Abstract

Twenty-eight bird species (nine vulnerable endemics) depend on tree-cavities for their nesting sites in the vanishing South-American temperate forests. This cavity-nesting community is limited by cavity availability, inter-specific interactions (facilitation/predation) and forest management practices that frequently remove critical large and dead trees (habitat legacies). In this phase of our project we will: 1.Describe and monitor the composition and structure of the cavity-nesting community, 2.Assess nest-site requirements for vulnerable cavity-nesters, 3.Determine the potential keystone role of the endemic White-throated treerunner as cavity-facilitator, 4.Prepare education material for reducing the removal of habitat legacies.