Planning open spaces for wildlife 2: modeling and verifying focal species habitat

• Published in: Landscape and urban planning 2003-06, Vol.64 (1), p.89-104
• Main Authors: Rubino, Matthew J., Hess, George R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Barred owl; Biological and medical sciences; Conservation planning; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; GIS; Green space planning; Habitat modeling; Natural Heritage data; North Carolina; Strix varia; Suburban development; Surveys
• ISSN: 0169-2046; 1872-6062
• DOI: 10.1016/S0169-2046(02)00203-7

In the face of human population growth that is transforming the Earth, scientists, land managers, and planners are working to prevent, mitigate, and reverse the consequent loss of species, ecosystems, and landscapes. Because of the need to act quickly with incomplete data, a number of shortcuts have been developed that rely on identifying key species for planning efforts. By developing conservation plans for a small set of carefully selected focal species, planners hope to create a protective umbrella for a wider array of species and functional landscapes. In an earlier paper, we described an approach for selecting a set of focal species. In this paper, we report a process for the rapid identification and verification of potential habitat for a focal species. Using the barred owl as an example, we present the process for a suburbanizing region of North Carolina, USA. The barred owl was selected to represent bottomland hardwood and forested wetland landscapes in the region. Using a geographic information system (GIS), we assembled data layers from readily available remotely sensed, conventional survey, and physiographic data to create a model of barred owl habitat. Barred owls occupy bottomland hardwood forests, which we identified using land cover, soils, and wetlands data. We eliminated from consideration bottomland forest habitat within 100 m of a road and within 60 m of open vegetative cover. Patches of the remaining bottomland forest larger than 86 ha in size were considered large enough to meet all barred owl habitat needs. Simple presence/absence surveys detected barred owls in approximately 65% of patches identified by our model as suitable habitat. We tested the barred owl’s suitability as an umbrella for bottomland forest species using an existing database of rare and outstanding elements of natural diversity. Umbrella coverage for barred owl habitat (bottomland forest patches≥86 ha) varied with taxa from 0% for invertebrate species to 75% for vertebrate species. However, umbrella coverage for all bottomland forest, including patches