ORIGINAL PAPER The white-backed woodpecker: umbrella species for forest conservation planning?

Abstract In northern Europe, a long history of land use has led to profound changes within forest ecosystems. The white-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos) is one of several specialised forest species whose populations have declined. Conservation manage-ment directed at this species ’ habitat has made it a de facto umbrella species for conserva-tion of the biodiversity associated with forests rich in deciduous trees and dead wood. We assessed empirically the value of the white-backed woodpecker as an indicator and umbrella species in central Sweden. Occurrence of the woodpecker in breeding bird atlas squares (5 £ 5 km2) indicated high species richness of forest birds, particularly species of special conservation concern, which included on average 13 % more species in squares with than without the woodpecker. The number of red-listed cryptogam species expected to ben-eWt from conservation actions directed at white-backed woodpecker habitats was higher in squares where the woodpecker bred compared to where is was absent. However, no such pattern was found for red-listed beetles, a group with very few records in the studied squares. White-backed woodpecker occurrence was positively associated with the current area of deciduous and mixed forest of high conservation value. Considering its indicato