AN EVALUATION OF FOREST LANDSCAPE SPATIAL PATTERN AND WILDLIFE COMMUNITY STRUCTURE

Spatial pattern is thought to influence ecological processes, yet ther e is little empirical evidence to support the relationship. This study evaluated empirical evidence for a relationship between landscape spa tial pattern and ecological processes. Two landscapes were surveyed th at differed in spatial pattern across five scales of both spatial reso lution and extent, as measured by fractal dimension. Ecological proces ses were indexed by avian community structure. Bird species were censu sed along transects from 27 May to 5 July 1994. Community structure wa s compared between areas at the different spatial scales. Seventeen of 32 comparisons of spatial resolution and four of five comparisons of spatial extent showed differences in avian community structure. The ev idence presented shows no clear relationship, indicating that differen ces in forest landscape spatial pattern are not reflected in avian bod y-mass distributions and that landscape spatial pattern does not influ ence ecological processes.