New spatial abundance models inform distribution, population, and trends for forest birds in Canada
Channel: Péter Sólymos
Date: 2020-10-08

Reliable information on species’ population sizes, trends, habitat associations, and distributions is important for status assessment, BCR planning, broader conservation planning, and recovery planning and action for Species at Risk. The Boreal Avian Modelling Project (BAM) has developed a generalized analytical approach to model species densities in relation to environmental covariates. We used the BAM database (surveys up to 2018) and built models for 143 species. We modelled density independently in each region (portions of BCRs separated by provincial boundaries) using tree species biomass, stand age, topography, land use, and climate as predictors. We provide our density results as 1 km2 resolution raster layers, which are used to calculate population sizes and regional habitat associations (mean densities by land cover type). Results are available at https://borealbirds.github.io