Landscape Ecology of Birds on Mount Leconte, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Andreas P
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Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations Biological Sciences Winter 2005 Landscape Ecology of Birds on Mount Leconte, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Andreas P. Damalas Old Dominion University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/biology_etds Part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons Recommended Citation Damalas, Andreas P.. "Landscape Ecology of Birds on Mount Leconte, Great Smoky Mountains National Park" (2005). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), dissertation, Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/68c6-cx76 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/biology_etds/56 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Biological Sciences at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY OF BIRDS ON MOUNT LECONTE, GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK by Andreas P. Damalas B.S. May 1970, Old Dominion University, Virginia M.S. March 1973, Virginia Tech, Virginia A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ECOLOGICAL SCIENCES OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY December 2005 Approved by Robert K. Rose (Director Thomas R. Allen (Member) Bryan D. Watts (Member) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3195595 Copyright 2005 by Damalas, Andreas P. All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3195595 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY OF BIRDS ON MOUNT LECONTE, GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK Andreas P. Damalas Old Dominion University, 2005 Director: Dr. Robert K. Rose Landbirds form a significant component of wildlife resources in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The present study explored how forest structure and composition of deciduous-coniferous ecotones influenced diversity, richness, and relative abundance of bird species and how bird species responded to the spruce-fir community. Using a form of the variable-circular plot method, I conducted audio-visual censuses of diurnal birds on Mount LeConte. I established 212 geo-referenced census points on six trails, which were used as gradient-oriented transects (gradsects). I measured habitat characteristics at the same census points. I used forest community types for each point on gradsects to delineate boundaries. I applied “The Tasseled-Cap (T-CAP)”, a graphic description of the spectral-temporal development of locations, to analyze bird-habitat relationships in order to investigate the utility of Landsat T-CAP indices in predicting forest patterns and bird species’ richness and abundance. I derived elevation, slope, and aspect from differentially corrected GPS coordinates using ArcView Spatial Analyst and T-Cap indices from Landsat TM remotely sensed data for forest community types and each vegetation sampling station using Earth Resources Data Analysis System. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. My results showed correlations among the abundances of many bird species and elevational, floristic, and physiogonomic features of their habitat, both for univariate and multivariate characters. Both cover type and size class (dbh) were important to the breeding avifauna; various groups of breeding birds were associated with either one or both variables. Ecotones along the gradsects among forest types were perceived by many bird species as significant discontinuities. Zones of both rapid and gradual change in bird abundance were observed. For certain bird species, patterns of bird distribution and forest types coincided. Individual species responded to patchiness, vegetation structure, and elevation, sometimes in a predictable manner. I observed clusters of species and communities along my derived zones that appeared to be different. Species expanded or contracted their distributions in localities where the homogenous ecotone was displaced upward or downward in elevation relative to the location of the ecotone on Mount LeConte. Spatial fluctuations were, in general, related to zonal transitions in forest types. T-CAP indices were related to species’ responses to changes in landscape structure and composition. Distinct patterns in vegetation that corresponded with different forest types and zones of rapid and gradual change in bird abundance were observed. Greenness and wetness values differentiated closed canopy fir stands from all other classes. Wetness distinguished deciduous sites from coniferous sites, with higher values associated with wetter conditions. Bird regressions with T-CAP indices as predictor variables revealed brightness and greenness were correlated in significant linear relationships. Patterns of T-CAP values, however, suggested that bird diversity measures in most cases were inversely related to greenness and wetness. This study showed that these indices could be used as pattern recognition tools to make general inferences about changes in bird diversity due to changes Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. in forest communities, to study and predict species richness and distributional patterns, and to estimate the biodiversity status of wide areas on a broad scale. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people who have supported me throughout this phase of graduate school and my research. My wife, Efi, unselfishly allowed me to spend two summers in the mountains of Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP) and many hours on the computer at home and at the Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Environment (LaRSEA), Old Dominion University. During the most hectic job and research phases, Efi was always able to buffer my frustrations. My study was performed in collaboration with a study by my advisor, Tom Allen, and colleagues entitled “Compiling field, remote, and modeling approaches to examine processes at deciduous-coniferous ecotones on Mount LeConte,” in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, funded by the Geography and Regional Science Division of the National Science Foundation. The methods in the studies are complementary. These studies use a substantial co-registered spatial database produced by Twin Creeks National Resource Center, GSMNP. I would like to thank the chairman of my committee, Dr. Robert K. Rose, for his advice, guidance, and paramount effort and time in editing extensive prospective proposals and early versions of the dissertation manuscripts, and in providing me the opportunity and much patience to conduct this doctoral project. I am especially grateful to my other advisor, Dr. Thomas Allen, for his input, assistance and support throughout the whole research project. He and his work on Mount LeConte motivated me to pursue this project. This research project also builds upon years of interest in studying birds that was later encouraged by Dr. George Watson, my mentor and former curator of Ornithology at the Smithsonian. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Under the mentorship of the above individuals, I have succeeded in achieving my educational goals and have entered the scientific ranks of Ecology, Ornithology, and GIS. I would like to thank Dr. Bryan Watts, Director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary and a member of my dissertation committee, for his advice and editorial involvement in the dissertation manuscript. My faith in God provided the patience and persistence to tackle and finish this dissertation. I thank Brian Daniel of Leica Geosystems for providing me with the Leica GS50 GPS unit to obtain the GPS coordinates, and Doug Cribbs at Aerial Information Systems for providing me the Nature Conservancy imagery for GSMNP. Financial support for this project was provided by a grant from The Virginia Space Grant Consortium, a scholarship from “Annunciation” Greek Orthodox Church Philoptochos Society, and a grant from Sigma Xi. The National Park Service (NPS) provided spatial data, as well as housing for summer field work. I thank Keith Langdon of the NPS for logistical support. I would like to acknowledge Dr. R. Naik of the Statistics Dept at Old Dominion University and Dr. Dean Wichem, Professor, Mays Business School at Texas A & M University for their assistance in interpreting some