Trees, Birds, and People: Resource Use and Interspecific Interactions in a Namibian Cavity Nesting Guild

Cavity-nesting guilds are diverse communities of organisms that are hierarchically structured around the creation of and competition for tree holes as nest sites. Quantifying these communities as networks of interconnected species, or "nest webs", is a proven and efficient method for identifying important species and interactions within a cavity-nesting guild that can aid the management of these often threatened communities. Yet nest web data does not provide information regarding how natural resource managers are to encourage the support and adoption of conservation behaviors. This dissertation comprises two broad studies: one describing a cavity-nesting guild in central Namibia, and the other exploring methodology for identifying an effective flagship species for local conservation. In chapter 1, I provide background information of my study system and a review of the cavity-nesting and flagship species literature. In chapter 2, I quantify the species and resources within a cavity-nesting guild and create a cavity nest web to depict cavity creation and use in central Namibia. All cavity-nesters depended on sparse, large trees, which likely contributed to limited use of tree species across the guild. Cavity-excavators were of disparate importance for secondary cavity-nesters: important for small- and medium-bodied species but mostly unimportant for large-bodied species who depend more on large trunk hollows. In chapter 3, I describe and compare species-specific cavity resource niches among guild members to explore potential instances of cavity resource partitioning. Use of nest cavities appears to sort out by size among both cavity-excavators and secondary cavity-nesters. Excavators appear to partition cavity substrate spatially by decay class, while spatial partitioning among secondary nesters was largely by cavity type. Most interesting is the apparent temporal partitioning of large excavations among medium- and large-bodied cavity-nesters. In chapter 4, I explore a novel approach to flagship species selection that identified all previously-existing traits for flagship species, numerous traits specific to culture and personal experience, and a dozen new traits that were previously not recognized as potentially important for flagship species. This method shows considerable promise as a tool for investigating preferences for wildlife among broad stakeholders, as well as for engaging local people in wildlife conservation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biological Sciences

Department dc:contributor.department

Biological Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Millican, David Marshall

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Walters, Jeffrey R.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Brown, Bryan L.
• Dayer, Ashley A.
• Stanback, Mark Thomas

• cavity-nesting
• community ecology
• flagship species
• Namibia

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:36629

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/115061