Animals / Zoology
Program Information
These pages provide information on the status, distribution, and ecology of vertebrates and invertebrates that occur in Montana. The focus is on Species of Concern (SOC) in Montana, but for vertebrates, basic information is provided on all species.
Predicted Models
Two approaches are used for modeling predicted suitable habitat for most species; deductive and inductive.
Deductive models are simple, rule-based, associations with streams or ecological systems. The goal of the deductive models is to spatially represent the ecological systems commonly and occasionally associated with individual species during their primary/breeding season of occupancy (e.g., breeding for resident and summer migrants, winter for winter migrants, and migratory for solely migratory species) across each species' known breeding range in Montana. The assignments of common and occasionally associated ecological systems, and how those assignments were made, can be seen in a tabular form under the "Ecological Systems Associated with this Species" section of species accounts in the Montana Field Guide.
Inductive models are constructed using Maximum Entropy software (Phillips et al. 2006, Ecological Modeling 190:231-259) in conjunction with a variety of statewide biotic and abiotic layers standardized to 90 x 90-meter raster pixels and presence only data for individual species contributed to Montana Natural Heritage Program databases and filtered to ensure spatial and temporal accuracy and reduce spatial auto-correlation. The goal of inductive model outputs is to predict the distribution and relative suitability of habitat during the primary season of interest (usually breeding habitat, but overwintering habitat for winter migrants) at large spatial scales.
Checklists, Keys, and Docs
Publications
Presentations
Videos
- Montana Bat Detection
- Montana Herp Surveys
- Montana Scorpions
- Montana Mussels
- Idaho Giant Salamanders
