Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Physical habitat classification for conservation planning in the Klamath Mountains region

Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/rb68xh07v

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • I classified the environment of the Klamath Mountains region into physical habitat types using climate and soil variables and a geographic information system (GIS). I used principal components analysis to find four variables representing most regional climate variation: average annual precipitation, the difference between December and July precipitation, average annual temperature, and the difference between July and January average temperatures. I used soil depth and soil water-holding capacity to represent soil quality. I used the four climate variables and two soil variables for cluster analysis to classify the region into 19 physical habitat types. To test the habitat classification, I surveyed woody vegetation in 97 plots throughout the region. I recorded 29 tree species and 53 shrub species. Mantel tests showed significant correlations between woody vegetation and the environmental variables used in the classification. Muitiresponse permutation procedures (MRPP) showed woody plant assemblages differ significantly between physical habitat types. Overlaying Gap Analysis Program (GAP) vegetation types with the physical habitat types showed multiple physical habitats occurring within most vegetation types, a possible indication of the beta diversity within GAP vegetation types. Wilderness areas covered 14% of the study area, but regional physical habitat diversity was poorly represented in the wilderness reserve system. Five of the 19 physical habitat types had at least 25% of their areas in wilderness, and all 5 of those types were in the mountains. Nine physical habitat types had less than 10% of their areas in wilderness, and 3 low interior fertile types had no area in wilderness. Wilderness areas and Late Successional Reserves (LSRs) made up 40% of the study area, but three lowland physical habitat types had less than 25% of their areas in wilderness and LSRs, and three other lowland physical habitat types had less than 10%of their areas in in wilderness and LSRs. I used conservation planning software to select two examples of more fully representative reserve networks based on existing wilderness areas. One represented at least 10% of each physical habitat type and the other at least 25%. Two-thirds of the region is in public ownership, but private lands would be needed to represent lowland warm fertile habitat types in reserves. GIS and newly available environmental data sets allowed cost-effective mapping of physical habitat diversity for conservation planning.
License
Resource Type
Date Available
Date Issued
Degree Level
Degree Name
Degree Field
Degree Grantor
Commencement Year
Advisor
Committee Member
Non-Academic Affiliation
Subject
Rights Statement
Publisher
Language
Digitization Specifications
  • Master files scanned at 600 ppi (256 Grayscale, 24-bit Color) using Capture Perfect 3.0.82 on a Canon DR-9080C in TIF format. PDF derivative scanned at 300 ppi (256 B&W, 256 Grayscale, 24-bit Color), using Capture Perfect 3.0.82, on a Canon DR-9080C. CVista PdfCompressor 4.0 was used for pdf compression and textual OCR.
Replaces

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

In Collection:

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details VanceBorlandKennethW1999.pdf 2017-10-20 Public Download