Graduation Term

2022

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

School of Biological Sciences

Committee Chair

Angelo P Capparella

Abstract

The Scarlet-banded Barbet (Capito wallacei) is a Neotropical barbet discovered in 1996 in the eastern Andean foothills of Peru. Despite being fairly common at the site of discovery, its known distribution is limited to two sites, and searching for other suitable sites is difficult in the wilderness of the eastern Andes. Through the use of geographic information sysems (GIS), remote sensing methods, and Maxent, we constructed a species distribution model (SDM) to determine the likelihood of occupancy of the Scarlet-banded Barbet outside of its current known distribution. The model predicted the occupancy with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.961. Jackknife and permutation tests revealed that cloud coverage variables contributed most to this model. The model identifies specific areas within the Andes where the habitat could be appropriate for the occurrence of this species. This will make future on-the-ground searches more efficient and therefore allow for a better understanding of its full range. Such information is critical in understanding Andean avian biogeography and the conservation status of this species.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2022.20230207065834798728.999983

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