MAP 3 : Georeferenced data for ALL sightings combined with georeferenced data for Ashy Starling

MAP 3 : Georeferenced data for ALL sightings combined with georeferenced data for Ashy Starling.

The use of georeferenced data, all species observed within 500m of a GPS location, has revolutionised the quality of data being collected for the Atlas. Combined with altitude and vegetation profiles this data will provide accurate habitat usage within the range of the species. Understanding this area of occupancy for any species is of the utmost importance in defining status, trends and threats. Using this ground-truthed data with satellite derived variables will enable computer modelling of species habitat requirements. Essential for understanding the ecological requirements of the rarer, most threatened species.

The yellow circles on this map represent all the GPS data entered in the Atlas. Some of these locations are for single records of single species (all sightings of diurnal raptors are georeferenced) so some care and analysis is required to present these spots as NEGATIVE DATA for Ashy Starling. At this scale the spots are far larger than the actual data collection parameter of a radius of 500m and often blend together to obscure potentially important information. Fortunately ARCGIS with the latest 30m SRTM data allows the use of finer scales that reveal movement barriers for species with restricted altitudinal distributions.