How do woodpecker communities respond to different forest management regimes outside protected areas in the Eastern Himalaya, India?

Forests within human-modified landscapes have been recognised as crucial for biodiversity conservation. In the Eastern Himalaya, the non-protected forests are characterised by numerous traditional agroforestry systems linked to different management regimes. However, information on how different biodiversity components respond to these management regimes is limited. Assessing the community structure of indicator taxa like woodpeckers can aid in understanding the ecological processes in these forests. The current study explores the response of woodpecker communities to different forest management regimes of Darjeeling, Eastern Himalaya. The study was conducted across 12 sites representing different forest types and management regimes covering an approximate elevation range of 250–2400 m. Point counts along 2 km long transects collected data on woodpeckers during pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon and winter seasons. Habitat characteristics were enumerated using 20 × 20 m quadrats at each observation point. 3456-point counts resulted in 1721 individuals of woodpeckers belonging to 13 species. Woodpecker biomass and abundance peaked in tea garden forests and were lowest in agroforests, while species richness was highest in managed reserve forests. Among forest types, tropical forests had the highest values. There were apparent differences in woodpecker densities between seasons, while species composition significantly differed across forest management regimes and forest types. Indicator analysis identified five woodpecker species preferring particular forest management regimes, while ten were indicators of forest types. These findings highlight the importance of managing human-modified forests for avian conservation in the Eastern Himalaya, a region facing increasing deforestation and land-use changes.