers are shaded out, typically 7 to 15 years after replanting. Economic pressures, improvements in timber production practices (e.g., equipment, herbicides, genetically improved trees) have reduced the amount of time to canopy closure, contributing to loss of early succession habitat. Intensive site preparation can reduce the quality and quantity of herbaceous cover during the early phases of stand establishment.

Suppression of wildfires and lack of controlled burning eliminates an important source of early succession habitat creation and maintenance within many forested habitats.

Concerns about uncontrolled fire, liability, air quality, social acceptance, and smoke management, and lack of landowners with the experience and equipment to conduct controlled burns have limited the use of fire on private lands.

Fallow or unmowed areas are seen by many as “messy” and “weedy,” and an indicator of a lack of caring or effort by a landowner. This widespread public perception is partially responsible for fallow habitats being reduced in habitat quality or eliminated. Early succession cover in powerline rights-of-way and roadsides is often adversely affected by too frequent or poorly timed mowing. In addition, many areas of fallow ground near houses or businesses are frequently mowed to maintain a neat appearance, while opportunities exist to convert some of these areas to suitable wildlife cover.

Piedmont prairies contain highly diverse and specialized plant and insect communities. Currently, only small remnant tracts remain. Fire and/or low intensity agricultural operations are necessary to maintain prairie communities. Current restoration efforts are focused on plant conservation and have been implemented on small acreages that have limited value for area-sensitive grassland species such as Grasshopper Sparrow and Eastern Meadowlark. Grasslands larger than 20 acres should be pursued to benefit these species.

Successional communities are currently among the most heavily infested with exotic invasive species. With increases in overall temperature, more invasions are likely, especially from tropical and sub-tropical regions. Integrated pest management practices should be preferred over more indiscriminate application of pesticides. The effects of exotic plants, insects, and animals on early succession habitat and native wildlife populations are poorly understood. Impacts are likely to vary widely depending on the species involved, environmental conditions, and management activities. Fire Ants are a species of particular concern, especially regarding their potential impact on herpetofauna, small mammals, and ground-nesting birds. While invasive species should be treated aggressively with eradication as the goal wherever an exotic is just beginning to be established, control measures should always be carefully targeted, including the use of species-specific biological control agents.

Climate Change Compared to Other Threats

Comparing climate change to other ecosystem threats can help define shortand long-term conservation actions and recommendations. The effect of a changed climate is likely to vary widely among examples and many may change very little, while others will change substantially because of human reaction to the impacts of climate change such as temperature changes or drought.

Loss of habitat and fragmentation of landscapes are the most significant threats to this ecosystem group. While development of yet more intensive agricultural and silvicultural practices, and loss of still more areas to development, would continue even in the absence of climate change, these impacts are likely to be exacerbated both directly and indirectly by the effects of climate change. Climate change will contribute to the loss of the large blocks of habitat or fragmentation that creates barriers between blocks that are critical for the survival of species in this group. Development of habitat has become the limiting factor for priority species utilizing this habitat. Across the state more generally, increased exploitation of wild or semi-wild lands for energy production is likely to be the most important indirect effect of climate change on this group. Table 4.41 summarizes the comparison of climate change with other existing threats.

Impacts to Wildlife

Upland Communities. The quantity of early successional habitat is generally not lacking but the quality is often questionable for most species of wildlife. Species found in successional communities occur widely throughout the state, although there are also some regional variations (e.g., Henslow's Sparrows are restricted to the Coastal Plain and Vesper Sparrows breed only in the Mountains). Changes in plant species composition may also have strong impacts on the composition of insect species, since many have narrow host plant preferences. The vertebrate fauna may show far fewer effects, however, since most, if not all, do not depend on a particular composition of plant species.

Two species associated with early successional habitats, Bewick's Wren and Regal Fritillary, are believed extirpated from North Carolina. Several other species are declining, with Eastern Henslow's Sparrows, Golden-winged Warblers, Appalachian Cottontails, and Grizzled Skippers listed as Federal Species of Concern, and a number of additional rare species tracked by NCNHP. Many of the species associated with this community type that are of conservation concern are primarily northern species and are likely to be significantly affected by the effects of climate change.

Species in this habitat group are completely dependent on their ability to disperse from one habitat patch to another: their habitats themselves are normally very transient and the species associated with them need to keep constantly on the move to keep up with their shifting landscape. Although many of the species associated with successional habitats are quite mobile, small mammals, reptiles, and at least some birds and insects are less mobile and highly vulnerable to the effects of habitat fragmentation. At least some of the declines noted in this group of species is likely due to decreased connectivity between habitat patches, in addition to the decreased extent of these habitats overall.

Disturbed and artificially created/maintained habitats are particularly susceptible to invasion by exotic species, which in some cases can have significant impacts on the native species associated with early successional habitats. While most compositional changes are likely to have mixed effects, invasion by some exotic species can produce severe impacts, greatly reducing the diversity of both animal and plant communities. The Appalachian Bewick's Wren may have been extirpated from North Carolina due to competition with exotic house sparrows and European Starlings, along with brood parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds, an invasive species in this area that arrived from the Great Plains (Potter et al. 2006).

Wetland Communities. With stable Beaver populations, Beaver ponds can be maintained for decades. Beaver ponds are a natural community, but result from modification of other community types. With or without climate change, Beaver pond ecosystems are likely to further spread across the state, recreating habitat conditions that existed prior to the great loss of Beavers and their associated species that began with European settlement of North America. This spread will likely have a positive effect on successional wetland inhabitants. The main limiting factor for this reoccupation is human tolerance for Beaver activities and competition with humans for use of bottomlands. A reduction in the number of Beaver ponds will place more importance on man-made ponds as the primary habitat for many lentic aquatic species.

Changes in insect species composition, especially among herbivorous groups, are likely to occur due to changes in plant composition as well as the direct effects of climate change on the insects themselves. Eight very rare species associated with this habitat group are entirely confined to these habitats in North Carolina, including the federally endangered Saint Francis' Satyr. Vertebrate composition is less likely to change if habitat structure remains fairly constant.

While often small in size, cumulatively successional wetland habitats provide critical breeding habitat for many species. Wetland habitats are especially important as breeding sites for amphibian species. Small wetlands can also be important breeding habitat for crayfishes. Wading birds, waterfowl, and songbirds may also use small wetland communities for nesting and feeding areas. Dead trees in Beaver ponds are important foraging and nesting habitat for woodpeckers, such as the Red-headed Woodpecker, and for Wood Duck nesting.

Freshwater wetlands near coastal communities provide an important source of fresh drinking water for wildlife, which will become more important in areas subject to saltwater intrusion. Depending on geographic siting in the landscape, successional wetlands may also provide connectivity between adjacent upland habitats.

Nutria are considered a serious pest species in the United States because they eat a variety of wetland and agricultural plants and their burrowing damages streambank, impoundments, and drainage systems. As warming trends increase, the range of Nutria, a nonnative and often invasive mammal, is likely to expand and populations currently limited by intolerance to cold winters will quickly expand.

quoted from the 2015 North Carolina Wildlife Action Plan

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Successional Communities

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