The use of vegetation structure measures to improve habitat classification

• Author(s): Quinta-Nova, L.C.
• Date: 1999
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.11/1234
• Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco
• Subject(s): Landscape Ecology; Habitat classification; Vegetation structure; bird community
• Document Type: Conference Object
• Language: English

Description

The methods used to determine habitat classifications are important to planning and management. Therefore, the use of wildlife communities to improve habitat classification is crucial in Landscape Ecology. The importance of vegetation in the habitat use characteristics of breeding bird communities occurring in Évora (Portugal) was studied. Two transects were censured to provide distributional records of all species in order to investigate the relationship between vegetation structure and ornithological abundance. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) was used to identify the vegetation measures with greater influence in breeding bird community composition, using Foliage Height Diversity (FHD) and other vegetation structure measures.