Prediction of Species Richness of Breeding Birds by Analysis of Land Cover at Seongnam City, Korea

Abstract

This study was conducted to develop the predictive model for species richness of breeding birds by multivariate analysis of land covers (percentage value of each cover in 300 <TEX>$\times$</TEX> 300m grid) including water area (WA), urbanized area (UA), green area (GA), forest area (FA) and agricultural area (AA) at Seongnam City in Korea. Fifty-nine species of birds were mapped on 155 grids in size of 300 <TEX>$\times$</TEX> 300 m from 2000 to 2001. Species richness of breeding birds was significantly regressed (<TEX>$R^2=0.85$</TEX>, n=155) by estimates of WA (<TEX>$4.59{\pm}1.13$</TEX>, P<0.0001), UA (<TEX>$6.50{\pm}0.86$</TEX>, P<0.0001), GA (<TEX>$7.11{\pm}1.25$</TEX>, P<0.0001), FA (<TEX>$8.51{\pm}0.62$</TEX>, P<0.0001), and AA (<TEX>$4.59{\pm}1.13$</TEX>, P<0.0001). In validation of model, the results show no significant difference between predicted value of species richness and observed one. Developed model can be used as a predictive model of species richness of birds for selecting the proper location of corridors and parks in urban area.