Land managers are constantly faced with the challenge of balancing resource extraction and environmental protection. Scientists need to arm managers, biologists, and the public with the best available information and tools for assessing the ecological consequences of land-use strategies. Habitat-use models can be an effective decision support tool because they can be developed for a large diversity of species across broad spatial scales.
WHAT CAN THESE DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS DO?
- Identify areas of high species diversity. - Identify areas rich with focal or sensitive species. - Guide management decisions. For example, given the above, we can:
For more on habitat modeling and DSTs see NABCI's latest All-Bird Bulletin. |
In 2006 the Avian Science Center was awarded a 5-year grant from the Managed Ecosystems Program of the US Department of Agriculture. By using our long-term database on bird populations from the Landbird Monitoring Program, this grant will allow us to develop and validate habitat-based models for a large suite of species and provide this information in ways that can inform difficult decision-making processes regarding the appropriate use and management of ecological systems.
Our primary objectives are to:
- develop accurate multi-scale habitat-based models for a large number of species using innovative approaches;
- validate models to determine which modeling approach is best for understanding the consequences of land management;
- provide tools and extension training for managers so that they can effectively use this database to both understand the effects of past management and forecast consequences of future alternative land-management scenarios; and
- educate undergraduate and graduate students about the role of habitat-relationships models as decision support tools for managers and biologists.
Work on this grant commenced this fall, however previ
ous pilot work has allowed us to begin the development of such models.
For example, we have already used GIS tools to map expected current bird distributions across the region, providing a spatially explicit representation of habitat quality for each modeled species. We have generated several prototype maps of bird species distributions based on the spatially explicit models we have been exploring (see figure, right).
Presently we are exploring additional funding opportunities to develop such models in various habitats across Montana and the Region.
Finally, we have provided information on habitat relationships in one additional form. We have categorized the myriad different vegetative conditions in the US Northern Rockies into approximately 20 major cover types, and we can show the most commonly detected bird species within each of those cover types. You can find this information on our Data Summaries page.
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