Avian species persistence in a forest patch is strongly related to the degree of isolation and size of a forest patch and the vegetation structure within a patch and its matrix are important predictors of bird habitat suitability. A combination of space-borne optical (Landsat), ALOS-PALSAR (radar), and airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data was used for assessing variation in forest ...

We report that Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri) on Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta exhibited aggregated breeding behavior at a relatively small spatial scale. Prior to clutch initiation, males performing song flight displays on a 36 ha plot were aggregated as were subsequent initial nesting attempts on the plot. We tested three hypotheses commonly invoked to explain aggregated breeding ...

Ability to predict species distribution in a landscape is of crucial importance for natural resource management and species conservation. Therefore, the understanding of species habitat requirements and spatio-temporal dynamics in occurrence is needed. We examined patch occupancy patterns of the Siberian flying squirrel Pteromys volans in northern Finland across a seven year study period. Fores...

Because of widespread habitat fragmentation, maintenance of landscape connectivity has become a major focus of conservation planning, but empirical tests of animal movement in fragmented landscapes remain scarce. We conducted a translocation experiment to test the relative permeability of three landscape elements (open habitat, shrubby secondary vegetation, and wooded corridors) to movement by ...

Although defining population structure according to discrete habitat patches is convenient for metapopulation theories, taking this approach may overlook structure within populations continuously distributed across landscapes. For example, landscape features within habitat patches direct the movement of organisms and define the density distribution of individuals, which can generate spatial str...

The habitat association approach has been increasingly used in ecology to resolve problems in wildlife conservation and management. One problem related to habitat association studies is that they are restricted to small geographical areas within a species’ range, and thus they are applicable to only a limited set of environmental conditions utilized by the species. In addition, very few studies...

Habitat monitoring of designated areas under the EU Habitats Directive requires every 6 years information on area, range, structure and function for the protected (Annex I) habitat types. First results from studies on heathland areas in Belgium and the Netherlands show that hyperspectral imagery can be an important source of information to assist the evaluation of the habitat conservation statu...

BACKGROUND The conservation of species structured in metapopulations involves an important dilemma of resource allocation: should investments be directed at restoring/enlarging habitat patches or increasing connectivity. This is still an open question for Maculinea species despite they are among the best studied and emblematic butterfly species, because none of the population dynamics models de...

Many wildlife species are dependent on habitat attributes within forest stands such as large live trees, standing dead trees, fallen logs, and understory shrubs. Standing dead trees (snags) are especially important because they are used by many species, such as bats, woodpeckers, and furbearers, for feeding and/or nesting. Forest harvesting and silvicultural practices can eliminate or significa...

Classical metapopulation theory assumes a static landscape. However, empirical evidence indicates many metapopulations are driven by habitat succession and disturbance. We develop a stochastic metapopulation model, incorporating habitat disturbance and recovery, coupled with patch colonization and extinction, to investigate the effect of habitat dynamics on persistence. We discover that habitat...