Academic Journal
Rangewide occupancy of a flagship species, the Coastal California Gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica) in southern California: Habitat associations and recovery from wildfire
| العنوان: | Rangewide occupancy of a flagship species, the Coastal California Gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica) in southern California: Habitat associations and recovery from wildfire |
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| المؤلفون: | Kus, Barbara E., Preston, Kristine L., Houston, Alexandra |
| المساهمون: | Yang, Yang, California Department of Fish and Wildlife Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund, San Diego Association of Governments Collaborative Agreement |
| المصدر: | PLOS ONE ; volume 19, issue 7, page e0306267 ; ISSN 1932-6203 |
| بيانات النشر: | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| سنة النشر: | 2024 |
| المجموعة: | PLOS Publications (via CrossRef) |
| الوصف: | The Coastal California Gnatcatcher ( Polioptila californica californica ), a federally threatened species, is a flagship species for regional conservation planning in southern California (USA). An inhabitant of coastal sage scrub vegetation, the gnatcatcher has declined in response to habitat loss and fragmentation, exacerbated by catastrophic wildfires. We documented the status of gnatcatchers throughout their California range and examined post-fire recovery of gnatcatchers and their habitat. We used GIS to develop a habitat suitability model for Coastal California Gnatcatchers using climate and topography covariates and selected over 700 sampling points in a spatially balanced manner. Bird and vegetation data were collected at each point between March and May in 2015 and 2016. Presence/absence of gnatcatchers was determined during three visits to points, using area searches within 150 x 150 m plots. We used an occupancy framework to generate Percent Area Occupied (PAO) by gnatcatchers, and analyzed PAO as a function of time since fire. At the regional scale in 2016, 23% of the points surveyed were occupied by gnatcatchers, reflecting the effect of massive wildfires in the last 15 years. Similarly, PAO in the post-fire subset of points was 24%, with the highest occupancy in unburned (last fire <2002) habitat. Positive predictors of occupancy included percent cover of California sagebrush ( Artemisia californica ), California buckwheat ( Eriogonom fasciculatum ), and sunflowers ( Encelia spp., Bahiopsis laciniata ), while negative predictors included laurel sumac ( Malosma laurina ) and total herbaceous cover; in particular, non-native grasses. Our findings indicate that recovery from wildfire may take decades, and provide information to speed up recovery through habitat restoration. |
| نوع الوثيقة: | article in journal/newspaper |
| اللغة: | English |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0306267 |
| الاتاحة: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306267 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306267 |
| Rights: | https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ |
| رقم الانضمام: | edsbas.2A5DDC1D |
| قاعدة البيانات: | BASE |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0306267 |
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