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Ciarimboli, Kathy

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources

2004

M.S.

Abiotic and biotic surrogates may facilitate the establishment of conservation priorities over broad spatial scales if they can approximate the distribution of biological diversity. I explored the utility of Landscape Diversity Units (LDUs), designed to describe bedrock geology, surficial geology, elevation, and landform on a 30-m grid across Vermont, as a surrogate for biological diversity in each of three taxa: vascular plants, birds, and ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae); I also assessed the utility of each taxon as a surrogate for the other. Surveys for plants and birds were conducted in 53 plots, and ground beetles were sampled in a subset of these (n=21). Specifically, I examined correspondence across plots between LDUs and species assemblages in each taxon. I also examined correspondence among assemblages of taxa. In addition, I explored diversity relationships at the plot level (20.25 ha) between landscape variables and species, as well as among taxa.
Moderate levels of correspondence were found between LDUs and species assemblages; plots that were similar in composition of LDUs also tended to have similar biotic communities. Plants were most strongly associated with LDUs, followed by birds, and then ground beetles. Relationships at the plot level between various indices of abiotic and species diversity varied, but were generally weak; the magnitude and significance depended on which diversity metric and taxon were used in the analysis. Species diversity and composition among all three taxa were moderately correlated across the study area, suggesting that these taxa may serve as reasonable surrogates for one another. These results demonstrate that abiotic and biotic surrogates provide a general estimation of the distribution of diversity, suggesting that they can successfully be applied in a coarse-filter approach to conservation planning.