Mississippi Project
A GIS-based rapid assessment of geographic distribution and habitat conditions of the endangered Puerto Rico Plain Pigeon Patagioneas inornata wetmorei after Hurricane Maria
April 2018 - December 2018
Personnel
Participating Agencies
- Joint FEMA/USFWS hurricane response
The Plain Pigeon (hereafter, PLPI) is a large arboreal columbid of open woodlands of the Greater Antilles. It was listed as endangered in 1970 and is believed to have experienced population increases and range expansion from protection from harvest and natural regeneration of forest habitats. Hurricane Maria moved across the island of Puerto Rico from southeast to northwest with sustained winds of 250 km/hr. The eyewall of this large and destructive hurricane moved across was is considered to be the center of the region occupied by PLPI. For this research we used a remote sensing and GIS based approach to delineate PLPI habitat types across municipalities of east-central Puerto Rico before and after Hurricane Maria.