Maintaining vegetative structure during weed management sustains birds and an invasive mammal

Abstract

Weed management often involves active measures to minimize or prevent negative impacts on local wildlife. Approaches include retention of weed structure, altered timing of management to avoid wildlife breeding seasons, and/or the gradual removal of weeds in conjunction with revegetation of native plants. We assess the short-term impacts of retaining some structural complexity offered by weeds post management to birds and a small mammal in two ecosystems. One ecosystem involves a wetland with an emergent weed, the other a woodland with a sub-canopy weed. Before-After-Reference-Control-Impact experiments revealed that assemblage and activity of birds and an invasive small mammal—the only captured in numbers during our study—were minimally altered by weed management. In some instances, we observed the activity of native bird species favoring the use of weeds. Evidence also suggested the weedy sites supported different species assemblages compared to reference sites without weeds. This study indicates that, in the short-term, retention of weed structure can sustain birds and an exotic mammal that use weeds.