—-such as effects of clearcutting—are serious, 
and some effort in immediate applied research 
is necessary. However, as experience with 
browse surveys indicated, a more complete def- 
inition of understory ecology is essential. 
Browse surveys, using timber survey plots, 
were made on at least eight southern National 
Forests and related areas (for example, see 
Moore 1967). Recent analyses of stomach con- 
tents of 490 deer indicate that woody twig ends 
constitute less than 1 percent of total contents 
during the critical winter period (Cushwa et 
al. 1969). We know little about the ecology of 
plants and plant parts which were eaten— 
herbs, fruits, mushrooms. 
We have some data for a 10-year period on 
plant succession following clearcutting and on 
adjacent uncut areas (Harlow and Downing 
1969). However, only recently have we concen- 
trated on defining the succession of a broader 
array of plant groups than woody browse. Now 
another aspect—the nongame wildlife, espe- 
cially songbirds—is growing in importance. 
Knowledge of the condition of woody species 
above 414 to 5 feet would be an asset. Special 
studies of this stratum and the overstory must 
be made to determine optimum conditions for 
songbirds (Hooper and Crawford 1969). 
These examples emphasize the need for 
fuller descriptions of plant communities and 
their succession, not only in range but in wild- 
life as well. 
THE ECOLOGICAL SET AND 
MULTIRESOURCE MANAGEMENT 
I mentioned earlier our start on models to 
integrate cattle-timber-wildlife management in 
the coastal pine-wiregrass type. We have de- 
veloped a proposal to optimize wildlife, water, 
timber, and recreation benefits on a 14,000-acre 
management area in North Carolina. This pro- 
posal presents the concept of management by 
ecological set, an idea defined initially by T. H. 
Ripley and D. O. Yandle (1969). The ecological 
set is a management unit large enough to pro- 
vide sustained yield of all products considered 
in a multiresource mix. For example, if the 
home range of a deer is 500 acres, the ecological 
set must contain this acreage; and treatments, 
such as a cutting system, must be applied in 
such a way that they provide a continuous sup- 
ply of forage. Otherwise, optimum production 
of deer cannot be achieved in modeling multi- 
resource production. 
National Forest financing has enabled us to 
hire a Duke University statistician-economist 
to develop preliminary models for multire- 
source production on this area. The questions 
208 
he is asking on input data embarrass not only 
the range ecologist but the silviculturist and 
watershed specialist as well. 
THE PIEDMONT CHALLENGE 
The Piedmont Province is an extensive area 
where relatively little work on range ecology 
has been done, and an area where the potential 
for wildlife, in particular, is great. The South- 
ern Forest Experiment Station has one range 
scientist assigned to loblolly-shortleaf range 
problems. Their wildlife project is studying 
deer habitat problems in the type. The South- 
eastern Forest Experiment Station wildlife 
project is devoting about 3 man-months to this 
area, primarily on quail and turkey habitat. 
University ecologists have described old-field 
succession in this type (Ogsting 1942); effort 
has been concentrated on the early stages. Op- 
portunities to modify succession by manage- 
ment for resources other than timber have re- 
ceived little attention. 
CENTERS OF RANGE ECOLOGY 
There are no non-Forest Service centers of 
range ecology in the South except for Texas A 
& M. Universities and State Game Depart- 
ments have concentrated on animal ecology, re- 
search which is an essential complement to our 
habitat research. 
Four major ecological centers at universities 
—Duke, Georgia, Emory, and Tennessee—are 
not concentrating on problems with immediate 
range and wildlife management application. 
We have received major assistance from Duke 
and Virginia Polytechnic Institute on autecol- 
ogical studies and from Florida on quail habi- 
tat research. One private company has a full- 
time wildlife biologist devoting most of his 
time to habitat research. The Bioscience De- 
partment at Florida State, and Tall Timbers 
—a private research station—are cooperating 
in an ecological study of the northern tier of 
counties in western Florida. Their descriptions 
of communities, definitions of successional se- 
quence, and identifications of factors responsi- 
ble for formation of these communities should 
interest range ecologists. We are developing co- 
operation with the Institute of Ecology at 
Georgia. Their emphasis on ecosystem produc- 
tivity closely parallels our needs in multire- 
source management research. 
In summary then, the status of range ecol- 
ogy in the South is one of transition. We are 
moving rapidly into the era where emphasis is 
on ecology in a broad sense, and it is likely 
that various functional aspects of ecology will 
be deemphasized even more in the future. 
