This file contains information and explanations for the variables used for species richness and abundance data that accompany the following publication:

Wood, J.M., A.K. Tegeler, and B.E. Ross. 2020. Vegetation management on private forestland can increase avian species richness and abundance. Condor. 

All analyses were completed using R. See manuscript for details about packages.

Please contact the corresponding author with questions about this data package or to seek potential collaborations using these data.

Beth Ross
U.S. Geological Survey and Clemson University
Email: bross5@clemson.edu

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Data sets: Point_count_2017.csv and Point_count_2018.csv
These files contains data collected during point count surveys in 2017 and 2018.

Reference: Numerical ID for data rows
Site: Name given to each site
Point: Name of point count station within a site. [NOTE: Number and letter (e.g., 0B, 2B) do not necessarily corresponded to burn treatment because of stand changes].
SiteID: Unique ID for each point count station (combination of site and point count at that site) 
Year: Year of observation
Date: Date of observation
Obs: Observer ID (Jesse Wood)
Visit #: Which survey visit number (1-4 in 2017, 1-3 in 2018) to site
Start time: Time that 10-minute survey began (hh:mm EST)
Noise (Low-High): Categorical ranking of volume of ambient noise during survey (made by same observer)
Noise (1-5): Numerical ranking of volume of ambient noise during survey (1-low, 5-high)
Wind Speed: Estimated wind speed using Beaufort scale (0-5 max, 0-3 range this data; https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/participate/training/appendixA.html)
Sky: 0-5 codes for sky cover, using North American Breeding Bird Survey protocol (https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/participate/training/appendixA.html)
Unsure (?): ? indicates if there is any lack of confidence in the ID to make for convenient removal of the imperfect detection
Species: 4-letter AOS species codes for bird observation; any not matching published data are author's error (https://www.birdpop.org/docs/misc/Alpha_codes_eng.pdf)
Distance (5, 10, 50): Estimated distance from observation to observer (5 = 0-50m, 10 = 50-100m, 100 = 100m-200m)
Time Interval: 10-minute point count split into 4 intervals (1 = 0-2.5 min, 2 = 2.5-5 min, 3 = 5-7.5 min, 4= 7.5-10 min)
Sex: M=male, F=female; included opportunistically, only with absolute confirmation
Cue: Designation for how bird was detected in survey (1 = sound cue only, 2 = sight only, 4 = both sight + sound)
Habitat: Where bird was when detected (P = inside pine stand, NP = likely outside pine stand) [Note: observations outside pine stand removed for analysis]
Flock Size: If more than one bird detected with same cue, number of individuals in a group recorded here (if blank, assume 1) [Note: only independent observations used in analysis - one row, one detection regardless of group number]
Flyover: "flyover" if the observation was a bird flying over the pine stand, not interacting with it (if blank, inside or interacting with stand) [Note: flyover observations removed for analysis]




Data set: Species_richness.csv
This file contains the total number of species detected at each point count for each year.

SiteID: Unique ID for each point count station among 47 survey sites for 2017 and 47 sites for 2018. [NOTE: Number and letter (e.g., 0B, 2B) do not necessarily corresponded to burn treatment because of stand changes].
SR: Species richness tallied from every distinct species detected in point count data (even unknown1, unknown2, etc.) except for flyovers.
SRwoUNK: Number from previous column, minus the inclusion of any unidentified to species
Year: year of observation (47 sites in 2017, 47 in 2018 but not the exact same 47)
YearCat: A for 2017, B for 2018




Data set: Habitat_data_2017_2018.csv
This file contains habitat data for each point count station for each year.

**Many variables were produced based on the average of 5 site measurements: one 10x10m plot at the point count station, plus another 10x10m replicate 50m away in all four cardinal directions.
Descriptions for column names with ** can be read as "Average of 5 site measurements of ..."

SiteID: Unique ID for each point count station (combination of site and point count at that site) 
YearCat: A for 2017, B for 2018
Treatment: Burn treatment category (0B = never burned, 1B = one burn, 2B = two burns, 3B = 3 or more burns)
HerbicideApplied: Binary choice for historic herbicide application (0=none, 1= herbicide spray applied at least once)
LastBurn: Year of the last prescribed burn in particular forest stand
LastThin: Year of the last thinning in particular forest stand
BasalArea (ft^2/ac):** Basal area at point count station, measured using 10-factor prism (square feet per acre)
NumberSnags: Number of snags (standing dead trees) counted within 30m radius of point count station
CanopyCover:** Percentage canopy cover (% closed), averaged from 4 cardinal direction readings with a densiometer
LitterDepth (cm): Average depth of leaf/needle litter (centimeters) from 4 readings at point count station
TreeHeight (ft): Average of 3 readings of stand height, measured from 100 ft (30.5m) away from point count station
StandAge: Age (years) of the forest stand (according to landowner, based on planting or clearcut for volunteer stands)
NumberBurns: Times fire was applied since planting (according to landowner)
NumberThins: Times thinned since planting (does not include clearcuts; according to landowner)
TimeSinceBurn: Years since last time burned (up to time surveyed)
TimeSinceThin: Years since last time thinned (up to time surveyed)
FG_herb:** Combination of percent forb cover and percent grass cover (volume) in 10x10m plot measured at herb level height ("herb" level defined as <50 cm) 
FG_shrub:** Combination of percent forb cover and percent grass cover (volume) in 10x10m plot measured at shrub level height ("shrub" level defined as 50cm-3m)
Vine:** Percentage cover (volume) of vines in 10x10m plot (all levels - ground to canopy)
HWdens_10:** Stem count (#) of hardwood seedlings within 10x10m plot, at 10-50cm
HWdens_50:** Stem count (#) of hardwood seedlings within 10x10m plot, between 50-100cm
HWdens_100:** Stem count (#) of hardwood seedlings within 10x10m plot, between 100-137cm
HW_herb:** Percentage cover of hardwoods within 10x10m plot, estimated visually using Level 3 CVS protocol at "herb" understory level height (10-50cm)
HW_shrub:** Percentage cover of hardwoods within 10x10m plot, estimated visually using Level 3 CVS protocol at "shrub" midstory level height (50cm-3m)
HW_tree:** Percentage cover of hardwoods within 10x10m plot, estimated visually using Level 3 CVS protocol at "tree" level height (>3m)
#HW_saplings:** Average of 5 site measurements of total stem counts of hardwood saplings (defined as <2.5cm at breast height) in 10x10m plot
Pinedens_10:** Stem count (#) of pine seedlings within 10x10m plot, at 10-50cm
Pinedens_50:** Stem count (#) of pine seedlings within 10x10m plot, between 50-100cm
Pinedens_100:** Stem count (#) of pine seedlings within 10x10m plot, between 100-137cm
Pine_herb:** Percentage cover of pines within 10x10m plot, estimated visually using Level 3 CVS protocol at "herb" understory level height (10-50cm)
Pine_shrub:** Percentage cover of pines within 10x10m plot, estimated visually using Level 3 CVS protocol at "shrub" midstory level height (50cm-3m)
Pine_tree:** Percentage cover of pines within 10x10m plot, estimated visually using Level 3 CVS protocol at "tree" level height (>3m)
#Pines_over_20cm:** Stem count of pine trees (defined as >2.5cm at BH) with a diameter equal or greater than 20cm at breast height in 10x10m plot
Rel_HW2P_canopy:** "Relative hardwood to pine cover in canopy" or the ratio of percent cover of hardwood trees to pine trees at the canopy level in a 10x10m plot
LiveCrownRatio: Decimal representing live crown ratio of average pine trees in forest stand (average of 3 readings calculated from 100 ft (30.5m) away)
StandArea: Area (acres) of forest stand based on drawn boundaries of polygon from ground visits and aerial imagery
ShapeIndex: Patch metric calculated with "SDMTools" in R. Closer to 1 is a more square shape; greater is a more complex shape.
Evergreen500m: Total area (hectares) of land cover type 42 (NLCD 2011) within 500m buffer from bird sampling point (National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) 2011. Jin, S., Yang, L., Danielson, P., Homer, C., Fry, J., and Xian, G. 2013. A comprehensive change detection method for updating the National Land Cover Database to circa 2011. Remote Sensing of Environment 132:159 – 175.)
Evergreen1km: Total area (hectares) of land cover type 42 within 1km buffer from bird sampling point
Evergreen5km: Total area (hectares) of land cover type 42 within 5km buffer from bird sampling point
Evergreen30km: Total area (hectares) of land cover type 42 within 30km buffer from bird sampling point
Latitude: Decimal degrees, recorded with GPS unit at point count station
Longitude: Decimal degrees, recorded with GPS unit at point count station