Rob Sparks, USA
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Rob Sparks, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory USA
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2015 Conference Paper: Presentation -pdf Video -mp4
"A Multiscale View of Shortgrass Prairie Bird Abundance and Distribution"
Presenter: Rob Sparks, Nature Conservancy
Session: Remote Sensing Methods for Critical Habitat Modelling II
ABSTRACT: "We developed hierarchical models for McCown’s Longspur and Loggerhead Shrike in the Colorado Shortgrass Prairie Bird Conservation Region (BCR). We extended a generalized multinomial mixture model to estimate abundance, availability and detection probability using 4 years of data from the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR) program. Our objectives were to (1) model landscape effects of habitat, (2) model the effects of local vegetation and (3) predict the distribution of the species. At the landscape scale there was strong support for percent grass cover in the top model for both species. The relationship between percent grass cover and abundance was linear for both Loggerhead Shrike,ᵝ = 3.28, SE = 1.21 and McCown’s Longspur, ᵝ = 4.08, SE = 0.97. At the local scale the top model for 
McCown’s Longspur on availability showed strong support for a negative effect of shrub cover. Loggerhead Shrike’s top model on availability supported a positive effect for shrub cover at the local scale. These results suggest that multiple scales are important to consider when developing habitat relationship and distribution models. The distribution map was created using ArcMap 10.2 and can be used by managers to create abundance summaries for any area of management interest and display areas of high and low abundance within the BCR. In addition GIS allowed us to overlay each species predicted distribution to map hotspots where their distribution overlapped.
