Breeding bird occurrence in mid-Missouri forest fragments
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"Objectives: This study was conducted to explore the relationship between forest fragmentation and current avian populations in central Missouri in light of the island biogeographic theory of MacArthur and Wilson (1967). The theory was first developed in reference to fauna of oceanic islands. More recently, it has been applied to patches or "islands" of habitat in terrestrial situations (Moore and Hooper 1975, Galli et al. 1976, Morse 1977, Whitcomb 1977, Robbins 1979, Whitcomb et al. 1981) such as forest fragments in an agricultural matrix. The concept emphasizes area size and distance to a colonizing source as important factors in determining species richness (MacArthur and Wilson 1967). The continued fractionation of natural habitat into insular parcels suggests the importance of the development of terrestrial island biogeographic theory to the construction of long-range biological conservation strategies. Forest fragments in Missouri represent a complicated island system. In contrast to the oceanic island system, non-forested habitats which surround terrestrial forest islands do not restrict movement of birds to the same extent as an ocean barrier. In addition, an edge habitat bounding each forest island provides for another community of birds that can affect the species present. Previous research in the central oak-hickory ecosystem has not addressed species/area relationships. Specific objectives of this thesis are: 1. To assess avian species richness in forest fragments of different sizes during the breeding season. 2. To investigate the impact of vegetative structure, area shape, isolation, and area size of forest fragments on the distribution and abundance of avian species. 3. To ascertain avian species-area relationships, and make recommendations for management of oak-hickory forests for area-sensitive bird species."--Page 3.
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