Our primary goal was to define a connection between presense of White-Backed Woodpecker and higher amounts of deadwood, compared to mean amount of deadwood in our forests. We made census of this species in Poljanska gora and surrounding forests. Then we chose the same number of control points, with Woodpeckers absence. Around every point we randomly chose 15 smaller areas and measured the amount of deadwood. The deadwood volume was indeed higher in areas with White-Backed Woodpecker. This was true for volumes of logs, snags and the rest of lying pieces of deadwood, but not for volumes of stumps and the rest of the standing deadwood. A model was made as well, to predict the amount of deadwood for Woodpecker’s presence. The amount of deadwood that would reassure its presence was pretty high. Nevertheless, our study did not show that standing deadwood is of bigger importance than lying deadwood for this bird species. Also tree species composition differed a bit between occupied and control areas. The managed forests, chosen for this study, were in good state, since the amount of measured deadwood was much higher than mean amount of deadwood in our forests. To conclude, we need more deadwood in managed forests to preserve specialists as White-Backed Woodpecker.
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