Plastic behavioral adaptation to human activities can result in the enhancement and establishment of distinct behavioral types within a population. Such inter-individual behavioral variations, if unaccounted for, can lead to biases in our understanding of species' feeding habits, movement pattern, and habitat selection. We tracked the movements of 16 adult brown bears in a small and isolated population in northeast Turkey to i) identify inter-individual behavioral variations associated with the use of a garbage dump and ii) to examine how these variations influenced ranging patterns, movements behavior and habitat selection. We identified two remarkably distinct behavioral types: bears that regularly visited the dump and remained sedentary year-round, and bears that never visited the dump and migrated 165.7 ± 20.1 km (round-trip mean cumulative distance ± SE) prior to hibernation to search for food. We demonstrated that during migratory trips, bears moved more rapidly and were less selective in habitat choice than during the sedentary phase; during the migration phase forest cover was the only important environmental characteristic. Our results thus reinforce the growing evidence that animals' use of the landscape largely changes according to movement phase. Our study shows that anthropogenic food resources can influence food habits, which can have cascading effects on movement patterns and hence habitat selection, ultimately resulting in the establishment of distinct behavioral types within a population. Identification and consideration of these behavioral types is thus fundamental for the correct implementation of evidence-based conservation strategies at the population level. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12365Other titles: Bear migration and movements in a human-dominated landscape Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-124337 Accepted Version Originally published at: Cozzi, Gabriele; Chynoweth, Mark; Kusak, Josip; Coban, Emrah; Coban, Aysegül; Ozgul, Arpat; Sekercioglu, Cagan H (2016). Anthropogenic food resources foster the coexistence of distinct life history strategies: year-round sedentary and migratory brown bears. Journal of Zoology, 300 (2) ABSTRACT: 15Plastic behavioral adaptation to human activities can result in the enhancement and 16 establishment of distinct behavioral types within a population. Such inter-individual 17 behavioral variations, if unaccounted for, can lead to biases in our understanding of species' 18 feeding habits, movement pattern, and habitat selection. We tracked the movements of 16 19 adult brown bears in a small and isolated population in northeast Turkey to i) identify inter-20 individual behavioral variations associated with the use of a garbage dump and ii) to examine 21 how these variations influenced ranging patterns, movements behavior and habitat selection. 22We identified two remarkably distinct behavioral types: bears that regularly visited the dump 23and remained sedentary year-rou...

Camera traps have become an important research tool for both conservation biologists and wildlife managers. Recent advances in spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) methods have increasingly put camera traps at the forefront of population monitoring programs. These methods allow for benchmark analysis of species density without the need for invasive fieldwork techniques. We conducted a review of SECR studies using camera traps to summarize the current focus of these investigations, as well as provide recommendations for future studies and identify areas in need of future investigation. Our analysis shows a strong bias in species preference, with a large proportion of studies focusing on large felids, many of which provide the only baseline estimates of population density for these species. Furthermore, we found that a majority of studies produced density estimates that may not be precise enough for long-term population monitoring. We recommend simulation and power analysis be conducted before initiating any particular study design and provide examples using readily available software. Furthermore, we show that precision can be increased by including a larger study area that will subsequently increase the number of individuals photo-captured. As many current studies lack the resources or manpower to accomplish such an increase in effort, we recommend that researchers incorporate new technologies such as machine-learning, web-based data entry, and online deployment management into their study design. We also cautiously recommend the potential of citizen science to help address these study design concerns. In addition, modifications in SECR model development to include species that have only a subset of individuals available for individual identification (often called mark-resight models), can extend the process of explicit density estimation through camera trapping to species not individually identifiable.

Descended from the wild goat (C. aegagrus) from central Asia (Zeder and Hesse 2000), domestic goats (Capra hircus) have been introduced to islands worldwide. The original purpose of insular domestic goat introductions was likely for sailors to populate oceanic islands with a food source to access during later voyages (Campbell and Donlan 2005). Released domesticated goats can quickly develop self-perpetuating feral populations given their ability to survive in a variety of habitats, on a wide variety of forage, and with limited water. Goats have been considered by some to be "the single most destructive herbivore" introduced to island ecosystems globally (King 1985:3). name Capra hircus (Linnaeus, 1758) Synonyms: Capra hircus, Capra hircus aegagrus, Capra aegagrus hircus. Common names: briar goat, brush goat, feral goat, goat, hill goat, scrub goat, Spanish goat, wood goat. description and account of variation Goats are even-toed hoofed ungulates of the order Artiodactyla and have been considered to comprise from one to nine species (Shackleton and Shank 1984 and references therein). Feral goats on Pacific islands (Figure 1) are assumed to have been introduced by European sailors as a food source and are, therefore, most likely derived from continental European domestic goat breeds. Feral goats exhibit substantial intraspecific variation and are sexually dimorphic. Generally, males are 20% larger and have larger horns than females (Fleming 2004). Both males and females have

The use of remote sensing in ecosystem management has transformed how land managers, practitioners, and policymakers evaluate ecosystem loss, gain, and change at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Less developed is the use of these spatial tools for planning, implementing, and evaluating ecosystem restoration projects and especially so in multifunctional landscapes. We use a case study approach in a multistakeholder tropical dryland restoration project to highlight the potential of remotely sensed products to quantitatively and economically guide often conflicting restoration priorities with stakeholder objectives. High‐resolution digital elevation models derived from an airborne remote sensing platform informed land managers tasked with endangered species restoration by guiding their efforts to highly suitable areas of the landscape where plant growth, performance, and survival should be greater. In turn, satellite‐based monitoring offered a temporal approach to broadly quantify vegetation fire risk in order to restrict fire promoting activities in dry landscapes most modified by fire promoting invasive grasses. Together, the delineation of high suitability areas for plant‐based restoration and low suitability areas for wildfire management ultimately releases moderate suitability land for alternative land uses deemed important in multistakeholder landscapes. We review the benefits of using remotely sensed data for restoration planning, and highlight the costs and benefits of various data sources.