Danks, F.S. & Klein, D.R. Using GIS to predict potential wildlife habitat: a case study of muskoxen in northern Alaska. International Journal of Remote Sensing 23, 4611-4632 (2002).

This study used GIS to create models of habitat suitability for muskoxen in both winter and summer in the Alaskan Arctic, and then used these models to detect these habitats in the (NPR-A), which is land highly prized for both wildlife and petroleum development.  The muskoxen habitat models were developed by crating layers to represent those environmental attributes required by muskoxen in each season; these attributes include vegetation, elevation, slope and aspect characteristics, and known locations of muskoxen in the past.  When the model was applied to the NPR-A site, maps could then be generated showing the most suitable areas for muskoxen to use during each season, and these are a powerful tool when communicating with opposing stakeholder groups.  Because of the capabilities of ArcGIS, these maps were able to break the landscape up into suitability classes, showing the landscape as a gradient of suitable to unsuitable habitat as related to the underlying geomorphology and hydrology, still represented on the map.  This showcases the power of GIS to account for numerous disparate factors influencing species presence or absence in temporally variable ways.  It was also designed to be used and updated continually with passing seasons as more data is collected on the muskoxen and development in the study area.  I hope that the database I am building in my thesis will be used in much the same way- to understand patterns and the interactive effects of environment on species habitat use.