Modeling at the population level
The Goal:
Use GAP data to predict dispersal patterns
The Issue:
Pollinator bees and bats are extremely important to food and flower production in the U.S., yet their numbers are declining.The Solution:
Land managers and conservation biologists can use GAP data in an Arc-Info database to examine the fragmented habitats, through which species must pass and stop to feed. Land managers and policy makers can also use this data and predictive models to examine the spread of invasive species.
The Example:Gap Analysis of Pollinator (bats, bees, hummingbirds) Species Richness in Arizona: Implications for Conservation Biology
Researchers in Arizona developed an approach using GPS, GIS and GAP analysis to assess the status of migratory and other pollinators in AZ and northern Mexico.
The database was developed by the USGS, Biological Resources Division, Arizona Gap Analysis Project for use in assessing long-term maintenance of biodiversity. Base vegetation coverage was created from Thematic Mapper imagery (1990-1992). The output of an unsupervised classification was, along with DEM elevational data and buffered GPS-referenced airborne video sample points in a supervised mode to classify vegetational associations. Additional data from on-ground plant sampling were used to correct classification errors. With two species of nectar-feeding bats (both federally listed) and 17 species of hummingbirds, some as annual migrants from Mexico, Arizona has a rich vertebrate pollinator fauna and specialized flora which feed these animals. The vertebrate pollinator database will be especially useful to vertebrate biologists will be able to use the vertebralooking for species richness "hotspots" and for conservation biologists documenting the interactions of pollen and nectar host plants along "nectar corridors" for migratory pollinators in southern Arizona enroute to and from Mexico.
The Result
Riparian areas and other migratory nectar corridors for nectar-feeding bats and birds in Arizona and northern Mexico will be mapped using remote sensing, custom aerial videography and GPS ground-truthing . This Arc-Info database will be used by land managers and conservation biologists to examine the fragmented habitats, through which these animals must pass and stop to feed. Land managers and policy makers can also use this database and predictive model to examine the spread of invasive species, especially the exotic African Buffel grass which has been planted as cattle fodder in over one million hectares in Sonora, Mexico. We believe that the ASDM Migratory Pollinators consortium and other environmental groups will be instrumental in protecting vital nectar/pollen corridors across the U.S./Mexico international border and thereby ensuring the protection of migratory pollinators including bats, hummingbirds, white-winged doves and monarch butterflies.
References:
Buchmann, S., M. R. Kunzmann, A. Donovan and R. J. Hobbs, 1999. Gap Analysis of Pollinator (bats, bees, hummingbirds) Species Richness in Arizona: Implications for Conservation Biology, retreived July 14, 2006 from <http://gis.esri.com/library/userconf/proc99/proceed/papers/pap530/p530.htm>
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