Influence of landscape-scale forest structure on the presence of pileated woodpeckers (dryocopus pileatus) in Central Ontario forests

Abstract

The goal of my research was to investigate the influence of landscape-scale forest structure on the presence of pileated woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) in central Ontario forests. Study sites were located in Algonquin Provincial Park. The presence of pileated woodpeckers was recorded along 5 km transect lines. The area around each transect line was used for landscape analysis and represented S km2. Landscape-scale structure analysis was conducted on the composition and configuration of pileated woodpecker habitat. The habitat was classified based on several methods and focused on the variations of the pileated woodpecker habitat supply model (PWPHSM) for central Ontario. To determine which of the classifications best predicted the presence of pileated woodpeckers, logistic regression was run on the variable “percent of land (%LAND)” for each classification. The landscape structure of the best classification was further examined to explain the presence of pileated woodpeckers by entering all landscape-level and class-level FRAGSTATS variables into a logistic regression procedure.