Predicting status change in red-cockaded woodpecker cavity-tree clusters

Management for red-cockaded woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) has focused on creation and maintenance of suitable habitat. However, spatial, or landscape, characteristics of habitat patches are also important in determining usability of stands. Cavity-tree stands that are too small or isolated may be unattractive to woodpeckers. My results demonstrate that certain spatial characteristics are good predictors of cluster status. Ten clusters that changed status from active to inactive, or vice versa, during the 1991-92 nonbreeding season had higher status-change potential scores than the population of clusters at large (P = 0.019 and P = 0.048). These results reinforce the idea that spatial characteristics are important in determining cluster status and should be taken into account when making habitat management decisions.