The Red-cockaded Woodpecker: Interactions With Fire, Snags, Fungi, Rat Snakes, and Pileated Woodpeckers

Red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) adaptation to fire-maintained southern pine ecosystems has involved several important interactions: (I) the reduction of hardwood frequency in the pine ecosystem because of frequent tires, (2) the softening of pine heartwood by red heart fungus (Phellinus pini) that hastens cavity excavation by the species, (3) the woodpecker's use of the pine's resin system to create 8 barrier against rat snakes (Elaphe sp.), and (4) the woodpecker as a keystone cavity excavator for secondary-cavity users. Historically, frequent, low-intensity ground tires in southern pine uplands reduced the availability of dead trees (snags) that are typically used by other woodpecker species for cavity excavation. Behavioral adaptation has permitted red-cockaded woodpeckers to use living pines for their cavity trees and thus exploit the frequently burned pine uplands. Further, it is proposed that recent observations of pileated wooclpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) destruction of red-cockaded woodpecker cavities may be related to the exclusion of fire, which has increased the number of snags and pileated woodpeckers. Rzd-cockaded wood- peckers mostly depend on recl heart fungus to soften the heartwood of their cavity trees, allowing cavity excavation to proceed more quickly. Red-cockaded woodpeckers use the cavity tree's resin system to create a barrier that serves as a deterrent against rat snake predation by excavating small wounds, termed resin wells, above and below cavity entrances. It is suggested that red-cockaded woodpeckers are a keystone species in fire-maintained southern pine ecosystems because, historically, they were the only species that regularly could excavate cavities in living pines within these ecosystems. Many of the more than 30 vertebrate and invertebrate species known to use red-cockaded woodpecker cavities are highly dependent on this woodpecker in fire-maintained upland pine forests.

[1]  R. Conner,et al.  Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) , 2019, Birds of the World.

[2]  S. Harding,et al.  Processes regulating the population dynamics of red-cockaded woodpecker cavities , 2002 .

[3]  Daniel Sáenz,et al.  ARE PILEATED WOODPECKERS ATTRACTED TO RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER CAVITY TREES? , 2002 .

[4]  Daniel Sáenz,et al.  Does the availability of artificial cavities affect cavity excavation rates in Red-cockaded Woodpeckers? , 2002 .

[5]  J. Walters,et al.  The Red-cockaded Woodpecker: Surviving in a Fire-Maintained Ecosystem , 2001 .

[6]  John W. Williams.  Bonnicksen, T. M. 2000. America's Ancient Forests: From the Ice Age to the Age of Discovery. Wiley, New York. , 2000 .

[7]  D. Kulhavy,et al.  Red-cockaded woodpecker nest-cavity selection: relationships with cavity age and resin production , 1998 .

[8]  W. Platt,et al.  EFFECTS OF FIRE REGIME AND HABITAT ON TREE DYNAMICS IN NORTH FLORIDA LONGLEAF PINE SAVANNAS , 1995 .

[9]  R. R. Schaefer,et al.  Heartwood, sapwood, and fungal decay associated with red-cockaded woodpecker cavity trees , 1994 .

[10]  S. Loeb.  Use and Selection of Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Cavities by Southern Flying Squirrels , 1993 .

[11]  D. Kulhavy,et al.  Causes of Mortality of Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Cavity Trees , 1991 .

[12]  Stephen L. Rathbun,et al.  The Population Dynamics of a Long-Lived Conifer (Pinus palustris) , 1988, The American Naturalist.

[13]  T. Webb,.  The appearance and disappearance of major vegetational assemblages: Long-term vegetational dynamics in eastern North America , 1987, Vegetatio.

[14]  W. Bartram.  Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida , 1980 .

[15]  W. F. Watson,et al.  OLEORESIN CHARACTERISTICS AND SUSCEPTIBILITY OF FOUR SOUTHERN PINES TO SOUTHERN PINE BEETLE (COLEOPTERA: SCOLYTIDAE) ATTACKS , 1979, The Canadian Entomologist.

[16]  W. F. Watson,et al.  Physical properties of the oleoresin system of the four major southern pines , 1977 .

[17]  J. A. Jackson.  A Comparison of Some Aspects of the Breeding Ecology of Red-Headed and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers in Kansas , 1976 .

[18]  J. A. Jackson.  Gray Rat Snakes versus Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers: Predator-Prey Adaptations , 1974 .

[19]  Ann Willbern Reller.  Aspects of Behavioral Ecology of Red-Headed and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers , 1972 .

[20]  J. Ligon.  Behavior and Breeding Biology of the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker , 1970 .

[21]  Daniel Sáenz,et al.  Extent of Phellinus pini decay in loblolly pines and red-cockaded woodpecker cavity trees in eastern Texas. , 2004 .

[22]  R. Conner,et al.  FUNGI AND RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER CAVITY TREES , 2002 .

[23]  D. Kulhavy,et al.  Does Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Excavation of Resin Wells Increase Risk of Bark Beetle Infestation of Cavity Trees? , 2001 .

[24]  Daniel Sáenz,et al.  Pileated woodpecker damage to red-cockaded woodpecker cavity trees in eastern Texas , 1998 .

[25]  R. Conner,et al.  WOODPECKER ABUNDANCE AND HABITAT USE IN THREE FOREST TYPES IN EASTERN TEXAS , 1997 .

[26]  R. R. Schaefer,et al.  Species using red-cockaded woodpecker cavities in eastern Texas , 1997 .

[27]  J. Neal,et al.  CLIMBING BY BLACK RAT SNAKES ON CAVITY TREES OF RED-COCKADED WOODPECKERS , 1993 .

[28]  C. Frost,et al.  Four centuries of changing landscape pattern in the longleaf pine ecosystem , 1993 .

[29]  J. Walters,et al.  Test of the Ecological Basis of Cooperative Breeding in Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers , 1992 .

[30]  J. Neal,et al.  Sequential Occupation by Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and Red-bellied Woodpeckers in the Ouachita National Forest , 1992 .

[31]  D. Rudolph,et al.  Red-cockaded woodpeckers vs rat snakes: the effectiveness of the resin barrier , 1990 .

[32]  J. Walters,et al.  Restrictors for red-cockaded woodpecker cavities , 1989 .

[33]  R. Conner,et al.  WOODPECKER DEPENDENCE ON TREES INFECTED BY FUNGAL HEART ROTS , 1976 .

[34]  R. Hooper,et al.  Woodpecker nesting habitat in cut and uncut woodlands in Virginia , 1975 .

[35]  John V. Dennis,et al.  SPECIES USING RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER HOLES IN NORTHEASTERN SOUTH CAROLINA , 1971 .

[36]  L. D. K. Lawrence.  A comparative life-history study of four species of woodpeckers , 1967 .

[37]  R. Thwaites,et al.  André Michaux's travels into Kentucky, 1793-96. : François André Michaux's travels west of Alleghany Mountains, 1802. Thaddeus Mason Harris's journal of a tour northwest of the Alleghany Mountains, 1803 , 1962 .

[38]  A. C. Bent.  Life histories of North American woodpeckers , 1939 .