Exploring the Spatial Distribution of Bird Habitat with Cluster Analysis

Knowledge of wetland use of migratory bird species during the annual life circle is important to construct conservation strategy and explore the implication for avian influenza control. Biological scientists have used GPS satellite telemetry to determine the habitat of wild birds. However, because there is not an efficient method to process the location data sets, scientists have to devote themselves to calculating the scattering location points in the GIS and using MCP or kernel method to find the approximate home range of bird species. This paper presents an alternative hierarchy clustering-based methodology to build a spatial-tree for discovering the habitat area that overcomes the limit of human observation ability. Preliminary results showed that some nodes of the spatial-tree correspond to core range area providing an illusive map to depict the breeding and wintering home range of bar-headed Goose.