Artikel-Nr: npvbgd_fb_00048
Forschungsbericht 48 - International Woodpecker Symposium
Woodpeckers represent a distinct graup of birds characterized by a unique combination of various highly derived features. Their arboreal habits and the attractive coloration of many of their species make woodpeckers well-known andpopular birds.Practically allaspects oftheir morphology and anatomy are influenced by their life style that is closely associated with forests throughout the world. The family is widesp read and the ranges of its 214 members cover a wide range of habitats and altitudes including savannas, desert scrub and mountain grasslands. The lack of woodpeckers is only documented for the Australasian region, extreme desert areas and many islands including Madagascar.More than any other group of birds, woodpeckers are weil adapted to their tree dominated environment. The life of most species is based on chiselling out holes in dead or live wood , in which these birds roost and breed, and on gleaning prey from trees, probing into crevices, prying off bark, or excavating for wood-boring insect larvae. Their ability not only to dig various arthropods and their grubs out of holes in trees or in the ground but also to excavate their own nest holes in trees gives them a distant advantage over other birds. In addition , some woodpecker feed on the sugary sap which oozes frorn specially excavated holes, rob anthills, store food , or use anvils for pounding large prey items, opening nuts or extracting the seeds from cones. Combinations of these activities make woodpeckers important indicator and key-stone species of natural forests. Besides, most of these activities leave traces which can be identified by the observant naturalist, and thus, woodpeckers appear in children songs, cartoons, and scientific work providing them with fascination and sympathy. Yet they may sometimes also run counter to man's own interest or even constitute a nuisance.
Woodpeckers, however, do suffer much more from man as they benefit from this relationship. Loss of habitat is the main reason for decline or even extinction of woodpecker populations. Out of this concern, ecological information on. various aspects of woodpecker's biology is the key issue to providing land managers with data essential for stopping or at least slowing-down the process of habitat loss. Serious action to preserve woodpecker habitats to maintain biodiversity can only be taken if we improve our knowledge on woodpecker biology. National Parks have good reason to get primarily involved in research on these animals because their protected status provides information when man's influence has been mostly eliminated . This enables scientists to approach the issue more sophisticated by sorting out data gathered under natural conditions fram data collected in forests managed by man. A longterm monitoring of woodpecker populations in Berchtesgaden National Park permanently proves this approach successfully.
Woodpecker ecology and practical approaches in conservation strategies have been chosen to 5th be emphasized during the International Woodpeeker Symposium held in Berchtesgaden, Germany 23-25 March 2001. The purpose of this Symposium was to bring together researchers, eonservation biologists, ecologists, resouree managers, and environmentalists to develop better understanding and conservation management of woodpeckers. During our days together, we have explored many issues of global importance of woodpeeker ecology and conservation. We have also strengthened existing partnerships among involved institutions and ereated new networks for cooperation among woodpecker enthusiasts. This Proceedings provides a permanent record of the ideas and issues presented in Berchtesgaden and representsaverywide diversityofpapers,ranging from descriptive and heuristic offerings to tightly designed manuseripts. We believe that 5th contributions to the International Woodpecker Symposium in Berchtesgaden improved our knowledge on ecology of woodpeckers, and that the following papers may help create new management strategies to save these magnificent birds and their habitats for future generations.
| Herausgeber | : | Nationalparkverwaltung Berchtesgaden |
| Erscheinungsjahr | : | 2002 |
| Umfang | : | 192 Seiten Seiten |
| : | 21,7 MB |
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