10.5061/DRYAD.PC866T1Q7
Botero-Delgadillo, Esteban
0000-0003-4653-7551
SELVA
Escudero-Páez, Sandra
SELVA
Sanabria-Mejía, Jeyson
SELVA
Caicedo, Pilar
SELVA
Bayly, Nicholas J.
SELVA
Data from: Sequential use of niche and occupancy models identifies
conservation and research priority areas for two data-poor endemic birds
from the Colombian Andes
Dryad
dataset
2021
FOS: Biological sciences
bird conservation
environmental niche models
Occupancy-Detection models
Spatial distribution
Tolima Dove
Yellow-headed Brush-finch
American Bird Conservancy*
Agreement #1771A
2021-11-23T00:00:00Z
2021-11-23T00:00:00Z
en
177281 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The lack of high-quality information on data-poor species can hinder
efforts to inform conservation actions via spatial distribution modeling.
This is particularly true for tropical birds of conservation concern, for
which ecological studies and assessments of their conservation status have
received limited funding. Here we use a cost- and time-efficient protocol
for assessing the distribution of range-restricted taxa and to identify
priority areas for their conservation based on a sequential application of
Environmental Niche Models (ENMs) and Occupancy-Detection Models. This
approach first uses available geographical information and niche-theory to
prioritize potential study sites, which can later be surveyed to obtain
high-quality presence-absence data to accurately model distributional
ranges with limited resources. We apply this protocol to identify priority
areas for two Neotropical birds of conservation concern endemic to the
Colombian Andes: Yellow-headed Brush-finch (Atlapetes flaviceps) and
Tolima Dove (Leptotila conoveri). We first fitted ENMs using
spatially-filtered datasets containing all available records up to 2018.
We then conducted field surveys across climatically suitable areas
identified for both species, carrying out a total of 1750 counts to
generate input data for the occupancy models. Overall, our results
suggested more extended and more continuous distribution ranges for both
species than previously reported, but also identified population
strongholds that are not currently represented within the national
protected areas system. Both species occupied a narrow elevational belt
(~1300–2600) of the Central Andes of Colombia primarily on the slopes of
the Magdalena River valley, with isolated populations in the Western and
Eastern Andes; these areas have undergone some of the most marked
landscape transformations in Colombia. This straightforward protocol
maximizes available information and minimizes costs, while allowing for
estimation of occurrence probabilities for range-restricted, data-poor
taxa.
A detailed description on usage can be found in the ReadMe.txt file.