Authors: Ettwein, Antonia; Korner, Pius;Lanz, Michael;Pasinelli, Gilberto;

Whether managed forests can serve as habitat for species that depend on old-growth structures is still unclear. We investigated three levels of seasonal habitat selection by the white-backed woodpecker, a species typically found in deciduous and mixed old-growth forests, in forests differing in age and structure. Based on data of 50 radio-tracked individuals, we found that areas with a high proportion of old deciduous stands were selected for establishing pre-breeding and breeding home ranges. By contrast, the proportions of all forest types within post-breeding, summer/fall, and winter home ranges corresponded to their availability in the landscape, and during all seasons, the forest types were used according to their availability within the home range. Modeling foraging tree selection revealed that the probability of use increased with the diameter of the tree and was highest for snags; these relationships were similar in all habitat types and seasons. Our results indicate that old deciduous forests should be present as breeding habitat but that all other forest types can be used during the non-breeding season when suitable foraging trees are available. Managed forests can thus serve as non-breeding habitat for this old-growth forest species as long as they contain large-diameter trees and deadwood.