VALIDATING A FLORIDA SCRUB JAY HABITAT SUITABILITY MODEL, DOING DEMOGRAPHY DATA ON KENNEDY-SPACE-CENTER

A habitat suitability index (HSI) model for the Florida Scrub Jay (Aph elocoma coerulescens coerulescens) was tested using a geographic infor mation system for the Tel-4 study site on Kennedy Space Center, Florid a. The model used suitability graphs that quantify habitat preference with respect to a given variable to produce spatial estimates of Flori da Scrub Jay habitat suitability. Habitat suitability of each habitat patch was dependent on its characteristics and the characteristics of its surroundings. A coverage containing three years of demographic dat a was overlaid on the HSI coverage. Areal correspondence measures and statistical testing were then performed. Correlation coefficients betw een modeled data and demographic data ranged between 0.60 and 0.87. Sp atial residual analysis also showed agreement between the model and de mography data. All measures of model performance suggested that the mo del accurately predicted habitat suitability for the Tel-4 study site.