
Table 2. The effect on guild fidelity of using (1) clumped and divided consumer classes within the species-habitat 
matrix, (2) scalar multipliers, and (3) standardized and unstandardized data in cluster analysis. Data are for a 
riparian woodland habitat. 



No. of guilds containing 


Both 
inconsistent Percent of 
Distance Both primary Inconsistent Inconsistent feeding and guilds 
for guild = No. of and secondary breeding feeding breeding containing 
Treatment determination guilds consumers strata strata> strata inconsistencies 
Clumped consumers 
(152 species 
standardized) 0.31 52 12 7 2 2 S201° 
Divided consumers 
(92 primary and 
139 secondary) 
Standardized 
Unweighed X 0.36 73 0 2 17 3 30.1 
Weighed X 0.52 57 0 2 22 l 43.9 
Unstandardized 
Unweighed X 3.6 73 0 6 5 1 16.4 
Weighed X 5.2 65 0 3 10 } ZL. 


@At least one guild member uses breeding strata different from its guild partners. 
bAt least one guild member uses feeding strata different from its guild partners. 
cSeventeen total guilds with inconsistencies. 
within a potential natural vegetation type can be used in 
impact analysis studies to predict the structure of the wild- 
life community at a future time when one of those actual 
vegetation types is hypothesized as the vegetation present 
at that future time. 
The x and y coordinate values for wildlife species occu- 
pying a vegetation type could become entries in a com- 
puterized data base. A person would determine the struc- 
ture (guilds) of the wildlife community in a particular 
vegetation type by (1) obtaining a computer listing of 
species occurring in that vegetation type, (2) obtaining the 
x and y coordinates for each species, and (3) subjecting 
that information to the several statistical analyses de- 
scribed earlier in this section. 
Results 
Wildlife habitat can be considered in terms of guild 
blocks. A guild block is formed from a two-dimensional 
matrix where the y-axis consists of strata where food 
sources can be found and the x-axis consists of strata where 
breeding habitats occur. A single guild block is formed 
from the intersection of a foraging habitat stratum and a 
breeding habitat stratum. Guild blocks can be thought of 
as a first approximation of the ways in which wildlife 
species can utilize a type of habitat. For example, there are 
nine general ways in which wildlife can utilize the upland 
grassland habitat. Species can breed (B) in the subsurface 
stratum and feed (F) in the subsurface stratum; B in the 
subsurface stratum and F on the surface; B in the subsur- 
face and F in the air; B on the surface and F in the subsur- 
face: B on the surface and F on the surface; B on the sur- 
face and F in the air; B elsewhere and F in the subsurface; 
B elsewhere and F on the surface; and B elsewhere and F 
in the air. The addition of a shrub stratum in a shrubland 
community means there are 16 general ways in which 
wildlife can utilize those habitats. The addition of tree 
bole and tree canopy strata in a forest suggests that there 
may be as many as 36 combinations by which wildlife can 
utilize forests. 
The numbers of strata available as wildlife habitat and 
the numbers of nonfish vertebrates breeding in those habi- 
tats increase as the complexity of habitat structure in- 
creases from grassland to forest and especially to riparian 
forest (Fig. 4). Riparian communities may maximize the 
number of strata available as wildlife habitat within a 
land section. Riparian communities vary in importance, 
however, depending on the number of strata actually 
present. A forest community present in an arid region be- 
cause of subsurface moisture does not provide as many 
habitat use combinations for wildlife as does a wetland 
forest community where aquatic strata are also available. 
Information about wildlife communities, organized in 
even this simplified manner, suggests the impacts that can 
be expected to occur if land changes affect the structure of 
vegetation. Spraying of sagebrush and chaining of pinyon- 
juniper, for example, destroy the structure of vegetative 
