Experimental effects of structural enrichment on avian nest survival

Background/Question/Methods

Managers of landscapes dedicated to commodity production require information about how alternative practices can promote retention of native biological diversity.  Retaining or creating structural features (e.g., snags or downed logs) needed to fulfill life history requirements may benefit populations and communities.  However, demographic responses of species to alternative practices have received little research attention. We tested nest survival of cavity-dependent birds in response to experimental structural enrichment by creating snags on 28 plots, Oregon, USA, 2008-2010.  Each plot represented one of 6 combinations of created snag density (0.5, 1.2, and 2.5 snags/ha) and spatial dispersion (clumps of 5-7 snags or dispersed individual snags). 

Results/Conclusions

We monitored 506 nests built by 10 species; three species nested in sufficient numbers for analysis.  Chestnut-backed chickadee Poecile rufescens nest survival was highest in the medium density created snag treatment (average period survival rate = 0.83; 95% CI =0.72–0.90) and lowest in the high density treatment (average period survival rate = 0.72; 95% CI =0.57–0.82).  We did not find a response of either house wren Troglodytes aedon or northern flicker Colaptes auratus nest survival to the experimental treatments.  Period survival rates were equivalent to survival rates reported for these species in unmanaged forests.  Our study suggests that creating snags in commercial harvest units is an effective practice for increasing structural complexity and supporting nesting communities of cavity-dependent birds.  While leaving either clumped or dispersed created snags at a density of ~0.5 ha should support nest survival rates that are similar to those reported from unmanaged forests, we emphasize that this type of structural enrichment is not a panacea for species that require very large snags or snags that occur under complex forest canopies.  Retention of existing structural features in reserve areas may be an appropriate practice for conserving species with nesting requirements that differ from those we evaluated in our study.