Original Article Summer Herpetofaunal Response to Prescribed Fire and Herbicide in Intensively Managed, Mid-Rotation Pine Stands in Mississippi RAYMOND B. IGLAY, 1 Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Mississippi State University, Box 9690, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA BRUCE D. LEOPOLD, Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Mississippi State University, Box 9690, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA DARREN A. MILLER, Southern Timberlands Technology, Weyerhaeuser NR Company, P.O. Box 2288, Columbus, MS 39704, USA ABSTRACT Managers of commercial forests are increasingly expected to incorporate conservation of biodiversity in forest management plans, but a paucity of information exists regarding herpetofaunal responses to mid-rotation release practices of dormant-season prescribed fire and selective herbicide in intensively managed pine (Pinus spp.) stands. However, these management tools have demonstrated capabilities of improving conservation value in these forests in the southeastern United States. Therefore, we investigated summer herpetofaunal responses to factorial combinations of dormant-season prescribed fire and a commonly used herbicide (imazapyr) with a randomized complete block design of 6 mid-rotation pine stands with 4 experimental units in Mississippi, USA, to which we applied at random 1 of 4 treatments (i.e., burn only, herbicide only, burn þ herbicide, control). We captured 814 reptiles and 3,699 amphibians of 17 and 16 species, respectively, using drift-fence arrays during May and June, 1999–2007. Herpetofaunal assemblages only differed between burn þ herbicide and control plots in 2002. Species-specific responses were limited to differences across years within treatments and greater eastern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus) relative abundance in burned or herbicide-treated sites soon after treatment. Furthermore, herpetofaunal associations with measured environmental variables (e.g., vegetation structure and biomass and trap-site characteristics) did not indicate that treatment influenced fluctuations in species relative abundances. Consistent with past studies, forest managers of commercial pine forests using dormant-season prescribed fire with or without imazapyr will most likely have minimal additional effects on herpetofaunal assemblages, but current knowledge gaps require additional research to better understand mechanisms of species abundance and persistence in these landscapes. Ó 2013 The Wildlife Society. KEY WORDS amphibians, fire, forest management, herbicide, imazapyr, intensive forestry, loblolly pine plantation, mid-rotation, Mississippi, reptiles. Intensively managed pine (Pinus spp.) forests represent a significant proportion of forest cover in the southeastern United States, covering 18 million ha, about 20% of southern forests, with 2.2 million ha in Mississippi (USDA Forest Service 2007). Forest management in this system can achieve economic gain while meeting biodiversity objectives (e.g., Wigley et al. 2000, Miller et al. 2009), including management during mid-rotation. Mid-rotation management practices of commercial thinning and fertilization provide short-term (<4 yr) benefits to biodiversity by opening the pine canopy, allowing sunlight to reach the forest floor and improving plant growth, respectively (Peitz et al. 1999, Iglay et al. 2010a). However, mid-rotation dormant-season prescribed fires and a one-time application of herbicide may enhance wildlife habitat and sustain improved biodiversity for the remainder of the rotation by reducing canopy cover, increasing understory plant diversity, and providing alternative vegetation structure compared with untreated mid-rotation, intensively managed pine stands, consistent with goals of sustainable forestry (Carnus et al. 2003, Sustainable Forestry Initiative 2010). Prescribed fire is similar to historical disturbances of the Southeast (Brennan et al. 1998), and, following specific prescriptions, dormant-season prescribed fires (applied during winter) minimize crown scorch (Wade and Lunsford 1989, Bessie and Johnson 1995, Schimmel and Granstrom 1997). Forest herbicides, such as those with the active ingredient imazapyr, offer an alternative to prescribed fire while lacking liability concerns such as smoke manage- ment or avoiding limitations of burning degree days (Wigley et al. 2002). These practices control midstory hardwood competition and promote a herbaceous understory commu- nity, thus improving habitat quality for a diversity of wildlife species including white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; Mixon et al. 2009, Iglay et al. 2010b), eastern wild turkey Received: 16 May 2012; Accepted: 1 July 2013 Published: 19 November 2013 1 E-mail: riglay@cfr.msstate.edu Wildlife Society Bulletin 38(1):33–42; 2014; DOI: 10.1002/wsb.372 Iglay et al.  Herpetofaunal Response to Fire and Imazapyr 33