ArticleScientific reports2026
Multi-scale environmental drivers of heron and egret colony assemblages in Korea using self-organizing map clustering.
Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Colonial herons and egrets breed within highly heterogeneous landscapes where environmental conditions vary across multiple spatial scales. Although landscape structure is expected to shape colony-level species assemblages, explicit multi-scale empirical assessments remain scarce, particularly at national extents. We sought to (1) identify emergent species-assemblage types among heron and egret colonies across South Korea, (2) determine how these assemblages correspond to landscape heterogeneity across nested spatial scales, and (3) quantify the scale-dependent importance of environmental predictors influencing colony identity. We compiled species-specific nest counts from 176 breeding colonies and applied Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) to classify colony assemblages. Landscape variables were extracted from ESA CCI Plant Functional Type (PFT) datasets within five buffer radii: 500 m, 1 km, 3 km, 5 km, and 10 km. The relative importance of land-cover predictors at each spatial scale was evaluated using Random Forest models. SOM analysis revealed six ecologically distinct colony groups differing in species dominance, richness, and geographic distribution. Large-bodied species predominated in inland forested regions, whereas medium- and small-bodied species clustered in coastal and urban-rural mosaics. Environmental predictors showed scale-dependent patterns: built areas, managed herbaceous vegetation, and water-related cover dominated at fine scales; natural grasslands, bare land, and tree-related PFTs emerged at intermediate scales; and broader land-use variables remained important at 10 km. Colony assemblages arise from hierarchical interactions among fine-scale habitat features, river-corridor landscapes, and broader-scale land-use regimes. This hierarchical multi-scale perspective provides a landscape-ecological framework for anticipating how land-use change may alter the multi-scale landscape contexts supporting colonial wading birds.
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