Abstract
Microclimatic refugia are spatially restricted habitats that provide favorable conditions that enable some wildlife to persist in otherwise harsh environmental conditions. Understanding microclimate preferences can add to our understanding of wildlife distributions, traits, and local adaptations. This can allow for more knowledge on how species interactions may change within a variable environment, especially in light of climate change. Tree hollows offer refuge to some wildlife species in the form of protection, places to reproduce, and as shelter from external conditions. We described various stand, tree, and cavity characteristics to understand the dynamics of internal tree-cavity microclimates and how they might affect multiple forest owl species in the Chiricahua Mountains in Southeastern Arizona. We measured microhabitat characteristics including but not limited to cavity height, cavity width, cavity bearing or aspect, and ground vegetation data. We also placed temperature loggers (iButtonLink; DS1921G-F5# Thermochron, 4K) both inside and just outside of the cavity to record patterns in temperature and humidity. Using cavity temperatures, we are able to provide information on variation in temperature across multiple temporal scales and identify cavity features that help buffer against ambient temperature fluctuations. We present preliminary descriptive statistics and patterns for the first two field seasons of this work. This includes microhabitat data for 48 cavity trees and temperature data for 29 different cavities. We evaluate how the difference between in-cavity and ambient temperature varies daily and seasonally and how our microhabitat measures of interest influence that relationship.