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Incorporating local habitat heterogeneity and productivity measures when modelling vertebrate richness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2019

W Justin Cooper Open the ORCID record for W Justin Cooper [Opens in a new window] ,
William J McShea ,
David A Luther  and
Tavis Forrester
W Justin Cooper*
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, 1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, VA 22630, USA Biology Department, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
William J McShea
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, 1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, VA 22630, USA
David A Luther
Affiliation:
Biology Department, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation, 1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, VA 22630, USA
Tavis Forrester
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, 1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, VA 22630, USA Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, 1401 Gekeler Lane, La Grande, OR 97850, USA
*
Author for correspondence: W Justin Cooper, Email: wcooper2@gmu.edu
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Summary

Declining species richness is a global concern; however, the coarse-scale metrics used at regional or landscape levels might not accurately represent the important habitat characteristics needed to estimate species richness. Currently, there exists a lack of knowledge with regard to the spatial extent necessary to correlate remotely sensed habitat metrics to species richness and animal surveys. We provide a protocol for determining the best scale to use when merging remotely sensed habitat and animal survey data as a step towards improving estimates of vertebrate species richness on broad scales. We test the relative importance of fine-resolution habitat heterogeneity and productivity metrics at multiple spatial scales as predictors of species richness for birds, frogs and mammals using a Bayesian approach and a combination of passive monitoring technologies. Model performance was different for each taxonomic group and dependent on the scale at which habitat heterogeneity and productivity were measured. Optimal scales included a 20-m radius for bats and frogs, an 80-m radius for birds and a 180-m radius for terrestrial mammals. Our results indicate that optimal scales do exist when merging remotely sensed habitat measures with ground-based surveys, but they differ between vertebrate groups. Additionally, the selection of a measurement scale is highly influential to our understanding of the relationships between species richness and habitat characteristics.

Keywords

acoustics monitoringcamera traphabitat heterogeneityhyperspectralLiDARproductivityremote sensingscalespecies richnessvertebrate
Type
Research Paper
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 47 , Issue 1: Thematic Section: Bringing Species and Ecosystems Together with Remote Sensing Tools to Develop New Biodiversity Metrics and Indicators , March 2020 , pp. 7 - 14
Copyright
© Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2019 

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