ESRM 450Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

FOREST PATTERN

Managing Stands, Landscapes, and Habitat

Are these forest patterns good or bad wildlife habitat?

Landforms and climate affect forest patterns

Predictable spatial patterns

Landforms and climate affect forest patterns

Riparian systems have distinctive landform –

vegetation patterns

Scale measures or quantifies differences among observations

Extent (or range) describes the realized scope of a phenomenon or entity of interest

Grain (or resolution) describes how finely observations within the extent are divided or distinguished

Grain varies as a function of natural and human-caused factors

How does grain

affect habitat?

Forest loss Heterogeneity can be

vs. retained through awareness

fragmentation of landscape features

Habitat loss and fragmentation patterns

Edge habitat increases rapidly as fragment size decreases

Riparian forests have linear features but with variability in habitat configuration

Channel configuration affects riparian buffers

Spatial complexity varies as a function of cutting pattern

What are the implications for habitat?

Patch size in the Cascade Range

Riparian buffers determine spatial complexity

Willamette NF forest plan

Northwest Forest Plan riparian reserves

What are the implications for habitat, fire disturbance?

What kinds of data would you collect to characterize habitat in this landscape?

How do you quantify populations of highly mobile organisms in a patchy landscape?