Counting marmots…
In subalpine Colorado ecosystems, red-naped sapsuckers feed by excavating sap wells in shrubby willow branches. Many species of insects, birds, and mammals are known to feed from this sap. Previous studies on avian sap robbers suggest these sap wells may have a direct effect on bird communities. Furthermore, studies on the effects of yellow-bellied sapsucker sap wells on insect guilds suggest that sap wells may influence bird distribution indirectly through their influence on insect abundance. In this study, I investigated the relationship between sap wells and bird diversity. I found no effect of sap wells on bird diversity or on known avian sap robbers; however, other variables, such as drainage and proximity to a river, were found to affect bird diversity.
Knowledge graph centered on the influence of red-naped sapsuckers on willow bi with 20 nodes and 66 connections. Top connected: Hummingbird, Double keystone bird in a keystone species complex, Selasphorus platycercus, species diversity, Selasphorus rufus.
Items connected by shared entities, co-authorship, citations, or semantic similarity.
2 in Knowledge Commons, 9 external