Abstract
The Influence of Topography on Habitat Area Estimates Track: Ecology and Conservation Author(s): Duane Haselfeld Measurements of habitat area have wide application in ecology and natural resources management. Area is a common normalization variable used in estimates of productivity, standing stock, and carbon budgets and is also the legal unit of measurement used to quantify the amount of habitat present for the purpose of permitting, impact analysis, and mitigation. In practice, habitat area is generally measured as a planimetric area taken from an established basemap. In reality, the planimetric area is a nonlinear approximation of the actual surface area occupied by a given habitat, since the planimetric area represents a projection of the actual surface topography onto a plane surface (i.e., the map sheet). The purpose of this paper is to quantify the magnitude of error that can arise from using the traditional planimetric method of area estimation. Results indicate that estimates based on planimetric areas consistently underestimate true habitat areas by 5-65 percent. Duane Haselfeld Psomas Natural Resources 3187 Red Hill ave ste 250 costa mesa , CA 92626 US Phone: 714-481-7911 E-mail: dhaselfeld@psomas.com |
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