DISSERTATION RESEARCH: An Experimental Test of the Role of Keystone Processes in a Cavity-Nesting Bird Community

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Community structure refers to the types and number of species within an ecological community and can sometimes be driven by an individual species that exerts an unusually strong influence on key processes within the community, for example by modifying habitat. A better understanding of such ecosystem processes could enable the development of a framework for predicting such things as the impact of the extinction of a species or environmental change on community structure. Communities in which species nest in tree cavities are often highly structured systems, as many cavity-nesters depend on other species to create the cavities they use. Cavity-nesting vertebrates comprise a major component of many forest communities and thus could be good model systems for better understanding ecological processes, species interactions and resulting community structure. This study examines two ecological processes, cavity creation and cavity enlargement, and the role they play in structuring the longleaf pine cavity-nesting bird community, in which the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker creates cavities used by 27 other species. This study will examine the impacts of red-cockaded woodpecker cavity creation and enlargement on the abundance of other avian cavity-nesters using four years of field data, experimental manipulation of cavity availability and statistical modeling. Study results will contribute to theoretical ecology, as well as conservation biology by examining the potential impacts of widely used endangered species management techniques on a suite of non-targeted community members. This study will support the dissertation research of a doctoral candidate, and also contains a strong training component by providing field experience for recent college graduates planning to attend graduate school.