Bio∆4 - “New instruments to enhance the biodiversity of cross-border forest ecosystems” ITAT2021 A project financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the context of the 2014 - 2020 Interreg V-A Italy - Austria programme (2017 call for tenders). The Italian portion is co-financed by the national rotating fund (C.I.P.E. - Interdepartmental Committee for Economic Planning - resolution).
PEFC/18-22-13/03 Promuoviamo la Gestione Sostenibile delle Foreste www.pefc.it
WOODPECKERS OF THE CANSIGLIO FOREST
Builders of biodiversity
The woodpeckers present at Cansiglio Forest are the great spotted woodpecker, the black woodpecker and the European green woodpecker. They inhabit mixed pine and beech forests. Because of their ecological importance, these species must be protected and monitored.
At Cansiglio these species are biodiversity indicators since their presence is indirect evidence of the coexistence of many other plant and animal organisms enriching the ecosystem.
How can the forest be managed to
enhance woodpecker abundance?
Under a sustainable forest management policy, such as the one adopted at Cansiglio Forest, dry, old, perishing and dead standing plants are spared from cutting.
Plants bearing
woodpecker-made nest cavities serve as shelter and food larders to other species in the forest ecosystem, including numerous birds (boreal owls and Eurasian pygmy owls, Paridae, tawny owls), bats, mammals (squirrels and dormouse) and many insect species (bees, wasps, bumble- bees and ants).
Woodpeckers feed on the insects, larvae and small eggs they find inside tree trunks as they dig with their strong and long beaks, leaving the trees with cavities of various sizes.
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER
(Dendrocapas major) GREY-HEADED WOODPECKER
(Picus canus) BLACK WOODPECKER
(Dryocopus martius L.)
White and black woodpecker with a red spot on the head or under the tail
(Photo: F. Terrazzani) Grey-headed woodpecker
(Photo: L. Signori) BLACK woodpecker (Photo: A. Ferro)
Woodpecker cavities (Photo: M. Cassol)
