title: Foraging Behaviour in Magellanic Woodpeckers Is Consistent with a Multi-Scale Assessment of Tree Quality.
abstract: Theoretical models predict that animals should make foraging decisions after assessing the quality of available habitat, but most models fail to consider the spatio-temporal scales at which animals perceive habitat availability. We tested three foraging strategies that explain how Magellanic woodpeckers (Campephilus magellanicus) assess the relative quality of trees: 1) Woodpeckers with local knowledge select trees based on the available trees in the immediate vicinity. 2) Woodpeckers lacking local knowledge select trees based on their availability at previously visited locations. 3) Woodpeckers using information from long-term memory select trees based on knowledge about trees available within the entire landscape. We observed foraging woodpeckers and used a Brownian Bridge Movement Model to identify trees available to woodpeckers along foraging routes. Woodpeckers selected trees with a later decay stage than available trees. Selection models indicated that preferences of Magellanic woodpeckers were based on clusters of trees near the most recently visited trees, thus suggesting that woodpeckers use visual cues from neighboring trees. In a second analysis, Cox's proportional hazards models showed that woodpeckers used information consolidated across broader spatial scales to adjust tree residence times. Specifically, woodpeckers spent more time at trees with larger diameters and in a more advanced stage of decay than trees available along their routes. These results suggest that Magellanic woodpeckers make foraging decisions based on the relative quality of trees that they perceive and memorize information at different spatio-temporal scales.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación, Departamento de Gestión Agraria, Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 3363, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Pablo M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Vergara
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación, Departamento de Gestión Agraria, Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 3363, Santiago, Chile.|Cornell University, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Department of Natural Resources, Ithaca, NY, United States of America.
authors.forename: Gerardo E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Soto
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Chile, Laboratorio de Conservación, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Darío
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1188-496X
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moreira-Arce
authors.affiliation: Cornell University, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Department of Natural Resources, Ithaca, NY, United States of America.
authors.forename: Amanda D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Rodewald
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación, Departamento de Gestión Agraria, Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 3363, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Luis O
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Meneses
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación, Departamento de Gestión Agraria, Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 3363, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Christian G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Pérez-Hernández
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D017753:Ecosystem; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D057567:Memory, Long-Term / Q000502:physiology; D014197:Trees