Jaymi LeBrun
Final Project Abstract
Spatial Stats 406
Abstract
The Driftless Area of northeastern Iowa is a unique place made up of both upland and bottomland forest. Exposed rock faces are found all around the algific slopes over looking the Mississippi River. This region is host to several avian species of special concern including the Acadian flycatcher, Cerulean warbler, Red-headed woodpecker and the Wood Thrush. In 1995 and 1996 a graduate student from Iowa State University collected avian abundance and habitat data. This data was collected on 46 different upland forest tracts located on both private and public lands in the counties of Allamakee,
Clayton, Fayette, and Winneshiek. The sites ranged in size from 80 to 1300 acres and included various levels of disturbance to the forests. Random points were placed at each of the 46 forest tracts. The number of points placed at each site was proportional to the size of the forest patch. Between May 30 th
and July 15 th of 1995 and 1996 avian point counts were conducted for 10 min duration at a total of 197 locations. The objective of this analysis is to conduct data exploration on certain species of birds sample at specified locations on the landscape. Initial data exploration will begin at the local site level and then expand to the entire region. The goal is to explore the data for spatial correlation among the birds found at both site and region scales in the landscape. In the future this work will be used with subsequent avian and habitat data to explore the potential relationship between neotropical migrants and habitat variables in the landscape.