|
Terrestrial biodiversity
response models
Brenda McComb, University of Massachusetts
Thomas Spies and David Boughton, Pacific Northwest
Research Station, USDA Forest Service
Michael McGrath, Oregon State University
The objectives of this study are to: 1) develop
habitat suitability models for selected animal and plant species,
2) develop "coarse filter" habitat and landscape
scale models, 3) develop approaches for modeling rare and
poorly known species, and 4) conduct viability analyses for
selected species or species groups. This study is important
because it provides species and ecosystem level response models
that operate at the scale of the landscape simulator and allow
us to evaluate how forest policies affect different measures
of biological diversity.
Habitat suitability models will be developed
for over 30 species of selected animals and plants. The models
will be developed in collaboration with Dave Vesely of the
Umpqua Land Exchange Project and other collaborators who are
experts in different taxa. Species will be selected based
on their sensitivity and at-risk status and for their representation
of different types of ecosystems (e.g. early vs late successional).
Habitat suitability models will be developed based on literature
review, screened through a sensitivity analysis procedure,
and verified with empirical data available to the CLAMS project.
Coarse filter models will likewise be developed from the literature
and data available to CLAMS. Approaches for modeling rare
and poorly known species will be developed in collaboration
with a team of experts specializing in fungi, lichens, amphibians,
and plants.. Viability analysis for selected species will
be conducted through collaboration with Nathan Schumaker of
the EPA using his Patch Model or variates thereof.
|
