Chapter 5. Concluding remarks

In the era of sophisticated remote sensing methodology and advanced GIS techniques the applicability of this potential in ecological research is an interesting challenge. For this kind of landscape ecological study, the Siberian flying squirrel seems to be an optimal guinea pig. The species’ habitat use and appropriate landscape patterns are to a great extent detectable from satellite images. This was partly confirmed by tracking radiocollared individuals. The species is neither a specialist nor a generalist in habitat use aiding this approach. Spruce dominated habitat patches can be distinguished in managed forest landscapes and qualitative aspects inside these habitat patches even at a home range scale are possible to discriminate. However, detailed small scale information on habitat characteristics are beyond the highest resolution of these techniques. At a local and regional scale the resolution is accurate enough to distinguish functionally important landscape characteristics.

Findings of these studies are ecologically meaningful and in line with more detailed studies on habitat and landscape use of radiocollared individuals. The advantage of using satellite images and GIS in landscape ecological research is that the scale of observation can be expanded over large areas and it allows the examination of landscape patterns of different habitat types simultaneously. Additionally, landscape patterns can be mapped and visualised for practical forest management and biodiversity conservation planning. However, a more detailed quantification of a landscape structure in landscape ecological research requires a more accurate discrimination of deciduous trees from satellite images than in present study. Also new landscape metrics are needed to quantify the spatial arrangement of habitat patches in heterogeneous environments.

Future prospects of the landscape ecological research of the Siberian flying squirrel call for direct or undirect methods to assess the density of the species in a habitat patch or in a forest area but also estimates of temporal dynamics in patch occupancy patterns are needed. Instead of correlating presence/absence data with a number of landscape variables, density estimates would provide more information regarding the role of particular habitat patches. This, however, presumes relative large-scale sampling of habitat patches to derive reliable population density estimates. In order to understand large-scale patch dynamics and the role of spatial characteristics for the Siberian flying squirrel in the long term, structurally different landscapes should be compared along a gradient to test whether the findings proposed in this thesis are valid. The advantage of modern remote sensing techniques and GIS methods in landscape ecological study and management of overall biodiversity are undeniable. An important future challenge in this field will be to broaden the domain of this approach and develop its use as an everyday tool for ecologists and landscape managers.