Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide a powerful tool for the
investigation of species-habitat relationships and the development of
wildlife management and conservation programs. However, the relative
ease of data manipulation and analysis using GIS, associated landscape
metrics packages, and sophisticated statistical tests may sometimes
cause investigators to overlook important species-habitat functional
relationships. Additionally, underlying assumptions of the study
design or technology may have unrecognized consequences. This volume
examines how initial researcher choices of image resolution, scale(s)
of analysis, response and explanatory variables, and location and area
of samples can influence analysis results, interpretation, predictive
capability, and study-derived management prescriptions. Overall, most
studies in this realm employ relatively low resolution imagery that
allows neither identification nor accurate classification of habitat
components. Additionally, the landscape metrics typically employed do
not adequately quantify component spatial arrangement associated with
species occupation. To address this latter issue, the authors
introduce two novel landscape metrics that measure the functional size
and location in the landscape of taxon-specific ‘solid’ and
‘edge’ habitat types. Keller and Smith conclude that
investigators conducting GIS-based analyses of species-habitat
relationships should more carefully 1) match the resolution of
remotely sensed imagery to the scale of habitat functional
relationships of the focal taxon, 2) identify attributes (explanatory
variables) of habitat architecture, size, configuration, quality, and
context that reflect the way the focal taxon uses the subset of the
landscape it occupies, and 3) match the location and scale of habitat
samples, whether GIS- or ground-based, to corresponding species’
detection locations and scales of habitat use.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9783319096087
Publisert
2018
Utgiver
Vendor
Springer
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter