Point processes are common in many physical applications found in engineering and biology. These processes can be observed in one-dimension as a time series or two-dimensions as a spatial point pattern with extensive amounts of literature devoted to their analyses. However, if the observed process is a hybrid of spatial and temporal point process, very few practical methods exist. In such cases, practitioners often remove the temporal component and analyze the spatial dependencies. This marginal spatial analysis may lead to misleading results if time is an important factor in the process. In this dissertation we extend the current analysis of spatial point patterns to include a temporal dimension. First- and second-order intensity measures for analyzing spatiotemporal point patterns are explicitly defined. Estimation of first-order intensities are examined using 3-dimensional smoothing techniques. Conditions for weak stationarity are provided so that subsequent second-order analysis can be conducted. We consider second-order analysis of spatiotemporal point patterns first in the space-time domain through an extension of Ripley's Κ-function. An alternative analysis is given in the frequency domain though construction of a spatiotemporal periodogram. The methodology provided is tested through simulation of spatiotemporal point patterns and by analysis of a real data set. The biological application concerns the estimation of the homerange of groups of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker in the Fort Bragg area of North Carolina. Monthly or bimonthly point patterns of the bird distribution are analyzed and integrated over a 23 month period. / Ph. D.

One unresolved issue in the study of cooperative breeding is why individuals that delay their own reproduction assist others in raising young. Red-cockaded woodpecker helpers may again future indirect fitness benefits by increasing survival of breeders, who produce offspring related to the helper in the future. Breeder survival may be enhanced because of general benefits of group living, either because of the helper's own presence or because helping increases the production of fledglings. I demonstrate that breeder survival increases in the presence of helpers and additional young. Helpers may also reduce the workload of the breeder, and this may increase breeder survival as well. I show that breeders spend less time incubating and provisioning young when a helper is present. Helpers may also gain fitness benefits if once they become breeders, they are assisted by young they previously helped raise. Expected frequencies of reciprocal exchange of helping are low (2%). Slightly higher observed frequencies may be accounted for by preferential helping of kin and effects of territory quality. Reciprocity occurs no more often than expected among helpers unrelated to the young they help raise suggesting that young males do not preferentially helper former care-givers. i conclude that helpers do not gain fitness benefits from reciprocity. I examined the proximate causes of delayed breeding and helping behavior by measuring plasma testosterone (T) and prolactin (PRL) concentrations in female breeders, male breeders, and male helpers during different stages of the reproductive cycle. Among male breeders and helpers, T is low during the nonbreeding stage, peaks during copulation and declines during the incubation and nestling-provisioning stages. Helpers appear physiologically capable of reproducing: their T concentrations are equal those of breeders. Helpers unrelated to the breeding female have higher T than helper related to her. Sexual inactivity by male helpers is best explained by behavioral suppression. Female breeder, male breeder, and male helper PRL was equal and increased from the nonbreeding stage through the copulation and incubation stages. During the nestling provisioning stage, male breeder and male helper PRL declined, while female PRL continued to increase. I conclude that the physiological bases of helping behavior and parental behavior are the same. / Ph. D.

This project had 2 major objectives. The first objective was to assess how well the revised U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Foraging Habitat Guidelines depict good quality habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) at Camp Lejeune, NC. To accomplish this, I used multiple linear and logistic regression to examine the relationships between fitness, habitat use, home range size, and habitat characteristics described in the guidelines. I assumed that habitat characteristics that confer quality were related to higher fitness, greater habitat use, and reduced home range size. To a large extent, the guidelines are validated. Red-cockaded woodpeckers responded favorably to habitat that mimics the historical, mature, and fire-maintained pine forests of the southeastern U.S., characterized by high densities of large pines, low densities of small and medium pines, and a lush herbaceous groundcover. Variables positively associated with habitat use and fitness were associated with reduced home range size, and those negatively associated with habitat use and fitness with increased home range size. Percent herbaceous groundcover was a significant regressor indicative of quality in every model. The second objective was to assess how well USFWS foraging partitions represent habitat used by red-cockaded woodpeckers. I conducted home range follows of 23 groups of red-cockaded woodpeckers and estimated the percentage of each home range encompassed by partitions of varying radii. The percentage of the actual home range included in the partition increased as a function of partition radius. The standard 800 m circular partition, on average, included 91% of the home range, but significant variation existed between groups. / Master of Science

Lewis‘ woodpeckers (Melanerpes lewis) are generally associated with open ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), open riparian, and burned pine habitats in the West; however, this species has recently been found to nest in aspen (Populus tremuloides) stands in Utah. This study describes the habitat characteristics of Lewis‘ woodpecker nest sites in aspen and investigates how well aspen stand characteristics predict Lewis‘ woodpecker occupancy. I surveyed for Lewis‘ woodpeckers at previously occupied nesting locations in aspen and took habitat measurements at nest sites. In addition, nest-centered Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA)-type plots provided stand-level habitat characteristics. I used logistic regression to determine which stand-level habitat variables were associated with nest locations; significant variables were then used to select FIA plots in Utah that contained predicted suitable nesting habitat. Criteria used to select FIA plots were aspen type stands, percent canopy cover less than 46%, and average tree diameter at breast height greater than 27.9 cm (11 inches). I then conducted occupancy surveys at FIA plots predicted to contain “suitable” and “non-suitable” Lewis’ woodpecker habitat to field validate the predictive model. No predicted non-suitable plots (n=26) were occupied and only one predicted suitable plot (n=49) was occupied. My results indicated that Lewis’ woodpeckers are rare throughout Utah in aspen stands even though there seems to be abundant nesting habitat available. My results also indicated that variables measured by FIA do not, in isolation, provide sufficient capability to predict Lewis’ woodpecker nesting habitat or actual use, and that more data are needed to accurately predict Lewis’ woodpecker nesting habitat, such as distance to, age, and severity of fires.

Thesis (M.S.)--Humboldt State University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-97). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

No description available.

In Sweden, intense human land use, especially forestry, has led to profound changes in the landscape over time, especially within the forest ecosystems. A consequence of this is that several specialist species have become endangered. One group of specialists is the woodpeckers. The middle spotted woodpecker became extinct in Sweden in 1982 and the white-backed woodpecker is today Sweden’s most critically endangered forest-living bird. The white-backed woodpecker is dependent on old deciduous forests, rich in dead wood. The woodpecker is areademanding and hence one of the best indicators or umbrella species for biodiversity in this region. A long-term goal within the conservation of the species is to be able to make more accurate predictions of what is needed in the species habitat to establish a viable population, both in terms of composition of landscape and breeding territories. In addition to earlier studies better tools are needed for measuring the distribution of suitable and potential habitats and finding faster ways of creating optimal habitats. In an attempt to secure the future existence of the white-backed woodpecker in Sweden, restocking of birds are carried out. This presupposes availability of suitable habitats as well as strong enough landscape. Due to intense forestry the presumption for the species is, as stated above, alarming. Comparing the different populations around the Baltic Sea and Norway, great differences but also similarities can be seen, in landscape as well as in territory composition. It seems that fragmentation of foraging patches as well as amount of dead deciduous wood within the breeding territory is critical matters. Grey alder stands in Sweden should have high priority in conservation of habitat for the species. / <p>Funding agency: Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC)</p>

Studien har använt ny metod för att klassificera vitryggig hackspetts skogarförutsättningar för häckande revir. 287 hektar skog värdeklassades med minstav värdeklass 1 (42 ha) och mest av värdeklass 2 (195 ha). Död ved måste ökaför att populationen av vitryggig hackspett ska öka. De åtgärder som behövergöras är ringbarkning och att minska granvolymen för att värdeklasserna ska nånästa värdeklass. Resultatet tyder på att förutsättningarna för häckningsrevir ärgoda, dock måste vissa restaureringar göras för att vitryggig hackspett skaetablera sig i området.

Cavity-excavating birds, such as woodpeckers, are ecosystem engineers and are often assumed to rely upon wood decay fungi to assist in softening the wood of potential excavation sites. Endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers (Picoides borealis; RCWs) are the only birds known to solely excavate through the sapwood and into the heartwood of living pine trees and generally take many years to complete their excavations. These birds may have developed a partnership with wood-inhabiting fungi to facilitate the excavation process. Past attempts to understand the complex relationships between cavity excavators and fungi relied on visual surveys of fruiting bodies, or evidence of decay, resulting in a one bird, one fungus paradigm. Using molecular methods, I investigated the relationships between RCWs and fungi, and found that the relationships between cavity-excavators and fungi involve multiple fungal species and are far more complex than previously imagined. Through a field survey, I showed that RCW excavations contain distinct communities of fungi, and propose two hypotheses to explain this result, (1) RCWs select trees with distinct fungal communities (tree selection hypothesis), or (2) RCWs promote distinct fungal communities via their excavations (bird facilitation hypothesis). By swabbing the birds, I found that RCWs carry fungal communities similar to those found in their completed excavations, demonstrating that RCWs may directly facilitate fungal dispersal during the excavation process. Through a test of the bird introduction hypothesis which implemented human-made experimental drilled cavity starts (incomplete excavations), half of which were inaccessible to the birds, I showed that RCW accessibility influences fungal community development in excavations. This experimental evidence demonstrates that the relationship between RCWs and fungal communities is a multipartite symbiosis may be mutualistic. Finally, by tracking fungal community development in experimental cavity starts through time, I also demonstrated that the fungal communities found in RCW excavations undergo succession, and that this process is influenced by the birds. The relationships described in this body of work provide the basis for future studies on cavity excavators and fungi, and also have implications for a diverse community of secondary cavity nesters, wood-inhabiting fungi, forest ecology, and the conservation of biodiversity. / Ph. D.

The two main goals of my thesis were to further our understanding of how parental effort is related to life-history trade-offs and to see how parental investment is reflected in various potential measures of nestling quality. I looked at how fitness is maximized by examining (1) the trade-off between current and future reproduction, and (2) the trade-off between quantity and quality of offspring. To see how parents responded to energetic demands and whether each sex reacted in a similar way, I experimentally manipulated brood sizes and quantified provisioning rates. Both male and female parents with enlarged broods increased their feeding rates, but provisioning on a per nestling basis declined, so that parents fledged lighter nestlings with shorter wings. Although the incidence of mortality did not differ between control and enlarged broods, nestlings from enlarged broods were lighter than those from control broods with the same brood size, suggesting that clutch size may be individually optimized. I also looked at how nestlings responded to different levels of nutritional stress in the manipulated broods by quantifying size and body condition, plumage colouration, and the physiological measures of T-cell mediated immune responses, and corticosterone levels in nestling feathers as a long-term integrated measure of stress physiology. The size of melanin ornaments on feathers and the saturation and brightness of carotenoid colouration was associated with nestling mass in such a way that suggested that plumage characteristics reflect nestling quality. The immune function of nestlings was negatively related to brood size and nestlings in better body condition could mount greater immune responses to foreign antigens suggesting that immune responses are energetically costly. Corticosterone levels in the feathers were not related to nestling body condition and were unaffected by the experimental brood manipulation. The ii mass of male nestlings, which are the larger sex, was more compromised by brood size than female mass was. I also found sex-specific relationships between plumage characteristics and measures of physiological performance. These findings help to explain optimal clutch size and the classic trade-off between quality and quantity of offspring. They also offer new insights into the reliability of putative measures of quality in nestlings and relationships between physiological and morphological traits.