Determination of habitat preferences of woodpecker species in Kaz mountains

This thesis aims to determine the habitat preferences of woodpecker species distributed in the Kaz Mountains. To achieve this goal, bird observations were conducted using the point count method in 553 sample locations between 2018-2021. During these observations, 7 woodpecker species were recorded: Great Spotted Woodpecker, Syrian Woodpecker, European Green Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, White-backed Woodpecker and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Modeling was performed using data related to woodpecker species along with environmental and forest structure variables. The modeling approach involved utilizing the Maxent and classification tree techniques. Among the woodpecker species recorded in the study area, models were generated for 3 species with sufficient data. For the Great Spotted Woodpecker, the Maxent model (AUC: 0.880-0.880) was influenced by variables such as black pine, mixed stand type, stand age, elevation, and topographic position index, classification tree model (ROC: 0.90159-0.84573) was shaped by variables like average breast diameter, elevation, black pine, and standing dead trees. For the Syrian Woodpecker, the Maxent model (AUC: 0.910-0.897) was influenced by variables such as brutian pine, canopy, mixed stand type, and elevation, while the classification tree model (ROC: 0.71748-0.63644) was shaped by variables such as agricultural areas and elevation. For the European Green Woodpecker, the Maxent model (AUC: 0.858-0.832) was influenced by variables such as stand age, black pine, canopy, and elevation, classification tree model (0.84182-0.78914) was shaped by variables like average breast diameter, black pine, and elevation. For other woodpecker species, evaluations were made based on the observations conducted in the study area.