Population estimates for the dunlin Calidris alpina derived from remotely sensed satellite imagery of the Flow Country of northern Scotland

摘要: THE Flow Country of northern Scotland is international importance for wading birds, and has in the last decade been greatly affected by afforestation1, 2. Here we demonstrate that remotely sensed satellite imagery this area can be used to make accurate predictions numbers dunlin Calidris alpina, thereby assess impact forestry on bird. The habitat favoured wet moorland interspersed with small pools ; they do not use large water bodies, built-up areas, woodland or agricultural land. We show first 42 sites, as surveyed 1986 (ref. 3), are significantly negatively correlated an index soil wetness4, provided reflectance data from a image these sites taken 1978 before afforestation. then tested relationship using it predict random sample unsurveyed sites. Subsequent surveying 1988 revealed good fit between predicted observed numbers, confirms previous independent estimates loss4.