Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Quantifying the spatial relationship between bird species’ distributions and landscape feature boundaries in southern Ontario, Canada

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Understanding what features of the landscape affect species distribution is critical to effectively implement conservation strategies. This study investigates how a boundary analysis framework can be used to characterize the spatial association between boundaries (i.e., spatial locations of high rates of change) in bird species’ distributions and landscape features at the regional scale. The study area covers 92,000 km2 in southern Ontario (Canada) and extends from the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence biome to the southern Canadian Shield biome. Landcover composition was derived from Ontario Land Cover data (1991–1998; 7 types) and elevation data were derived from the Canada3D digital elevation model. Bird distributions were estimated using indicator kriging based on point counts obtained from the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas data (2001–2005; 60 species). Boundaries were delineated for both data types using a 10 × 10 km cell resolution. Spatial boundary overlap statistics were used to quantify the spatial relationship between landscape features and bird boundaries and tested using a randomization procedure. There was significant positive association and spatial overlap between delineated landscape feature boundaries and bird boundaries. The number of spatially overlapping cells between the two boundary types was 67 out of 164 (41 %) and 76 % of cells were within 11.42 km of each other. These results were statistically significant (P < 0.001) and suggest a strong spatial relationship between high rates of change in landscape features and bird species’ distributions at the regional scale. A boundary analysis framework could be used to identify boundary shifts in response to climate change and anticipate changes in species distributions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Araújo MB, Williams PH (2001) The bias of complementarity hotspots toward marginal populations. Conserv Biol 15:1710–1720

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atauri JA, de Lucio JV (2001) The role of landscape structure in species richness distribution of birds, amphibians, reptiles, and lepidopterans in Mediterranean landscapes. Landscape Ecol 16:147–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbault R (1995) Biodiversity dynamics from population and community ecology approaches to a landscape ecology point of view. Landsc Urban Plan 31:89–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beyer HL (2004) Hawth’s analysis tools for ArcGIS. http://www.spatialecology.com/htools. Accessed 22 Apr 2011

  • BioMedware Inc. (2001) BoundarySeer. BioMedware Inc.

  • Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service, Ontario Nature, Ontario Field Ornithologists & Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (2006) Ontario breeding bird atlas database. Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa

  • Bohning-Gaese K (1997) Determinants of avian species richness at different spatial scales. J Biogeogr 24:49–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boone RB, Krohn WB (2000) Relationship between avian range limits and plant transition zones in Maine. J Biogeogr 27:471–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowman J, Holloway GL, Malcolm JR, Middel KR, Wilson PJ (2005) Northern range boundary dynamics of southern flying squirrels: evidence of an energetic bottleneck. Can J Zool 83:1486–1494

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cadman MD, Sutherland DA, Beck GG, Lepage D, Couturier AR (eds) (2007) Atlas of the breeding birds of Ontario, 2001–2005. Environment Canada, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Ontario Nature, Toronto

  • Case TJ, Holt RD, McPeek MA, Keitt TH (2005) The community context of species’ borders: ecological and evolutionary perspectives. Oikos 108:28–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman LJ, Putnam DF (1966) The physiography of southern Ontario. University of Toronto Press, Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  • Couturier AR (2009) Characterizing bird distribution, abundance, and diversity within the Land Between: summary of key findings. Bird Studies Canada, Port Rowan, pp 1–6

  • Crins WJ, Gray PA, Uhlig PWC (2007) The ecosystems of Ontario, Part 1: ecozones and ecoregions. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough

    Google Scholar 

  • Currie DJ, Mittelback GG, Cornell HV, Field R, Guégan J-F, Hawkins BA, Kaufman DM, Kerr JT, Oberdorff T, O’Brien E, Turner JRG (2004) Predictions and tests of climate-based hypotheses of broad-scale variation in taxonomic richness. Ecol Lett 7:1121–1134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc.) (2009) ArcMap GIS version 9.3

  • Ferrier S (2002) Mapping spatial pattern in biodiversity for regional conservation planning: where to from here? Syst Biol 51:331–363

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fortin M-J (1994) Edge detection algorithms for two dimensional ecological data. Ecology 75:956–965

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortin M-J (1997) Effects of data types on vegetation boundary delineation. Can J Forest Res 27:1851–1858

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortin M-J (1999) Effects of quadrat size and data measurement on the detection of boundaries. J Veg Sci 10:43–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortin M-J, Dale MRT (2005) Spatial analysis: a guide for ecologists. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortin M-J, Drapeau P, Jacquez GM (1996) Statistics to assess spatial relationships between ecological boundaries. Oikos 77:51–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortin M-J, Keitt TH, Maurer BA, Taper ML, Kaufman DM, Blackburn TM (2005) Species’ geographic ranges and distributional limits: pattern analysis and statistical issues. Oikos 108:7–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortin M-J, Brand A, Polakowska A (2008) Boundary detection in the land between, final report—December 2008. University of Toronto, Toronto, pp 1–26

  • French DD, Picozzi N (2002) ‘Functional groups’ of bird species, biodiversity and landscapes in Scotland. J Biogeogr 29:231–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaston KJ (2003) The structure and dynamics of geographic ranges. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaston KJ (2009) Geographic range limits: achieving synthesis. P Roy Soc B 276:1395–1406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaston KJ, Davies RG, Orme CDL, Olson VA, Thomas GH, Ding T-S, Rasmussen PC, Lennon JJ, Bennett PM, Owens IPF, Blackburn TM (2007) Spatial turnover in the global avifauna. P Roy Soc B 274:1567–1574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • González-Megías A, Gómez JM, Sáchez-Piñero F (2007) Diversity-habitat heterogeneity relationship at different spatial and temporal scales. Ecography 30:31–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Goovaerts P (1997) Geostatistics for natural resources evaluation. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Goovaerts P (2001) Geostatistical modelling of uncertainty in soil science. Geoderma 103:3–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins BA, Field R, Cornell HV, Currie DJ, Guégan J-F, Kaufman DM, Kerr JT, Mittelback GG, Oberdorff T, O’Brien E, Porter EE, Turner JRG (2003a) Energy, water, and broad-scale geographic patterns of species richness. Ecology 84:3105–3117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins BA, Porter EE, Diniz-Filho JAF (2003b) Productivity and history as predictors of the latitudinal diversity gradient of terrestrial birds. Ecology 84:1608–1623

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Illera JC, Díaz M, Nogales M (2006) Ecological traits influence the current distribution and range of an island endemic bird. J Biogeogr 33:1192–1201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacquez GM (1995) The map comparison problem: tests for the overlap of geographic boundaries. Stat Med 14:2343–2361

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jacquez GM, Maruca S, Fortin M-J (2000) From fields to objects: a review of geographic boundary analysis. J Geogr Syst 2:221–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jerosch K, Schlüter M, Pesch R (2006) Spatial analysis of marine categorical information using indicator kriging applied to georeferenced video mosaics of the deep-sea Håkon Mosby Mud Volcano. Ecol Inform 1:391–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiguet F, Julliard R, Couvet D, Petiau A (2005) Modeling spatial trends in estimated species richness using breeding bird survey data: a valuable tool in biodiversity assessment. Biodivers Conserv 14:3305–3324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kark S, Allnutt TF, Levin N, Manne LL, Williams PH (2007) The role of transitional areas as avian biodiversity centres. Global Ecol Biogeogr 16:187–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerr JT, Packer L (1997) Habitat heterogeneity as a determinant of mammal species richness in high-energy regions. Nature 385:252–254

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald R, McKnight M, Weiss D, Selig E, O’Conner M, Violin C, Moody A (2005) Species compositional similarity and ecoregions: Do ecoregion boundaries represent zones of high species turnover? Biol Conserv 126:24–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McInnes L, Purvis A, Orme CDL (2009) Where do species’ geographic ranges stop and why? Landscape impermeability and the afrotropical avifauna. P Roy Soc B 276:3063–3070

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melles SJ, Fortin M-J, Lindsay K, Badzinski D (2011) Expanding northward: influence of climate change, forest connectivity, and population processes on a threatenend species’ range shift. Glob Change Biol 17:17–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melo AS, Rangle TFLVB, Diniz-Filho JAF (2009) Environmental drivers of beta diversity patterns in new-world birds and mammals. Ecography 32:226–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NRC (Natural Resources Canada) (2001) Canada 3D—digital elevation model of the Canadian landmass. Natural Resources Canada, Sherbrooke

    Google Scholar 

  • Oden NL, Sokal RR, Fortin M-J, Goebl H (1993) Categorical wombling: detecting regions of significant change in spatially located categorical variables. Geogr Anal 25:315–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Odum EP (1953) Fundamentals of ecology. W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia

  • OMNR (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources) (1998) Ontario provincial landcover database. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough

    Google Scholar 

  • OMNR (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources) (2006) Southwestern Ontario Orthophotography Project (SWOOP). Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough

    Google Scholar 

  • Opdam P, Wascher D (2004) Climate change meets habitat fragmentation: linking landscape and biogeographical scale levels in research and conservation. Biol Conserv 117:285–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Philibert MD, Fortin M-J, Csillag F (2008) Spatial structure effects on the detection of patches boundaries using local operators. Environ Ecol Stat 15:447–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polakowska A (2010) Quantifying the spatial relationship between landcover heterogeneity and species’ distributions. Dissertation, University of Toronto, Toronto

  • Rahbek C, Graves GR (2001) Multiscale assessment of patterns of avian species richness. P Natl Acad Sci-Biol 98:4532–4539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe JS (1972) Forest regions of Canada. Department of the Environment, Canadian Forest Service, Ottawa

    Google Scholar 

  • St-Louis V, Fortin M-J, Desrochers A (2004) Spatial association between forest heterogeneity and breeding territory boundaries of two forest songbirds. Landscape Ecol 19:591–601

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Rensburg BJ, Koleff P, Gaston KJ, Chown SL (2004) Spatial congruence of ecological transition at the regional scale in South Africa. J Biogeogr 31:843–854

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veech JA, Crist TO (2007) Habitat and climate heterogeneity maintain beta-diversity of birds among landscapes within ecoregions. Global Ecol Biogeogr 16:650–656

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Villard M-A, Maurer BA (1996) Geostatistics as a tool for examining hypothesized declines in migratory songbirds. Ecology 77:59–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldhardt R (2003) Biodiversity and landscape—summary, conclusions, and perspectives. Agr Ecosyst Environ 98:305–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker JS, Balling RC Jr, Briggs JM, Katti M, Warren PS, Wentz EA (2008) Birds of a feather: interpolating distribution patterns of urban birds. Comp Environ Urban 32:19–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiersma YF, Urban DL (2005) Beta diversity and nature reserve system design in the Yukon, Canada. Conserv Biol 19:1262–1272

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams PH (1996) Mapping variations in the strength and breadth of biogeographic transition zones using species turnover. P Roy Soc B 263:579–588

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams JW, Jackson ST (2007) Novel climates, no-analog communities, and ecological surprises. Front Ecol Environ 5:475–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams PH, de Klerk HM, Crowe TM (1999) Interpreting biogeographical boundaries among afrotropical birds: spatial patterns in richness gradients and species replacement. J Biogeogr 26:459–474

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams SE, Marsh H, Winter J (2002) Spatial scale, species diversity, and habitat structure: small mammals in Australian tropical rain forest. Ecology 83:1317–1329

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Funding for this project was graciously provided by the LB Collaborative, which is supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Metcalf Foundation, and the Couchiching Conservancy. The authors thank the Ministry of Natural Resources of Ontario for providing landcover data, Natural Resources Canada for providing elevation data, the official sponsors of the OBBA (Bird Studies Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, Federation of Ontario Naturalists, Ontario Field Ornithologists, and Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources) for supplying Atlas data, and to the thousands of volunteer participants who gathered data for the project. The authors also thank Allan Brand for previous work on the project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Harbord Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G5, Canada

    Aleksandra E. Polakowska & Marie-Josée Fortin

  2. Bird Studies Canada, P.O. Box 160, 115 Front Street, Port Rowan, ON, N0E 1M0, Canada

    Andrew Couturier

Authors
  1. Aleksandra E. Polakowska
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marie-Josée Fortin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andrew Couturier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aleksandra E. Polakowska.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOC 99 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Polakowska, A.E., Fortin, MJ. & Couturier, A. Quantifying the spatial relationship between bird species’ distributions and landscape feature boundaries in southern Ontario, Canada. Landscape Ecol 27, 1481–1493 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-012-9804-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-012-9804-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation