NEIGHBORHOOD EFFECTS IN BIRD DISTRIBUTIONS, NAVARRE, SPAIN

This study examines the role of neighborhood effects in the spatial di stributions of selected bird species in Navarre, Spain. We employed a geographic information system (GIS) to organize the data on bird distr ibutions and relevant environmental variables and to analyze their spa tial patterns. Three bird species were selected for analysis: the Euro pean honey-buzzard (Pernis apivorus), the Eurasian hobby (Falco subbut eo), and the European pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca). Selected e nvironmental variables of the study area were digitized to create a co mprehensive data base and logistic regression models were used to eval uate the significance of each variable in the spatial distribution. Th e spatial patterns of bird distributions were used to extract topologi cal relationships and to identify neighborhood effects. Although all t he selected species illustrate a pattern of positive spatial autocorre lation in their distributions, the significance of neighborhood effect s varies from species to species. Among the selected species, neighbor hood effects are most evident in the distribution of the European pied flycatcher and are significant for the Eurasian hobby. The distributi on of the European honey-buzzard is not much affected by neighborhood effects. The results suggest that examination of neighborhood effects is a prerequisite for modeling bird distributions.