Habitat Inventory Research Articles

Differences between recent and historical records of upper species limits in the northern European Alps

Are there differences in historical and recent upper range limits of vascular plants and are such differences more pronounced in individual species groups? The limits of 1103 plants of the Northern Alps are compared to range limits in the mid-19th century. The comparison is based on two surveys. The first survey was conducted by Otto Sendtner in 1848–1853, the second in 1991–2008 during a habitat inventory. To our knowledge this is the first comparative studies reaching back to the end of the “Little Ice Age” and comprising an almost entire regional flora covering the complete range of habitats. During the recent survey, most species were found at higher elevations. Even though the differences fit well with the expected shifts due to climate warming we cannot exclude effects of sampling bias. However, we assume that the relative differences between species groups can be safely interpreted. The differences in upper limits between both surveys were significantly larger among forest species. The most important reason is probably discontinued pasture and mowing, which may have amplified possible warming effects. Nitrogen deposits may have contributed to this effect by placing competitive species in a more advantageous position.

Estonian Vegetation Database

The main aim of the Estonian Vegetation Database (GIVD ID EU-EE-001) is to provide, as complete as possible, a synopsis of Estonian plant community types, to enable analysis of their species diversity on synusiae/microcoenoses, community and regional scale, to assess the management impact on vegetation and to study successional processes in plant communities. For example, in official Estonian forest site type classification interprets several types rather widely and habitats of some dispersed types (floodplain, hillock and klint/escarpment forests) having great value for biodiversity preservation have been overlooked. In 2011 the inventory of Estonian mire habitats (15,326 in total) was completed, partly including vegetation data, but the latter have not been analysed yet. The most serious shortcoming of the Estonian vegetation database is until now the disunion of grassland data.

Linking woodland key habitat inventory and forest inventory data to prioritize districts needing conservation efforts

Woodland key habitat (WKH) inventories have been conducted in northern European countries, with the aim to create networks of minimally disturbed forest stands for protection. The goal of national forest inventory is to provide information relevant to forest management, such as on forest types, trees species composition, age structure and wood volume. The aim of this study was to link these two inventory databases to identify districts of Latvia most deficient in connectivity and habitat quality, in order to prioritize districts needing conservation effort. As an example, the area of deciduous forest with nemoral tree species (oak, ash, lime, maple and elm) and aspen was chosen. These forests provide habitat for a specific community of epiphytes. Using information in the WKH database, habitat quality in different districts of Latvia was estimated by the frequencies of occurrence of structural elements and selected indicator epiphyte species in nemoral tree species and aspen WKHs. Using digital data in the national forest inventory database, fragmentation metrics were determined for forests that, according to age and tree species composition, could potentially be nemoral tree and aspen WKHs. On a regional level, the lowest habitat quality in WKH occurred in districts that had the least fragmentation of potential WKH forest. In the less fragmented areas, the habitat quality of the existing WKH will likely increase in the future, and could be promoted by management to create structural elements typical of natural forests. The districts with the most fragmented nemoral and aspen forests, contained WKHs with the best habitat quality. A focus on protection should be given to these stands as they are the most likely to support source populations, and there is a need to improve spatial continuity of suitable tree substrate in these areas.

Acoustic challenges in aquatic ecosystem assessment.

In an effort to increase communication and collaboration between members of the Acoustical Society of America and the American Fisheries Society, a joint workshop focusing on the integration of biological and physical elements in ecosystem research, current policy and regulations, and applications of acoustic technologies developed field use will be held Thursday and Friday during the conference. Topics of interest in the workshop include the following: ecosystem based resource management, cabled observatories, monitoring renewable energy sites, acoustic species discrimination, statistical analysis for fisheries assessment, progress in fish tagging, acoustical models for fisheries assessment habitat inventory, detecting, and monitoring episodic events: natural and anthropogenic, active and passive assessment, and quantitative assessments in noisy environments. Ocean observatories is an explicit topic of interest in the workshop, but it can serve as an integrating theme that potentially expands the scope and capabilities of aquatic ecosystem assessment.

Re-evaluation of stand indicators for the assessment of the representativity status of the Natura 2000 habitat type forests

Habitat inventories and monitoring require the evaluation of the status of various charac- teristics of these habitats - indicator traits. In the case study of Estonian forests in Viru County (Natura 2000 Annex I forest habitat types *9010, *9080, and *91D0), the survey data of old-growth and natural forests were used to test for the efficiency of the indicator set that has been suggested for the evaluation of the habitat's representativity status. The data from expert-graded forests (121 stands) were alternatively clustered with k-means clustering, their characteristics were tested for indicator power with discriminant analysis, and the resulting efficient set of characteristics was clustered again for an updated classification. In studying the differences between analyses of expert grading and cluster system, we found that different characteristics had different weights in forest classification. In addition to the standard structural characteristics, signs of anthropogenic activity and landscape pattern proved to be of importance. From the testing for various precision scales of classification, we concluded that different indicator traits of structure and composition are required, and the three-grade system appears to be practical for the purpose of avoiding over-interpretation. We found that additional studies are needed to define reasonable indicator traits for wet and swampy forests, and also for forests on unproductive soils.

Repräsentanz – ein geeignetes Bewertungskriterium für den Naturschutz?Representativeness – An Appropriate Criterion for Evaluation in Nature Conservation?

Representativeness is a prominent criterion in nature conservation evaluation. Despite its widespread use, the concept of representativeness is ambiguous. For a consistent application of this criterion, a conceptualisation is of vital importance. In this contribution I analyse different meanings of the term, assess its normative legitimacy, and make recommendations for its use in nature conservation. We can distinguish three different meanings of representativeness. First, it can be seen as a measure of the characteristic inventory of species and habitats in geographic regions (distinctiveness). Second, representativeness is the degree to which a habitat conforms to a habitat type or to which the presence of a species is correlated with a habitat type (typicalness). Third, representativeness can be seen as the extent to which required natural features occur within a habitat or a (set of) site(s) (comprehensiveness). While the use of distinctiveness is normatively well grounded, there are some problems in the use of typicalness and comprehensiveness as evaluation criteria. For each application, I recommend clarifying which approach to representativeness is being taken. Furthermore the value system behind the evaluation criteria should be made explicit.

A SPATIAL MODEL FOR ESTIMATING CUMULATIVE EFFECTS AT AQUACULTURE SITES

This paper presents a model for the evaluation of marine sites that utilize site specific spatial datasets in the estimation of ecosystem cumulative effects. The model is motivated by the evaluation of marine sites for aquaculture. Maps of the coastal zone of Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick in the Bay of Fundy along Canada's Atlantic coast are utilized for the purpose of illustrating the model. The data sets, processed as thematic layers in a Geographic Information System (GIS) describing the marine site, represent natural resource abundance, habitat inventory, valuations from economic and recreational activities, and influence plumes from sources of effluents. The valuation methodology assigns quantitative yields by layer-area of each selected site, as well as yields for the pairwise overlapping “cumulative effects” layers of the datasets based on defined yield impact functions. Results are presented that validate the model as an effective decision support tool for defining aquaculture sites of interest.

An integrated approach to assess broad-scale condition of coastal wetlands—the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Wetlands pilot survey

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initiated a two-year regional pilot survey in 2007 to develop, test, and validate tools and approaches to assess the condition of northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) coastal wetlands. Sampling sites were selected from estuarine and palustrine wetland areas with herbaceous, forested, and shrub/scrub habitats delineated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory Status and Trends (NWI S&T) program and contained within northern GOM coastal watersheds. A multi-level, stepwise, iterative survey approach is being applied to multiple wetland classes at 100 probabilistically-selected coastal wetlands sites. Tier 1 provides information at the landscape scale about habitat inventory, land use, and environmental stressors associated with the watershed in which each wetland site is located. Tier 2, a rapid assessment conducted through a combination of office and field work, is based on best professional judgment and on-site evidence. Tier 3, an intensive site assessment, involves on-site collection of vegetation, water, and sediment samples to establish an integrated understanding of current wetland condition and validate methods and findings from Tiers 1 and 2. The results from this survey, along with other similar regional pilots from the Mid-Atlantic, West Coast, and Great Lakes Regions will contribute to a design and implementation approach for the National Wetlands Condition Assessment to be conducted by EPA's Office of Water in 2011.

Towards an ecologically meaningful classification of the flow biotope for river inventory, rehabilitation, design and appraisal purposes

Recent research into the physical and ecological status of rivers has focused upon rapid field-based assessments of mesoscale habitat features in order to satisfy international regulatory requirements for habitat inventory and appraisal. Despite the low cost and time efficient nature of rapid field surveys, the robustness of such techniques remains uncertain. This paper uses data from over 4000 surveyed UK river reaches in the UK River Habitat Survey (RHS) database in order to seek linkages between surface flow conditions (flow biotopes), local channel morphology (physical biotopes) and biologically distinct vegetative and minerogenic habitat units (functional habitats). Attempts to identify one-to-one connections between surface flow types, units of channel morphology and functional habitats oversimplify a complex and dynamic hydraulic environment. Instead, a nested hierarchy of reach-scale physical and ecological habitat structures exists, characterised by transferable assemblages of habitat units. Five flow biotopes show strong correlations with functional habitats, and differing combinations of three of these account for over 60% of the distribution for all functional habitats. On this basis, a classification of environments for ecological purposes is proposed. Principal components analysis and agglomerative hierarchical clustering analysis are employed to objectively validate the proposed classification. Flow biotope assemblages may also represent reach-scale channel morphologies (step-pool, riffle-pool and glide-pool), although functional habitats exhibit differing ‘preferences’ for rougher or more tranquil environments within these. While the data and analysis are specific to the UK RHS, the methods and findings have wider application in situations, where rapid field appraisal methods and associated databases are deployed in water resource inventory and river rehabilitation design.

Complementary Hotspot Inventory – A method for identification of important areas for biodiversity at the forest stand level

Forest stands are the basic planning units of managed forest landscapes, and the structural composition of these units is important for conservation of biodiversity. We present a methodological approach for identification and mapping of important structural and environmental features of forest stands. Based on an analysis of habitats of red-listed species and a synthesis of results from research on spatial distribution of forest species, we developed a habitat inventory approach (Complementary Hotspot Inventory, CHI) that is currently used in forestry planning in Norway. The CHI maps fine-scale hotspots for 12 habitat types that are further classified according to positions along main environmental gradients (productivity and humidity). Consisting of different substrates in different environments, these habitats to a large degree support different species assemblages. By incorporating both the hotspot and the complementary approach, the CHI produces data tuned for later conservation measures. The high spatial resolution of data facilitates the use of conservation measures at different spatial scales, from single-tree retention to forest reserves. A validation test of habitats identified by CHI showed that the density of red-listed species was four times that of randomly selected old forests.

Habitat inventory at a regional scale: A comparison of estimates of terrestrial Broad Habitat cover from stratified sample field survey and full census field survey for Wales, UK

Estimates of terrestrial Broad Habitat cover for Wales from the Countryside Survey 2000 stratified sample field mapping programme in Britain are compared with the findings of a full census field mapping project, the Habitat Survey of Wales. The Countryside Survey sampling regime comprised a stratified random sample of 1 km square covering <0.5% of the land surface. Comparative assessment indicates that although few of the sample-derived estimates for individual Broad Habitats are within 30% of the full census survey results, relative extents accord with data from the complete census survey for all Broad Habitats apart from Arable & Horticultural. The accuracy of this estimate is improved when the national boundary of Wales is taken into account in the sample stratification scheme. It is suggested that cultural land-use differences between countries render cropland habitat extent less predictable from physical environmental parameters than semi-natural habitat extent. It is also shown that the precision of sample-derived cover estimates is influenced by habitat pattern: the error term associated with habitats of broadly equal extent is greater for those with the most clumped distributions.

Biotope Protection Problems in Tervete Nature Park

Tervete Nature Park is a particular cultural, historical and geographical object. To overcome problems with regard to the existing biotope protection, the inventory of woodland key habitats and natural meadows has been carried out using aprrobated research methods. Great biological diversity including great amount of medical and rare plants found in the Park has been described. Spridisu and Auziņu meadows are typical dry meadows. Silalibiesu, Illenu and Plavnieku meadows are moderately moistured meadows. Meadows' flora of Tervete Nature Park is formed by two vegetation classes: Molinio-Arrhenatheretea and Festuco-Brometea. A complex of measures has been offered to maintain biological diversity as will as for woodland biotopes and utilization of natural meadows.

Derek Almey Ratcliffe, 1929–2005

Derek Almey Ratcliffe, 1929–2005

Application of a variance decomposition method to compare satellite and aerial inventory data: a tool for evaluating wildlife–habitat relationships

Summary Researchers frequently rely on forest inventories derived for other purposes when characterizing wildlife–habitat associations. When studied populations are remote and inventory coverage is incomplete for one or more data sets, researchers must often choose between the need for greater detail in habitat information and complete coverage of the land base. Forest inventories are often limited to canopy‐level information; however, different aspects of the overstorey and understorey may be important to wildlife. We compared the explanatory power of a forest resource inventory (FRI) and Landsat‐derived inventory to account for variation in vegetation communities available to woodland caribou Rangifer tarandus caribou. Forest canopy and understorey data were collected from stands in the Clay Belt region of Ontario, Canada, and cluster analysis and ordination were used to identify discrete community types. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed strong relationships between forest inventories and vegetation communities derived from field data. The integration of field‐based species and structural data with remote sensing land cover information provided sufficient detail among vegetation communities to identify features of known importance to woodland caribou. Variance decomposition revealed that FRI and Landsat variables had different capacities to explain variation in community composition, and overlap existed in the explanatory power. FRI species factors had greater explanatory power than Landsat habitat classes; however, Landsat structural variables accounted for more variation than FRI structural variables. Synthesis and applications. The results support the use of forest inventory attributes to infer vegetation characteristics in the overstorey and understorey, thus providing a tool for wildlife–habitat management. The need to account for woodland caribou habitat needs in forest management planning can be facilitated by using readily available vegetation descriptions within the FRI and Landsat data sets. This approach to community classification is of particular benefit for characterizing wildlife habitat in remote areas where collection of detailed vegetation information is impractical. When using habitat inventories derived from different data sources, variance decomposition can aid the researcher in identifying how explanatory power is structured within different data sets, quantifying the independent and confounded components of explained variation.

Isolation and edge effects among woodland key habitats in Sweden: Is forest policy promoting fragmentation?

Fragmentation of natural forests is a major threat to forest biodiversity. In areas with a long history of forestry, the remaining patches of old forests constitute only a minor part of the landscape. In such situations small stands may be valuable and important for conservation. However, as they may suffer from strong edge effects and isolation, their value may be lower than anticipated. In Sweden a national inventory of woodland key habitats (WKHs) has identified about 1% of the forest landscape as sites where red-listed species occur or may occur. Most are small (national median 1.4 ha) and isolated stands within an intensively managed landscape. The present analyses calculate WKH core area based on a range of depths of edge influence, and isolation based on both distance to nearest WKH and a weighted isolation measure that includes all neighboring WKHs and protected forest. These analyses are done on the WKHs in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden and include almost 5000 stands. The actual core area in the WKHs is about 30% given a 50 m edge influence. The degree of isolation is species dependent but the results indicate that only species with high dispersal abilities may effectively utilize the network of WKHs. For species with effective dispersal distances of less than 2 km the network is probably insufficient. The results emphasize the need to create buffer zones, to increase reserve areas and to manage the matrix so that species dispersal is promoted. This likely includes a necessity to aggregate biodiversity efforts on the landscape scale.

Landsat TM inventory and assessment of waterbird habitat in the southern altiplano of South America

The diverse set of wetlands in southern altiplano of South America supports a number of endemic and migratory waterbirds. These species include endangered endemic flamingos and shorebirds that nest in North America and winter in the altiplano. This research developed maps from nine Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images (254,300 km2) to provide an inventory of aquatic waterbird habitats. Image processing software was used to produce a map with a classification of wetlands according to the habitat requirements of different types of waterbirds. A hierarchical procedure was used to, first, isolate the bodies of water within the TM image; second, execute an unsupervised classification on the subsetted image to produce 300 signatures of cover types, which were further subdivided as necessary. Third, each of the classifications was examined in the light of field data and personal experience for relevance to the determination of the various habitat types. Finally, the signatures were applied to the entire image and other adjacent images to yield a map depicting the location of the various waterbird habitats in the southern altiplano. The data sets referenced with a global positioning system receiver were used to test the classification system. Multivariate analysis of the bird communities censused at each lake by individual habitats indicated a salinity gradient, and then the depth of the water separated the birds. Multivariate analysis of the chemical and physical data from the lakes showed that the variation in lakes were significantly associated with difference in depth, transparency, latitude, elevation, and pH. The presence of gravel bottoms was also one of the qualities distinguishing a group of lakes. This information will be directly useful to the Flamingo Census Project and serve as an element for risk assessment for future development.

Vascular plants as a surrogate species group in complementary site selection for bryophytes, macrolichens, spiders, carabids, staphylinids, snails, and wood living polypore fungi in a northern forest

Vascular plants were investigated as a potential surrogate group in complementary small scale site selection, such as woodland key habitats in Scandinavia. We compared the response of vascular plants to environmental gradients to that of seven other plant, fungal and animal groups within a forest reserve in western Norway using data from 59 plots of 0.25 ha. We also examined whether the spatial changes in species (beta-2 index) of vascular plants matched that of the other groups. All seven groups responded to the same gradients in nutrient richness and humidity as the vascular plants. Furthermore, changes in species composition of vascular plants were reflected in comparable degrees of change among the “target“ groups. The lower the degree of change in species composition between plots in the “target“ groups relative to that of vascular plants, the higher the percentage “target“ species encompassed in a complementary selection of sites based on vascular plants. We conclude that in practical site selection of small scale sites of conservation value, such as woodland key habitats, vascular plants may be used in combination with an inventory of important habitats for rare and/or redlisted forest species, such as dead wood, old trees, deciduous trees, and cliffs.

Characterizing woodland caribou habitat in sub-boreal and boreal forests

Woodland caribou ( Rangifer tarandus caribou) are sensitive to changes in understory vegetation resulting from forest harvesting and are, therefore, of special concern for foresters and habitat biologists. Effective management of this species requires reliable habitat inventories which, because of the large heterogeneous areas over which caribou range, can be costly. We used Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery and digital elevation data to identify 23 vegetative cover types across the 5100 km 2 range of the Wolverine caribou herd of northcentral British Columbia, Canada. The classification was augmented with available geographical information system (GIS) data for a total of 27 cover types. We achieved an overall accuracy of 76.7% based on known ground samples; however, accuracy varied according to cover type. Considering the size of the study area, the procedure we employed was relatively cost effective and efficient. We discuss the advantages of such an approach for wildlife-habitat studies reliant on large-scale vegetation maps.

The management and conservation of machair vegetation

Summary The nature and distribution of the machair sand dune plant communities of the north and west of Scotland are reviewed, emphasising their botanical interest for conservation. Recent conservation initiatives are discussed, particularly the Machair Habitat Action Plan (HAP) and the existing Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme. Research into phytosociology and habitat inventory has revealed significant new machair vegetation types and the relevance of the results to provision of information for conservation planning and decision-making is evaluated. Successful conservation depends on three important issues: current crofting practices and trends, past machair management, and the dynamic interactions between ecology and geomorphology. Research into the functioning and dynamics of machair communities is very limited. Research into post-disturbance vegetation recolonisation following cultivation is described, along with information on seed banks/seed rain and the effects of repeated burial on the ...

THE HIGH-ELEVATION POPULATION OF MOUNTAIN PLOVERS IN COLORADO

Abstract We surveyed a discrete population of Mountain Plovers (Charadrius montanus) in South Park, Park County, Colorado, to determine the size and relative contribution of this geographically isolated area to the global population of plovers. First, we mapped potential plover habitat within South Park based on landform and vegetation descriptors. Second, we identified occupied habitat using observations from a systematic inventory of potential habitat from 1995–1999 and from a study of breeding biology from 2000–2002. Third, we estimated breeding densities within a framework designed specifically for distance sampling. We mapped 82 750 ha of potential habitat. We recorded 2516 plover locations from which we estimated 29 176 ha of occupied habitat. We estimated densities for 14 960 ha of potential habitat. Average plover density from 2000–2002 was 7.9 ± 0.9 (SE) breeding adults km−2, a high value compared with other sites. We calculated a population of 1187 ± 140 (SE) plovers in the distance sampling are...