Regional habitat needs of a nationally listed species, Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis), in Alberta, Canada

Avian Conservation and Ecology

P²  Jeffrey R Ball,⁴ 

[1] Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, University of Alberta;Ducks Unlimited Canada;Yukon Research Centre;Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta;Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta;Environment Canada, Government of Canada

关键词: Canada Warbler;    Cardellina canadensis;    cumulative effects;    habitat suitability;    multiple spatial scales;    species at risk;    species distribution model;   

DOI  :  10.5751/ACE-00916-110210

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Resilience Alliance Publications

【 摘 要 】

Understanding factors that affect the distribution and abundance of species is critical to developing effective management plans for conservation. Our goal was to quantify the distribution and abundance of Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis), a threatened old-forest associate in Alberta, Canada. The Canada Warbler has declined across its range, including in Alberta where habitat loss and alteration from urban expansion, forestry, and energy development are changing the forest landscape. We used 110,427 point count survey visits from 32,287 unique survey stations to model local-level (150-m radius circular buffers) and stand-level (564-m radius circular buffers) habitat associations of the Canada Warbler. We found that habitat supporting higher densities of Canada Warblers was locally concentrated yet broadly distributed across Alberta’s boreal forest region. Canada Warblers were most commonly associated with older deciduous forest at the local scale, particularly near small, incised streams, and greater amounts of deciduous forest at the stand scale. Predicted density was lower in other forest types and younger age classes measured at the local scale. There was little evidence that local-scale fragmentation (i.e., edges created by linear features) influenced Canada Warbler abundance. However, current forestry practices in the province likely will reduce the availability of Canada Warbler habitat over time by cutting old deciduous forest stands. Our results suggest that conservation efforts aimed at Canada Warbler focus on retaining large stands of old deciduous forest, specifically stands adjacent to streams, by increasing the width of deciduous retention buffers along streams during harvest and increasing the size and number of old forest residual patches in harvested stands.

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