Wildlife implications across snag treatment types in jack pine stands of Upper Michigan

Foraging Activity of Woodpeckers on Various forms of Artificially Created Deadwood

“…The most intense FA was found on the outer bark, but feeding on the inner bark and sapwood subsequently increased during the three years as the dead tree became softer with the passage of time and became inhabited by various insect species in ever deeper layers. Similar results from North America were reported by Weiss et al (2018). In mixed stands of Ponderosa Pine Pinus ponderosae topped trees had significantly more foraging excavations than girdled trees when foraging activity was monitored seven years after the last treatment.…”

“…In natural conditions, the establishment of diverse forms of deadwood can take many years -sometimes decades or even centuries (Gibbons & Lindenmayer 2002). However, the natural processes involved can be accelerated for nature conservation purposes by the creation of artificial deadwood in order to enrich the habitat structure of intensively managed, homogenized forest habitats, such as even-aged or monoculture stands (Hane et al 2012, Zarnoch et al 2013, Barry et al 2017, Weiss et al 2018, where the amount and diversity of deadwood is markedly reduced. Conservationists use different methods to create diverse forest microhabitats, such as topping, girdling, bark-peeling of standing trees, felling to create fallen trees, supplementation with deadwood brought from elsewhere, and even prescribed burning (Halett et al 2001, Sandström et al 2018, Roth et al 2019).…”

“…Research on the relationships between artificially created deadwood habitats and woodpeckers are scarce. Woodpecker activity on topped and girdled coniferous trees has been investigated (Arnett et al 2010, Weiss et al 2018) and various conifer snags, i.e. standing deadwood, have been compared (Hallett et al 2001).…”

“…One of the most important target groups, as primary cavity excavators and keystone species, was the woodpeckers. Unevenaged, high-quality oak forests are important habitats for various woodpecker species (Weiss et al 2018), such as Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major and Middle Spotted Woodpecker Leiopicus medius (Pasinelli 2000, Walankiewicz et al 2011.…”

Rethinking forest‐bird habitat management guidelines in the northern Lake States

“…Moreover, although consideration is often made to the living material in a forest, the dead material is often what drives biodiversity in managed stands. Although the literature on managed biological legacies in the northern Lakes States is not as robust as that elsewhere, the abundance and volume of biological legacies are a byproduct of the type and severity of disturbance and can be quantified for different forest ecosystem types and managed accordingly with wildlife implications (Weiss et al ). If a forest treatment is to attempt to mimic (imperfectly) high‐severity fire, for instance, a greater abundance of snags and downed wood and a lower abundance of live material may need to be set as an objective.…”