Synopsis:
Researchers measured the effects of grassland amount and fragmentation on upland and wetland songbird and duck densities and nest success across 16 landscapes in southern Alberta. By comparing these landscape-level effects with local-scale responses, including distance to various edges and vegetation characteristics, the study demonstrated that few species were in fact influenced by grassland amount or fragmentation. In contrast, distance to edge and local vegetation characteristics had significant effects on densities and nest success of many species. Landscape level effects were much less apparent when local characteristics were included in the models. Therefore, researchers concluded that local habitat management is more important for ensuring adequate reproduction of these species.
Conclusions:
Due to a combination of spatial heterogeneity in landscape characteristics (presence of wetlands and lakes, underlying geology, etc.) and scale-related processes, boreal catchments can be expected to experience high spatial variability in water chemistry
Thresholds/Learnings:
