Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis)

Jackson, Jerome A.; Poole, A.; Gill, F.

doi:10.2173/bna.085

Cited by 49 publications

(32 citation statements)

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“…The red-cockaded woodpecker is an endangered species inhabiting old-growth pine-savannah habitat in the southeastern United States. (Jackson 1994). From our analyses, we conclude that VRSA provides a robust approach for evaluating management options for population growth.…”

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confidence: 70%

“…The VRSA is expected to give the same result as traditional Table 1. Vital rates for greater prairie-chicken (from data in Schroeder & Robb 1993) and red-cockaded woodpecker (from data for unbanded birds in Maguire et al [1995], with a maximum age from Jackson [1994] b P x denotes the cumulative probability of surviving from birth/hatching through age x.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Vital Rate Sensitivity Analysis for Nonstable Age Distributions and Short-Term Planning

Fefferman

Reed

2006

Journal of Wildlife Management

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There are multiple approaches to sensitivity analysis used to identify the age‐ (or stage‐) specific rate of reproduction or survival that most affects population growth—all of which involve evaluating effects on λ, the dominant eigenvalue of the Leslie matrix. Management recommendations generated by these approaches can be difficult to determine, in part because results are valid only for populations with stable age distributions (i.e., the age structure is constant across years). Although these analytical approaches can identify the quickest way to increase population size to carrying capacity, they cannot identify best management options for short‐term goals such as increasing population size above some critical value. We present a perturbation analysis—Vital Rate Sensitivity Analysis (VRSA)—to identify the vital rate that most limits population growth over any specified period by determining which vital rate has the greatest effect on population growth. The VRSA is effective for stable and nonstable age distributions, differentiates optimal short‐ and long‐term management options, can incorporate stochasticity in vital rates, and can differentiate efficacy of alternative management strategies. In addition to being able to compare effects of incremental or specific changes in vital rates, VRSA can be used to compare specific management alternatives that affect single or multiple vital rates. We illustrate use of VRSA for a variety of management alternatives and hypothetical age‐structures using demographic data from the literature for greater prairie‐chickens (Tympanuchus cupido) and red‐cockaded woodpeckers (Picoides borealis). We also present a method, using Monte Carlo simulation, for measuring robustness of VRSA results. Under all of our management scenarios for greater prairie‐chickens, we found juvenile survival to be the most sensitive vital rate for the specific comparisons made. For red‐cockaded woodpeckers, the most sensitive vital rate differed by management scenario and confidence was higher for larger populations. Results for both species might change given other conditions and/or age structures. The VRSA should be an effective tool for wildlife managers who want to compare alternative management strategies to increase population size. A downloadable Excel spread sheet for calculating VRSA for a life‐table is available at http://www.ase.tufts.edu/biology/faculty/reed/software.html.)

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confidence: 70%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Vital Rate Sensitivity Analysis for Nonstable Age Distributions and Short-Term Planning

Fefferman

Reed

2006

Journal of Wildlife Management

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“…The Red-cockaded Woodpecker occurs in longleaf pine forests beyond the range of wiregrass (e.g., in southern Florida, Louisiana, and Texas) and in scattered loblolly and shortleaf pine forests from Texas and Oklahoma to Virginia), but the three species are widely associated in the uplands of the Atlantic and Mississippi coastal plains from North Carolina to Mississippi, in fragments of the originally widespread longleaf pine/wiregrass ecosystem. All three species declined sharply during the 20th century (Wahlenberg 1946, Jackson 1994.…”

Section: Red-cockaded Woodpeckers In the Longleaf Pine/ Wiregrass Ecomentioning

confidence: 99%

Species-Centered Environmental Analysis: Indirect Effects of Fire History on Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers

James

Hess

Kufrin

1997

Ecological Applications

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Species-centered Environmental Analysis'' (SCEA) is a procedure for diagnosing species-specific environmental factors that limit the size of a population. It attempts to identify presently recognized biotic and abiotic limiting factors. Then, through comparisons and applications of the principles of experimental design, it evaluates the relative importance of the factors and searches for new ones. The advantage of SCEA is that it frames ecological hypotheses in a context that spans population-, community-, and ecosystem-level processes while keeping the research focused on ecological factors that directly or indirectly affect the size of a focal population. In the case of the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis), which lives in mature pine forests of the southeastern United States, four types of environmental factors have been shown to limit its numbers, even on public land: (1) insufficient habitat due to hardwood midstory encroachment, (2) a shortage of suitable cavity trees, (3) loss and fragmentation of habitat, and (4) demographic isolation.As part of the research to identify other potentially limiting environmental factors in the Apalachicola National Forest of northern Florida, we studied a sample of 87 social units (each unit usually a mated pair of birds with or without helpers, but sometimes a single bird). Each unit was defending a cluster of cavity trees and a foraging territory of open longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forest. We then developed regression models for predicting within-population variation in the size, density, and productivity of social units from data on habitat variation. We found that variation in the bird variables was not significantly related to the sizes or densities of pine trees in these territories. It was, however, highly significantly related to the ground cover composition and the extent of natural pine regeneration, both of which are indirect indicators of local fire history. This suggests that, in addition to the four main causes, environmental processes driven by the history of fire are also limiting the Red-cockaded Woodpecker population. Additional support for this idea comes from the fact that female Red-cockaded Woodpeckers on the Apalachicola Ranger District tend to lay larger clutches of eggs in the first breeding season after their territories have been burned.Because fire history affects soil nutrient dynamics, which in turn affect ground cover composition, our present hypothesis is that nutrient dynamics are affecting the health of animal populations in the system, including that of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker. The path by which this process operates, the particular nutrients involved, and its importance relative to other factors that limit the population need to be addressed experimentally. If nutrient dynamics are a previously unrecognized limiting factor for animal populations in this ecosystem, then the role of fire is not restricted to its ability to reduce vegetation in the midstory, and managers should acknowledge that different regimes ...

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“…The Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) is an endangered species endemic to pine habitats of the southeastern United States. It is well studied, being the subject of three symposia (Thompson 1971, Wood Manuscript received 30 June 2000revised 9 February 2001;accepted 14 February 2001;final version received 19 March 2001. 3 E-mail: jrwalt@vt.edu 1983, Kulhavy et al 1995), several review articles (e.g., Walters 1990, Jackson 1994, and numerous other publications. It is an unusual species, in that it is a cooperative breeder and excavates cavities for roosting and nesting in living pine trees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is an unusual species, in that it is a cooperative breeder and excavates cavities for roosting and nesting in living pine trees. Its biology generally is well known, and management needs are well understood in comparison to those of other endangered species (Walters 1991, Jackson 1994, Conner et al 2001. In contrast, assessment of the viability of Redcockaded Woodpecker populations is deficient relative to work on other endangered species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population Viability Analysis for Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers Using an Individual-Based Model

Walters¹,

Crowder²,

Priddy³

2002

Ecological Applications

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Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) are distributed in the southeastern United States among closed populations whose maximum size is limited. Previous population viability analyses for this species have been confined to examination of threats posed by catastrophes and loss of genetic variability, because of the lack of demographic models that incorporate the extreme spatial constraints on dispersal that characterize this species. We used a spatially explicit, individual-based simulation model to assess the vulnerability of Red-cockaded Woodpecker populations to demographic and environmental stochasticity. Vulnerability to these threats was relatively low, because the presence of a substantial nonbreeding class (i.e., helpers) ameliorated the impact of stochastic variation in mortality and reproduction on the size of the breeding population. Because dispersal of helpers is spatially restricted, this effect was most pronounced when territories were aggregated or at high densities. Populations of 250 and 500 territories were stable regardless of the level of territory aggregation at the densities examined, whereas populations of 25, 49, and 100 territories ranged from rapidly declining to stable, depending on territory density and level of aggregation. Techniques that enable managers to maintain existing territories and create new ones are well established for this species. Thus managers may reasonably expect to maintain even small populations of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers by increasing the density, level of aggregation, and number of territories.

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Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis)

Cited by 49 publications

References 0 publications

A Vital Rate Sensitivity Analysis for Nonstable Age Distributions and Short-Term Planning

A Vital Rate Sensitivity Analysis for Nonstable Age Distributions and Short-Term Planning

Species-Centered Environmental Analysis: Indirect Effects of Fire History on Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers

Population Viability Analysis for Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers Using an Individual-Based Model

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