Black-backed Woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus) are widely considered a burned forest specialist across much of their range. Several recent studies have examined their occurrence in “green” coniferous forests that have not been recently burned, but Black-backed Woodpecker occupancy and factors influencing occupancy in these forest types remain largely unexamined. We worked on the east slope of the southern Oregon Cascade Mountains and used playback call surveys with repeated visits to 90 transects in 2014 and 2015 to estimate occupancy probabilities by forest type while controlling for detection probability. We detected Black-backed Woodpeckers on 86% of survey transects in green forests composed primarily of mixed conifer, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), or ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa). We examined associations between occupancy probability and structural covariates in unburned forests, and found that occupancy did not vary with annual precipitation, large snag density, or snag basal area. Modeled mean occupancy across all transects was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.78–0.93). Detection probability varied during each survey season, with transect-level detection probability reaching a maximum of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.70–0.85) in mid-June. Given high occupancy of green forests by Black-backed Woodpecker in our study area, we suggest that additional study of vital rates in green forests is critical for supporting conservation and management decisions for this species.

中文翻译：

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黑背啄木鸟在俄勒冈州喀斯喀特山脉南部的绿色针叶林中广泛居住

黑背啄木鸟（Picoides arcticus）在其大部分范围内被广泛认为是烧过的森林专家。最近的一些研究检查了它们在最近没有被烧毁的“绿色”针叶林中的发生，但是在这些森林类型中，黑背啄木鸟的占用率和影响占用率的因素仍然没有得到检验。我们在俄勒冈州南部喀斯喀特山脉南部的东坡进行了研究，并通过回放呼叫调查对2014年和2015年的90个样带进行了重复访问，以控制森林的出现率，同时控制检测概率。我们在主要由混合针叶树，黑松（Pinus contorta）或美国黄松（P. pokerosa）组成的绿色森林中，在86％的调查样带中检测到了黑背啄木鸟。我们检查了未燃烧森林中占用概率与结构协变量之间的关联，发现占用率与年降水量，大断枝密度或断枝基底面积没有变化。所有样带的模型化平均占有率为0.87（95％CI：0.78-0.93）。在每个调查季节，检测概率各不相同，在6月中旬，横断面检测概率最高达到0.79（95％CI：0.70–0.85）。考虑到黑背啄木鸟在我们研究区中对绿色森林的占用率很高，我们建议对绿色森林的生命率进行进一步研究对于支持该物种的保护和管理决策至关重要。所有样带的模型化平均占有率为0.87（95％CI：0.78-0.93）。在每个调查季节，检测概率各不相同，在6月中旬，横断面检测概率最高达到0.79（95％CI：0.70–0.85）。考虑到黑背啄木鸟在我们研究区中对绿色森林的占用率很高，我们建议对绿色森林的生命率进行进一步研究对于支持该物种的保护和管理决策至关重要。所有样带的模型化平均占有率为0.87（95％CI：0.78-0.93）。在每个调查季节，检测概率各不相同，在6月中旬，横断面检测概率最高达到0.79（95％CI：0.70–0.85）。考虑到黑背啄木鸟在我们研究区中对绿色森林的占用率很高，我们建议对绿色森林的生命率进行进一步研究对于支持该物种的保护和管理决策至关重要。