EVALUATING MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES FOR RED-COCKADED WOODPECKERS - A MODELING APPROACH

Managers often must evaluate an array of enhancement proposals for end angered species. We present a male-only, stage-based matrix model to a ssess potential effects of various management techniques used to enhan ce red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) populations. We analyze d the elasticity of population growth to changes in each matrix parame ter and predicted the population-level effects of 5 proposed managemen t techniques that affect stage-specific survival, growth, and fecundit y. Maintaining existing habitat and increasing the number of nesting c avities in unoccupied, but suitable, habitat are most likely to help r estore declining populations. Management alternatives that increase su rvival or fecundity only in existing territories will shift the distri bution of male woodpeckers in each stage toward a greater proportion o f nonbreeding helpers. We do not know what density-dependent effects m ight occur as existing territories become more crowded.