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Additional Information

Landscape Composition

We defined landscape composition variables as those variables calculated solely from the proportion or amount of different land use/land cover classes, without any information regarding the spatial arrangement of land cover patches.

Landscape Configuration

We defined landscape configuration variables as those variables calculated from information regarding the spatial arrangement of patches, where a patch is defined as a homogenous area of a single land use/land cover class.

References

Fauth, P. T., E. J. Gustafson, and K. N. Rabenold. 2000. Using landscape metrics to model source habitat for Neotropical migrants in the Midwestern U.S. Landscape Ecology 15:621-631.

Gustafson, E. J. 1998. Quantifying landscape spatial pattern: what is the state of the art? Ecosystems1:143-156.

Gustafson, E. J., and G. R. Parker. 1992. Relationships between landcover proportion and indices of landscape spatial pattern. Landscape Ecology 7:101-110.

Hargis, C. D., J. A. Bissonette, and J. L. David. 1998. The behavior of landscape metrics commonly used in the study of habitat fragmentation. Landscape Ecology 3:167-186.

Riitters, K. H., R. V. O'Neil, C. T. Hunsaker, J. D. Wickahm, D. H. Yankee, S. P. Timmins, K. B. Jones, and B. L. Jackson. 1995. A factor analysis of landscape pattern and structure metrics. Landscape Ecology 10:23-39.

Topography

Topography, the physical and natural features of a landscape, is known to affect distribution of plants and thus the birds that use them for cover, food, nesting, and other life history requirements. However, rarely are topographic considerations included in habitat modeling. When topography is considered, usually this consideration is limited to elevation, slope, and aspect. Ruggedness of terrain and slope position, two other areas of topography, are important because they influence microclimate, cover from predation, and susceptibility to disturbance by humans. These additional areas we consider in our current modeling exercise.

References

Burnett, M. R., P. V. August, J. H. Brown, Jr., and K. T. Killingbeck. 1998. The influence of geomorphological heterogeneity on biodiversity I. A patch scale perspective. Conservation Biology 12:363-370.

Fleishmann, E., and R. Mac Nally. 2002. Topographic determinants of faunal nestedness in Great Basin butterfly assemblages: applications to conservation planning. Conservation Biology 16:422-429.

Gustafson, E. J., N. L. Murphy, and T. R. Crow. 2001. Using a GIS model to assess terrestrial salamander response to alternative forest management plans. Journal of Environmental Management 63:281-292.

Nellemann, C., and P. E. Reynolds. 1997. Predicting late winter distribution of muskoxen using an index of terrain ruggedness. Arctic and Alpine Research 29:334-338.

Nichols, W. F., K. T. Killingbeck, and P. V. August. 1998. The influence of geomorphological heterogeneity on biodiversity II. A landscape perspective. Conservation Biology 12:370-379.

Renfrew, R. B., and C. A. Ribic. 2002. Influence of topography on density of grassland passerines in pastures. American Midland Naturalist 147:315-325.

Riley, S. J., S. D. DeGloria, and R. Elliot. 1999. A terrain ruggedness index that quantifies topographic heterogeneity. Intermountain Journal of Sciences 5:23-27.

Samways, M. J. 1990. Land forms and winter habitat refugia in the conservation of montane grasshoppers in southern Africa. Conservation Biology 4:375-382.

Swanson, F. J., T. K. Kratz, N. Craine, and R. G. Woodmansee. 1988. Landform effects on ecosystem patterns and processes. BioScience 38:92-98.

Climate

Climate is one of the fundamental determinants of a species range. For many species, species habitat exists beyond the usual distribution This habitat would be suitable for occupancy but for the deleterious effects of climate.

Climate data was supplied by the Canadian Forest Service. They derived spatially-explicit climate data layers for North America from thin plate spline smoothing algorithms applied to weather station data. Their approach accommodated local spatial autocorrelation and topographic effects.

References

Hejl, S. J., and E. C. Beedy. 1986. Weather-induced variation in the abundance of birds. Pages 241-244 in J. Verner, M. L. Morrison, and C. J. Ralph (eds). Wildlife 2000: Modeling habitat relationships of terrestrial vertebrates.

Parmesan, C., T. L. Root, and M. R. Willig. 2000. Impacts of extreme weather and climate on terrestrial biota. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 81:443-450.

Porter, W. P., S. Budaraju, W. E. Stewart, N. Ramankutty. 2000. Calculating climate effects on birds and mammals: Impacts on biodiversity, conservation, population parameters, and global community structure. American Zoologist 40: 597-630.

Root, T. L. 1988. Environmental factors associated with avian distributional limits. Journal of Biogeography 15:489-505.

Thomas, C. D., and J. J. Lennon. 1999. Birds extend their ranges northward. Nature 399:213.

Venier, L. A., D. W. McKenney, Y. Wang, J. McKee. 1999. Models of large-scale breeding-bird distribution as a function of macro-climate in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Biogeography 26:315-328.

Watson, A., R. Moss, and P. Rothery. 2000. Weather and synchrony in 10-year population cycles of Rock Ptarmigan and Red Grouse in Scotland. Ecology 81:2126-2136.