Clearing of Caroline Piedmont hardwood forests following European settlement reduced or eliminated populations of many plant and animal species farmland abandonment and secondary succession to pine and then hardwood forests in the first half of this century afforded some species a partial recovery. In the second half of this century, urbanization is again fragmenting Piedmont forests with renewed threat to forest interior species. The secondary fragmentation of Carolina Piedmont forests offers a timely opportunity to study population and community responses and develop predictive models for both theoretical and practical use. The purpose of this planning research is to develop the ability to predict likely changes in population status and community composition for selected forest taxa as functions of measures of environmental pattern reflecting forest fragmentation. The geographic region of interest is the Carolina Piedmont, particularly Durham and Orange Counties and adjacent sections of neighboring counties, which contain the largest protected sections of Piedmont forest as well as the most rapidly urbanizing areas. Taxa selected for study will likely include forest birds and vascular plant communities. Measures used to describe forest fragmentation may include total and core areas in several forest types; distribution of forest fragment patch sizes; amount of edge between forest types and other land uses; distances among patches; lengths, widths and habitat characteristics of riparian and other corridors connecting forest patches; and ages of patches, measured since lost major disturbance. This planning activity will provide the information necessary for development of a more complete study of forest fragmentation and landscape ecology.
