Abstract

Maintenance of biodiversity requires spatial planning for the conservation of species habitats. In this study, the distribution of the White-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos) in Poland was used to assess the usefulness of a demographic model compared to an area-based model for predicting the occurrence of breeding pairs in local landscapes. The models were applied to the European Forest Map and to CORINE land cover data, two spatial databases derived from remote sensing. We tested the performance of the models by comparing predicted occurrence of the species with actual occurrence in 10 km x 10 km of the Polish Ornithological Atlas Database (POAD). Both models proved useful for identifying areas with high potential for hosting breeding woodpeckers. However, the demographic model performed consistently better at predicting the presence of at least one breeding pair in local landscapes. In north-eastern and south-eastern Poland, expected occurrences coincided with the actual occurrence of the species according to POAD. In north-western Poland, however, occurrence was predicted but not confirmed by the atlas data. The eastern regions are situated at the border to Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Slovakia. These countries hold large areas of high conservation value forests and large populations of White-backed Woodpecker. This pattern evokes the need for cross-border governance, and planning with an eco-regional perspective that considers both EU and non-EU countries. Moreover, the results stress the need to incorporate population requirements when assessing the distribution of forests with high conservation value. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Biodiversity conservation; High conservation value forest; Habitat models; Ecoregional planning; Distribution range; Europe

Published in

Landscape and Urban Planning
2011, Volume: 102, number: 1, pages: 16-23
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

SLU Authors

• Edman, Tobias

  • School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Angelstam, Per

  • School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Mikusinski, Grzegorz

  • School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Roberge, Jean-Michel

  • School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss


UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Landscape Architecture


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2011.03.004

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/46523