<p> Identifying species occurrence in ecosystems of high conservation concern is especially important in the context of modern landscapes. This study investigated how stand-scale and landscape-scale factors affect priority birds associated with longleaf pine (<i>Pinus palutris</i>) ecosystems. Herein, I compared priority bird occupancy among 12 stand types throughout the historic range of longleaf pine. I found open pine stands positively influenced red-cockaded woodpecker (<i>Picoides borealis</i>) and Bachman’s sparrow (<i>Peucaea aestivalis</i>) occupancy, but were not significantly linked to northern bobwhite (<i>Colinus virginianus</i>) and brown-headed nuthatch (<i>Sitta pusilla</i>) occurrence. Landscape- and stand-scale factors affected red-cockaded woodpecker, Bachman’s sparrow, and brown-headed nuthatch occupancy. Northern bobwhite occupancy was influenced solely by landscape-scale factors. Red-cockaded woodpecker and Bachman’s sparrow were positively influenced by metrics associated with longleaf pine ecosystems suggesting they are effective indicator species. My analysis indicates that using this multi-scale approach is valuable to identifying areas on the landscape of conservation and restoration priority.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:1596046 |
| Date | 09 September 2015 |
| Creators | Hannah, Taylor Idora |
| Publisher | Mississippi State University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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