Spatial dynamics of coastal forest bird assemblages

The influence of landscape context, forest type, and structural connectivity. By Christina Buelow.

Understanding how ecosystems link, connect and function is important for knowing how to conserve them.

PhD student Christina Buelow and GFS postdoc April Reside have just published a paper in Landscape Ecology that examines the complex relationships between landscape pattern and use by forest birds.

We show that bird species composition differs between coastal forest types and regional landscape contexts. We also find that structural connectivity patterns of multiple vegetation types are correlated with differences in bird species composition between regional landscape contexts, however this is dependent on the spatial scale at which structural connectivity is measured.

This is the second paper from Christina's PhD, along with her other work understanding the role of birds in coastal connectivity.

Buelow, C. A., R. Baker, A. E. Reside, and M. Sheaves. 2016. Spatial dynamics of coastal forest bird assemblages: the influence of landscape context, forest type, and structural connectivity. Landscape Ecology: online early. First Online: 11 November 2016

DOI: 10.1007/s10980-016-0461-z