Development of landscape-level habitat suitability models for ten wildlife species in the central hardwoods region

Abstract

Decades of studies on wildlife-habitat relationships have provided important insights into the habitat requisites for many game and nongame species. Many species of conservation or management importance are area or edge sensitive, or need interspersion of habitat requisites to maintain viable populations; however, most habitat suitability models do not incorporate spatial relationships or landscape attributes. Our objective was to develop landscape-level habitat suitability models for 10 species in the Central Hardwoods Region of the Midwestern United States: American woodcock (Scolopax minor), cerulean warbler (Dendroica cerulea), Henslow's sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii), Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis), northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), wood thrush (Hylocichla mustelina), worm-eating warbler (Helmitheros vermivorus), and yellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens). All models included spatially explicit variables and relationships based on the best available empirical data and expert opinion. We provide an overview of habitat characteristics for each species, discuss the habitat variables used in each model, and provide supporting reference materials for all assumed relationships between quantity of a resource and quality for each species modeled. The models are included in a stand-alone software package, Landscape HSImodels version 2

The forgotten stage of forest succession: early‐successional ecosystems on forest sites

“…Many vertebrates also respond positively to ESFEs, which may provide the only suitable habitat at a regional scale for some species. Ectothermic animals, such as reptiles (eg Rittenhouse et al 2007), generally respond favorably to sunnier and drier conditions, colonizing early-successional habitat or increasing in abundance if present as survivors. Many amphibians also thrive in ESFEs, provided resources such as water bodies and key structures (eg logs) are available.…”

“…Such efforts reduce spatial and compositional variability characteristic of natural tree-regeneration processes, promote structural uniformity, and initiate intense competitive processes that eliminate elements of biodiversity that might otherwise persist. Artificial reforestation can also reduce genetic diversity by favoring dominance by fewer tree species/genotypes, and may make the system more prone to subsequent, high-severity disturbances (Thompson et al 2007). The elimination of shrubs and broad-leaved trees through herbicide application can alter synergistic relationships, such as the belowground mycorrhizal processes provided by certain shrub species (eg Arctostaphylos spp).…”

Forecasting landscape-scale, cumulative effects of forest management on vegetation and wildlife habitat: A case study of issues, limitations, and opportunities

“…Recent developments in habitat suitability index modeling have resulted in models that can be applied to large landscapes through the utilization of GIS (Duncan et al, 1991;Gustafson et al, 2001;Larson et al, 2003Larson et al, , 2004Rittenhouse et al, 2007). Landscape-scale, GIS-based HSI models can address ecological and landscape effects on wildlife such as area sensitivity, edge effects, interspersion, landscape composition, and juxtaposition of resources (Larson et al, 2003(Larson et al, , 2004Rittenhouse et al, 2007).…”

“…Landscape-scale, GIS-based HSI models can address ecological and landscape effects on wildlife such as area sensitivity, edge effects, interspersion, landscape composition, and juxtaposition of resources (Larson et al, 2003(Larson et al, , 2004Rittenhouse et al, 2007). These models rely on data layers derived from remote sensing and other existing spatial databases or from large-scale inventories and can include data layers produced by LANDIS or other simulation models that represent future forest conditions.…”

Assessing Ecoregional‐Scale Habitat Suitability Index Models for Priority Landbirds

“…Although initially developed to assess habitat quality for species based on field measurements of habitat attributes at the scale of an individual management unit (e.g., forest stand), the recent availability of large-scale spatial data sets and the technological advancement needed to utilize them now permit application of HSI models at scales never envisioned at their conception (VanHorne andWiens 1991, Stauffer 2002). As a result, HSI models that include remotely sensed landscape-level variables are being developed and applied to increasingly large areas (Storch 2002, Larson et al 2003, Rittenhouse et al 2007.…”