Purpose of Review

Wildfires, wind storms, and pest outbreaks are the main large-scale disturbances of temperate and boreal forests, which often generate large amounts of deadwood in the landscape. Salvage and sanitation loggings (hereafter salvage logging) are usually practiced following such disturbance events and the generated deadwood is then extracted from the forest. Those practices affect a broad array of species, including fungi, lichens, invertebrates, and vertebrates that make use of deadwood either as habitat, food resource, foraging substrate, or as shelter. Woodpeckers, being a key group of forest birds dependent on deadwood, can be affected by salvage logging in two ways: (1) a reduction in the availability of food (i.e. removal of deadwood along with the saproxylic and predatory invertebrates that usually colonize dead or dying trees following forest disturbances) and (2) a decrease in potential nest sites due to the removal of dead trees. Therefore, we assessed the global effects of salvage logging on woodpecker abundance and reproduction by conducting a meta-analysis of published and unpublished data. We focused on comparing woodpeckers’ responses to forest disturbance in salvage-logged and unlogged sites. We considered different types of responses found in the literature, including abundance, occurrence, nest density, and breeding success. When analyzing the responses of woodpeckers, we also accounted for the potential effects of tree density, time since logging, elevation, latitude, and the continent.

Recent Findings

We found that both numbers and reproduction of woodpeckers were affected by salvage logging following a disturbance event. Apart from salvage logging, woodpecker responses were not significantly related to any other variables. This highlights that salvage logging can pose a substantial threat to woodpecker assemblages as well as secondary cavity-users dependent on them.

Summary

Salvage logging and related practices that affect deadwood availability should be carefully planned and preferably avoided entirely in areas important for woodpecker conservation. In managed forests, deadwood should be retained in sufficient quantities to avoid detrimental impacts on woodpeckers and on forest biodiversity in general.

中文翻译：

---

抢救性伐木强烈影响啄木鸟的数量和繁殖：荟萃分析

审查目的

野火、风暴和害虫爆发是温带和北方森林的主要大规模干扰，这些森林通常会在景观中产生大量枯木。通常在此类干扰事件发生后进行抢救和卫生伐木（以下简称抢救伐木），然后从森林中提取产生的枯木。这些做法影响了广泛的物种，包括真菌、地衣、无脊椎动物和利用枯木作为栖息地、食物资源、觅食基质或庇护所的脊椎动物。啄木鸟是依赖枯木为生的森林鸟类的一个重要群体，可能会受到抢救性伐木的两种方式的影响：（1）食物供应量的减少（即清除枯木以及通常在死木或死木上定居的腐木和掠食性无脊椎动物）。 (2) 由于移除死树，潜在巢穴减少。因此，我们通过对已发表和未发表的数据进行荟萃分析，评估了抢救性伐木对啄木鸟丰度和繁殖的全球影响。我们重点比较啄木鸟对抢救性砍伐和未砍伐地点的森林干扰的反应。我们考虑了文献中发现的不同类型的反应，包括丰度、发生率、巢密度和繁殖成功率。在分析啄木鸟的反应时，我们还考虑了树木密度、砍伐后的时间、海拔、纬度和大陆的潜在影响。

最近的发现

我们发现啄木鸟的数量和繁殖都受到干扰事件后抢救性伐木的影响。除了抢救性伐木之外，啄木鸟的反应与任何其他变量都没有显着相关。这凸显出抢救性伐木可能对啄木鸟群以及依赖它们的次要洞穴使用者构成重大威胁。

概括

应仔细规划影响枯木可用性的抢救性采伐和相关做法，最好在对啄木鸟保护重要的地区完全避免。在管理森林中，应保留足够数量的枯木，以避免对啄木鸟和整个森林生物多样性产生不利影响。