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Track: Natural Resources and Conservation
Thomas Blaschke
Salzburg University
Salzburg, 5020
AUSTRIA
Telephone: 43662 80445232
Fax: 436628044525
E-mail: thomas.blaschke@sbg.ac.at
Habitat Modeling of Key Species with GIS for a Holistic Regional Planning Approach
The alluvial floodplain of the river Salzach (Austria, Germany) provides a spatially complex habitat for a variety of species of specific interest. In order to create fine-scale digital biodiversity maps, attributes that were mapped included vegetation community type and structure (canopy size class), land use, and soil. The area will become a Natura 2000 area, which is a protection category under the umbrella of the European Union. The databases will be used for a number of natural resource and land management planning applications. The usefulness and limitations of these data for evaluating the effect of riparian forest fragmentation are illustrated through the viability of various amphibian species, functioning as management indicator species. Habitat suitability models were developed and evaluated for their ability to capture known spawning sites in the remaining riparian forests. The resulting habitat-quality maps will be used as input for a spatially explicit simulation model of indicator species
population dynamics, which includes demographic parameters. The analytical, modeling and predictive potentials can supplement traditional descriptive conservation inventories.
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