Special Feature: Ecology and Conservation of Cavity Nesters in the Neotropics
In this Special Feature, seven field studies, a perspective, and a review contribute to understanding the ecology and conservation of cavity-nesting birds through a Neotropical lens. The Special Feature incorporates work from a wide diversity of Neotropical environments, from tropical rainforest to high desert and urban areas. It also describes policies and practices employed to improve equity and justice in the construction of ornithological knowledge. The Special Feature expands the possibilities for moving toward epistemic justice in ornithology and shows how the environment, avian excavator behavior, people's attitudes, and management of trees and other plants interact to influence cavity availability and the ecology of cavity-nesting birds.
Many ornithologists seek tools to work more equitably with people from historically marginalized and exploited groups. We developed a process to promote the collective construction of ornithological knowledge in the Special Feature series “Ecology and conservation of cavity nesters in the ...
Human modification of forests is the main threat to woodpeckers due to their ecological reliance on forest structure. However, little is known of how woodpecker species respond to habitat modification and land-use change in the Neotropics. In 2018, we determined nest-site selection by the Mexican ...
Avian excavators (woodpeckers and other species) select nest sites based on the characteristics of the nest patch, nest tree, and substrate. These characteristics could increase foraging opportunities or reduce the risk of predation, but there is also a potentially important role for wood hardness ...
Cavity-nesting birds are a diverse and charismatic community, with a common need for tree cavities that make them vulnerable to land management by humans. However, little research has formally integrated human social aspects into management recommendations for the conservation of cavity-nesting ...
About 35% of tree-cavity-nesting bird species inhabit the Neotropics, a region crucial to understanding their breeding ecology, conservation, and roles in social-ecological systems. Sixteen years ago, Cornelius et al. (2008) reviewed published knowledge and identified research priorities for ...
Ecosystem engineers are organisms that impact their environment and co-existing species by creating or modifying habitats, and thus they play important roles as drivers of community assembly. We examined whether cavity characteristics and/or habitat attributes associated with cavities provided by 4 ...
Cavity-nesting bird populations are most frequently limited by the number of tree cavities available in second-growth forests. However, this possible limitation of a key resource is less clear in old-growth forests. We compared forest attributes (i.e., basal area, density of larger trees, density ...
Passive restoration of secondary forests can partially offset loss of biodiversity following tropical deforestation. Tree cavities, an essential resource for cavity-nesting birds, are usually associated with old forest. We investigated the restoration time for tree cavities suitable for ...
To understand the evolution, life-history tradeoffs, and population ecology of cavity nesters, it is critical to identify the avian lineages and circumstances in which birds excavate tree cavities. Woodcreepers (Furnariidae: Dendrocolaptinae; 56 species) are considered non-excavators dependent on ...
