IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecomod/v221y2010i13p1674-1686.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modeling the dynamic habitat and breeding population of Southwestern Willow Flycatcher

Author

Listed:
  • Hatten, James R.
  • Paxton, Eben H.
  • Sogge, Mark K.

Abstract

To aid in the management and conservation of Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus, hereafter “Flycatcher”), we developed numerous models of flycatcher breeding habitat at Roosevelt Lake, AZ. For model development and testing, we compiled 10 years of flycatcher territory data that were obtained from intensive fieldwork between 1996 and 2005. We identified riparian vegetation annually in the project area from Landsat Thematic Mapper images, and extracted floodplain features from a digital elevation model. We created a novel class of temporal (i.e., multiyear) variables by characterizing the stability and variability in breeding habitat over a 6-year time interval. We used logistic regression to determine associations between environmental variables and flycatcher territory occurrence, and to test specific hypotheses. We mapped the probability of territory occurrence with a GIS and determined model accuracies with a classification table and a 10-year population database. Environmental features that were associated with breeding flycatchers included floodplain size, proximity to water, and the density, heterogeneity, age and stability of riparian vegetation. Our best model explained 79% of the variability in the flycatcher breeding population at Roosevelt Lake. The majority of predicted flycatcher habitat formed between 1996 and 2004 on an exposed lakebed ∼3 years after water levels receded during a prolonged drought. A high correlation between annual reservoir levels and predicted breeding habitat (r=−0.82) indicates that we can create and manage habitat for conservation purposes. Our predictive models quantify and assess the relative quality of flycatcher breeding habitat remotely, and can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of habitat restoration activities. Numerous techniques we developed can be used to characterize riparian vegetation and patch dynamics directly off of satellite imagery, thereby increasing its utility for conservation purposes.

Suggested Citation

  • Hatten, James R. & Paxton, Eben H. & Sogge, Mark K., 2010. "Modeling the dynamic habitat and breeding population of Southwestern Willow Flycatcher," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(13), pages 1674-1686.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:221:y:2010:i:13:p:1674-1686
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2010.03.026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380010001845
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2010.03.026?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hatten, James R. & Slater, Gary L. & Treadwell, Jerrmaine L. & Stevenson, Matthew R., 2019. "A spatial model of streaked horned lark breeding habitat in the Columbia River, USA," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 409(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Johnson, Matthew J. & Hatten, James R. & Holmes, Jennifer A. & Shafroth, Patrick B., 2017. "Identifying western yellow-billed cuckoo breeding habitat with a dual modelling approach," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 347(C), pages 50-62.
    3. Hatten, James R., 2014. "Mapping and monitoring Mount Graham red squirrel habitat with Lidar and Landsat imagery," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 289(C), pages 106-123.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:221:y:2010:i:13:p:1674-1686. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological-modelling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.