Result
Layered on top of Slope, Suitable Areas
PDF: Final Slope
Layered on top of TIN, Suitable Areas
PDF: Final TIN
The results show the suitable habitats of prairie falcon nesting locations between Vancouver and Lillooet. Includes Garibaldi Park, Clendinning Provincial Park and Bishop River Provincial Park. (Lower Coast Mountains) The habitats are layered on top of slope data, and the other is layered on top of TIN data. The crossed marking shows the areas suitable, and the purple is a 0.5 km buffer of that crossed marking area. The green areas of the TIN map show grasslands/shrublands. Blue areas show water bodies and the orange lines show main roads.
Discussion
Looking at the areas where there are suitable habitats, there is not much area for these birds to nest. This is due to the requirements of steep slopes, certain elevations and different aspects. Where most of the suitable habitats reside is the green layer of the TIN, representing an elevation of 703-1058. Looking at the slope map, the suitable areas are where the slope is trending towards 90 degrees. This is represented in dark brown. One of the factors I also considered in my study was grassland areas and their proximity to nesting locations. As noted before, prairie falcons like hunting in open areas with minimal vegetation so the closeness of grassland also might play a factor in desired nesting locations. However, I was not able to put that data into my analysis because the suitable areas would be incredibly small with all the constraints. Overall, the MCE model did a good job of locating suitable areas and providing a decent distribution.
Limitations/ Future Research
One of the limitations of this study is that I only looked at areas between Vancouver and Whistler. If the whole province was included, there could be better data and trends to analyze. Also another important limitation is that the values associated with each dataset could be drastically different based on different data from different sources. Climate models also might impact the ways that prairie falcons nest. Hotter conditions might not allow for prairie falcons to nest as they prefer a cooler environment. Future studies can consider that model as well as many other factors like seasonality, precipitation and others.