Journal Title
Title of Journal: Urban Ecosyst
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Abbravation: Urban Ecosystems
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Authors: Jalene M LaMontagne R Julia Kilgour Elsa C Anderson Seth Magle
Publish Date: 2014/06/26
Volume: 18, Issue: 1, Pages: 151-167
Abstract
Tree cavities are used by a wide variety of species for nesting food storage and cover Most studies on cavity availability have been conducted in forests and little is known about urban areas With urbanization species that excavate cavities may be less abundant natural treedecay processes are managed and tree densities are reduced all of which may influence treecavity availability We investigated three questions 1 What is the prevalence of tree cavities in different habitats in the Chicago area 2 How do the characteristics of natural and woodpeckerexcavated cavities and cavitytrees differ across habitats 3 How does the urban landscape influence the prevalence of tree cavities We tested the capacity for large urban parks and residential areas to provide tree cavities at levels similar to forested areas We surveyed 1545 trees in these three habitats for excavated and natural caused by decay cavities Cavities were most available in forests where the density of trees was highest We found that a similar proportion of trees in forests and parks had excavated cavities but excavated cavities were rare in residential areas Trees containing cavities were larger than control trees and had more decay and excavated cavities were in larger trees with more decay than natural cavity trees Canopy cover was the main landscape variable influencing excavated cavity availability Our results suggest that the prevalence of tree cavities may not be a limiting factor for urban wildlife however that is contingent on the levels of use of natural cavities which is currently unknownWe gratefully thank H Cooke M Fidino L Lehrer and J Pollock for advice during the design of this study and to R Wenkus and G McNickle for assistance in the field We also thank the two anonymous reviewers and the associate editor for their comments that improved the manuscript Funding for this project came from the Department of Biological Sciences and the College of Science and Health at DePaul University and from the Davee Foundation
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