TY - JOUR AU - Protti-Sánchez, Francesca AU - Sandoval, Luis PY - 2019/04/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Changes in nesting sites abundance and their use by woodpeckers along an urban gradient: a ten-year comparison JF - Revista de Biología Tropical JA - Rev. Biol. Trop. VL - 67 IS - S2 SE - Articles DO - 10.15517/rbt.v67i2SUPL.37241 UR - https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/article/view/37241 SP - S274–S281 AB - <p class="p1">Woodpeckers nesting substrate abundance may be reduced by urban expansion, negatively affecting their reproduction. Long-term studies in the tropics are rare but valuable to estimate how urban development has affected ecological communities. We present a ten-year comparison on nesting substrate abundance and their use by <em>Melanerpes rubricapillus </em>and <em>M. chrysauchen</em> woodpeckers along an urban gradient in Golfito, Costa Rica; which include three habitats and three substrates (snags, palms, and posts). Conditions remained unchanged in non-urban areas. In semi-urban areas, snag, posts, and nests on them, have decreased. In urban areas, despite snags and posts remaining constant, their use also decreased. In semi-urban and urban areas, palms and palm nests increased. This long term comparison indicates that woodpeckers took advantage of the increased presence of ornamental palms in gardens.</p> ER -