Relationships between landscape structure and breeding birds in the Oregon Coast Range

Human-caused fragmentation of forests is increasing, yet the consequences of these landscape changes to vertebrate communities are poorly understood. Although bird community response to forest fragmentation caused by agricultural or urban development has been well studied, we have little understandi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecological monographs 1995-08, Vol.65 (3), p.235-260
Main Authors: McGarigal, Kevin, McComb, William C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AGRONOMIC CHARACTERS
Animal and plant ecology
ANIMAL SALVAJE
ANIMAL SAUVAGE
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Aves
Aviculture
BIODIVERSIDAD
BIODIVERSITE
BIODIVERSITY
Biological and medical sciences
BIOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES
BIRDS
BOSQUES
CARACTERE AGRONOMIQUE
CARACTERISTICAS AGRONOMICAS
Coniferous forests
DENSIDAD DE LA POBLACION
DENSITE DE POPULATION
DIFERENCIAS BIOLOGICAS
DIFFERENCE BIOLOGIQUE
ECOLOGIA
ECOLOGIE
ECOLOGY
Forest ecology
Forest fragmentation
Forest habitats
FORESTS
FORET
FRAGMENTATION
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
HABITAT FRAGMENTATION
Habitats
LANDSCAPE
Landscape ecology
Landscapes
OISEAU
OREGON
PAISAJE
PAJAROS
PAYSAGE
POPULATION DENSITY
SPECIES ABUNDANCE
SPECIES DIFFERENCES
SPECIES DIVERSITY
STAND STRUCTURE
Synecology
Terrestrial ecosystems
WILD ANIMALS
Wildlife habitats
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Summary:Human-caused fragmentation of forests is increasing, yet the consequences of these landscape changes to vertebrate communities are poorly understood. Although bird community response to forest fragmentation caused by agricultural or urban development has been well studied, we have little understanding of these dynamics in landscapes undergoing intensive forest management, where late-seral forest stands are separated by younger forest stands of varying ages and are part of a spatially and temporally dynamic forest landscape. We investigated the relationship between landscape structure and breeding bird abundance in the central Oregon Coast Range. We sampled vegetation and birds in 30 landscapes (250-300 ha) distributed equally among three basins. Landscapes represented a range in structure based on the proportion of the landscape in a late-seral forest condition and the spatial configuration of that forest condition within the landscape. We computed a variety of landscape metrics from digital vegetation cover maps for each landscape. Using analysis of variance and regression procedures, we quantified the independent effects of habitat area and configuration on 15 bird species associated with late-seral forest. Species varied dramatically in the strength and nature of the relationship between abundance and several gradients in habitat area and configuration at the landscape scale. Landscape structure (composition and configuration) typically explained
ISSN:0012-9615
1557-7015
DOI:10.2307/2937059