Advances in the use of vegetation structure metrics to predict biodiversity patterns and associated habitat use (Invited)
Abstract
Ecologists have long sought to explain patterns of biodiversity based on latitude, area, environmental heterogeneity, evolutionary rates, and other factors. Canopy structural complexity influences the abundance and distribution of species by creating a greater variety of microclimates and microhabitats, which in turn produce more diverse food and cover for a broader range of species and greater numbers of individuals. Prior to the availability of satellite data, field-based studies at local spatial scales revealed the strong role of vegetation structure in driving biodiversity. Capabilities now exist to derive canopy structure information in great detail using a range of remote sensing observations. I will review some recent advances in this rapidly evolving field, focusing primarily but not exclusively on the use of laser remote sensing (light detection and ranging). These data sets are useful for deriving aspects of canopy structure that are related to habitat heterogeneity, vertical complexity and the associated patterns of habitat suitability and utilization by organisms. I will explore how different habitat attributes are related to aspects of biodiversity, i.e. species richness and abundance. I will focus primarily on birds, because they are the best studied organisms, but will also discuss other organisms, as well as the influence of scale and the relevance of this research to species range modeling and broader conservation efforts.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010AGUFM.B44C..03G
- Keywords:
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- 0410 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Biodiversity;
- 0499 BIOGEOSCIENCES / New fields