Mapping breeding bird species richness at management‐relevant resolutions across the United States

• DOI: 10.1002/eap.2624
• Publication Date: 2022-04-11T14:11:49Z
• Authors: Kathleen A. Carroll; Laura S. Farwell; Anna M. Pidgeon; Elena Razenkova; David Gudex‐Cross; David P. Helmers; Katarzyna E. Lewi...; Paul R. Elsen; Volker C. Radeloff
• Keywords: Birds; 0106 biological sciences; Animals; Humans; Human Activities; Biodiversity; 14. Life underwater; 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; Ecosystem; United States

Abstract Human activities alter ecosystems everywhere, causing rapid biodiversity loss and biotic homogenization. These losses necessitate coordinated conservation actions guided by species distribution spatial data that cover large areas yet have fine‐enough resolution to be management‐relevant (i.e., ≤5 km). However, most products are too coarse for management or only available small areas. Furthermore, many maps generated assessment do not explicitly quantify the inherent tradeoff between accuracy when predicting patterns. Our goals were generate predictive models of overall breeding bird richness different guilds based on nine functional life‐history‐based traits across conterminous United States at three resolutions (0.5, 2.5, 5 km) and, hence, relevance resulting maps. We summarized 18 years North American Breeding Bird Survey (1992–2019) modeled using random forests, including 66 predictor variables (describing climate, vegetation, geomorphology, anthropogenic conditions), 20 which we newly derived. Among resolutions, percentage variance explained ranged from 27% 60% (median = 54%; mean 57%) 12% 87% 61%; 58%) our guilds. Overall guild‐specific best 5‐km ~24 explained, symmetric absolute error, root square error values. 2.5‐km‐resolution almost as accurate provided more spatially detailed information, is why recommend them applications. results represent first consistent, occurrence‐based, nationwide with a thorough also enough inform local decisions. More broadly, findings highlight importance considering tradeoffs create