Natural science The woodpecker promotes beetle species and thus biodiversity

The woodpecker indirectly promotes biodiversity. Forest ecologists have been able to prove this. Specifically, this means that where the white-backed woodpecker breeds, more beetle species on the red list were found than in areas without woodpeckers.

17 species, including four endangered species, are even closely linked to the woodpecker's habitat. This was announced by the School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (BFH-HAFL) in Zollikofen BE on Thursday.

The two forest ecologists Romain Angeleri and Thibault Lachat were able to prove the connection with figures in their new publication in "Ecological Indicators", writes the university. According to the researchers, this confirms that the white-backed woodpecker is an umbrella species for deadwood beetles. "If you protect the bird, you protect many species of deadwood beetle," the researchers are quoted as saying.

In order to find out what relationship exists between the woodpecker and deadwood beetles, woodpeckers have been fitted with radio transmitters by the ornithological station. The researchers led by Romain Angeleri then used traps to catch over 20,000 beetles of more than 400 species. These were identified and analyzed.

The study was based on collaboration between researchers from BFH-HAFL, the Swiss Ornithological Institute and the Department of Conservation Biology at the University of Bern, according to the press release.