Does the availability of artificial cavities affect cavity excavation rates in Red-cockaded Woodpeckers?

摘要

Rates of cavity excavation by Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) were examined from 1983 to 1999 on the Angelina National Forest in east Texas. We compared the rate of natural cavity excavation between 1983 and 1990 (before artificial cavities were available) with the rate of cavity excavation between 1992 and 1999, a period when artificial cavities were regularly installed within active woodpecker cavity-tree clusters. Our comparison was restricted to cavity-tree clusters in longleaf pine (Pinusk palustris) and loblooly (P. Taeda)-shortleaf (P. echinata) pine habitats where woodpecker groups were present for the entire period between 1983 and 1999.