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Hemlock looper outbreak: new insight about how Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) respond to resource pulses in eastern Canada

  • April 1, 2025
  • by Lemieux, M., V. Lamarre, and J. A. Tremblay.

Abstract

Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) is known to benefit from pulse-resource disturbances in boreal forest for
example, by colonizing recently burned habitats. Although insect outbreaks are ubiquitous in some parts of the eastern boreal forest,
the opportunities offered by these natural disturbances for the Black-backed Woodpecker remain poorly understood. Between 2012
and 2014, a small-scale hemlock looper (Lambdina fiscellaria) outbreak occurred in central Québec (Canada) within the eastern boreal
forest. Using global positioning system (GPS) tags, we documented home range sizes and habitat selections of Black-backed
Woodpeckers at different scales and assessed nest survival 2–3 years post-outbreak. We tracked 5 birds and found 13 active nests. Mean
home range size was 368 ± 134 ha. A negative relationship was observed between home range size and the proportion of area affected
by hemlock looper-induced mortality. Mortality stands (> 75% tree mortality or severe defoliation, 70–100% foliage loss), were selected
at both the landscape and home range scales, while light to moderate defoliated stands (1–69% foliage loss), were selected only at the
landscape scale. At home range scale, nest site selection was predicted by the volume of early-decayed dead wood. The probability of
nest sites being selected was greater than 50% when the average volume of early-decayed dead wood was greater than 61 m³/ha. At the
tree scale, nest-tree selection was predicted by diameter at breast height (dbh) and tree type. The probability of nest-tree selection was
greater than 50% when mean dbh was higher than 17.1 cm (mean nest dbh: 31.4 ± 1.7 cm) and woodpeckers preferred deciduous trees
for nesting. We did not detect any temporal nor habitat variable effects on daily nest survival rate. The daily survival rate was 0.985
± 0.007 and the nest success rate was 0.589 ± 0.147. Our results highlight that Black-backed Woodpeckers can benefit from pulse
resources in stands affected by the hemlock looper 2–3 years after the outbreak. They are able to establish their home ranges, and
successfully nest, despite logging operations that salvaged 38% of the affected stands.

Keywords:
habitat use; home range; insect outbreak; nest success; resource selection; salvage logging

Publication Date
April 2025

PUBLICATION AVAILABLE AT:

https://ace-eco.org/vol20/iss1/art4/

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