Are Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius) tree cavities in temperate Beech (Fagus sylvatica) forests an answer to depredation risk?

Zahner, Volker; Bauer, Robert; Kaphegyi, Thomas A. M.

doi:10.1007/s10336-017-1467-2

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Most of the broods in WNP were in old cavities; nesting success was high (0.94) and exceeded the average nesting success of 12 studies in Europe (0.79; range 0.55-0.96) (Paclik et al 2009). Pine Marten Martes martes is considered to be one of the most potential predators of large cavity users (Nilsson et al 1991;Rolstad et al 2000;Zahner et al 2017). Though we observed dens of Pine Martens in cavities excavated in beeches in close proximity to cavities of Black Woodpeckers (57 ± 30 m; range 23-87 m; n = 5), their influence on broods was probably small.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Though we observed dens of Pine Martens in cavities excavated in beeches in close proximity to cavities of Black Woodpeckers (57 ± 30 m; range 23-87 m; n = 5), their influence on broods was probably small. Black Woodpeckers have effective strategies to defend their nests, e.g., guarding the nest during different periods of the nesting cycle (Paclik et al 2009;Zahner et al 2017). These factors suggest that the presumed risk of nest predation in Black Woodpeckers is not associated with old cavities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Does cavity reuse affect timing of reproduction and fledgling success in the Black Woodpecker?

Kosiński

Walczak

2018

J Ornithol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nesting in old cavities may be adaptive for birds as it may offer an advantage of earlier laying and higher fitness through more recruiting offspring. Black Woodpeckers frequently use old cavities, which gives the opportunity to test how this behavior affects the timing and the success of reproduction. In this paper, we have tested a prediction that excavating a new cavity causes a delay in breeding, and that it is linked to lower productivity. We found that in the Wielkopolski National Park (western Poland) Black Woodpeckers nested exclusively in European beeches, mainly in living trees, and most frequently in their old cavities. The median relative egg-laying date in old cavities was 5.5 days earlier than in new cavities. We did not find a difference in clutch size between old and new cavities due to its low variation in the population. The proportion of offspring surviving to the end of the nestling period was 0.812 in old cavities and 0.632 in new cavities, although this did not differ significantly. However, survivorship dropped rapidly in the hatching period, especially in new cavities. In Black Woodpecker, the number of fledglings that succeeded was best explained by a model including the age of the cavity and the relative laying date. The estimated parameters of the best ranked model revealed that the number of fledglings is affected by the age of the cavity as it was higher for old cavities than for new cavities. This study shows that nest reuse is adaptive for primary excavators as it offers time and energy savings needed for cavity excavation, and increases productivity, compared to those pairs of birds that are forced to excavate a new cavity. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that cavity excavation is energetically expensive and support the prediction of tradeoffs between nest building and different components of reproduction. Responsible forest management should consider the need to protect living beeches with old cavities, which are frequently used by Black Woodpeckers.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does cavity reuse affect timing of reproduction and fledgling success in the Black Woodpecker?

Kosiński

Walczak

2018

J Ornithol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Indeed, in central and western Europe, the Black Woodpecker seems to excavate cavities preferentially in beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), while in Scandinavia, the bird excavates more on conifers like Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L., Angelstam and Mikusiński, 1994; Pirovano and Zecca, 2014). Tree species with smooth bark, like beech, would be preferred to prevent predation by the Pine Marten since climbing on such trees species seems more difficult (Kosiński and Kempa, 2007; Olano, 2015; Zahner et al ., 2017; Puverel et al ., 2019). In the Alps, beech stands would also be favoured because they present larger mean diameter due to a less intensive harvesting and lower densities compared to other forests (De Rosa et al ., 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Over the hills and far away: linking landscape factors with cavity excavation on living forest trees by the Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius, L. 1758)

Cabrera

Monnet

Boutteaux³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius, L. 1758) is the largest primary cavity digger in western Europe. Its cavities represent an essential microhabitat for many other forest species but the landscape factors that influence the cavity digging by the Black woodpecker are poorly known and rarely been quantified at the scale of the vital range. We used cavity maps by foresters and naturalists to build a large (2689 cavity bearing trees) database distributed over 11 sites in France. Based on this and on a set of pseudo-absence data, we analysed the effects of stand composition and landscape features at three different scales around each plot corresponding to a forest management unit (10ha), the core (100ha) and extended (250ha) vital range scales. We showed that landscape shape index and forest composition (mixed forests) had significant effects but that the magnitude varied across the three scales. The Black woodpecker tend to avoid conifer-dominated stands to dig cavities, and also prefer homogeneous forest landscapes with low edge densities. These results vary with precipitation and slope with stronger effects of landscape in wetter climates and higher slopes. Although forest management rarely modifies the landscape in western Europe, a better understanding of the features that influence cavity digging by the Black woodpecker may help to better integrate their conservation at the management planning scale. Our results also show the importance to maintain mixed broadleaf-conifer forests as well as connected forest landscapes to favour features that benefit forest biodiversity at the large scale.

show abstract

“…Estimation by correlation using a set of random days that were fully assessed and with pictures selected with events fully visible according to Zahner et al [38]. We opted for the freeware program XnView.…”

Section: Grünten Im Allgäumentioning

confidence: 99%

Visitor Counting and Monitoring in Forests Using Camera Traps: A Case Study from Bavaria (Southern Germany)

Lupp

Förster

Honert

et al. 2021

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A variety of counting methods exist to analyze visitor numbers of outdoor settings such as national parks, recreation areas and urban green spaces, with sensor-based approaches being the most frequently applied. In this paper, we describe the application and practicality of camera traps originally designed for wildlife monitoring for visitor management purposes. The focus of the work is on the practicality of trigger camera traps and data collection for visitor monitoring from a more practice- and management-oriented perspective. Camera traps can provide interesting in-depth and detailed information about recreationists and are flexible and suitable for various uses; however, assessing the visual data manually requires significant staff and working time. To deal with the large amounts of data gathered for numbers of passersby and recreation activities, correlation factors between passersby and pictures were determined, so that the number of passersby related to the number of pictures taken per day or per other time unit could be established. In focusing on using the camera traps and assessing the generated data, it became clear that more studies have to be conducted to compare different methods of visitor monitoring and their accuracy in different outdoor environments.

show abstract

Are Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius) tree cavities in temperate Beech (Fagus sylvatica) forests an answer to depredation risk?

Cited by 7 publications

References 20 publications

Does cavity reuse affect timing of reproduction and fledgling success in the Black Woodpecker?

Does cavity reuse affect timing of reproduction and fledgling success in the Black Woodpecker?

Over the hills and far away: linking landscape factors with cavity excavation on living forest trees by the Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius, L. 1758)

Visitor Counting and Monitoring in Forests Using Camera Traps: A Case Study from Bavaria (Southern Germany)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About