American Marten Respond to Seismic Lines in Northern Canada at Two Spatial Scales

Abstract

Development of hydrocarbon resources across northwest Canada has spurred economic prosperity and generated concerns over impacts to biodiversity. To balance these interests, numerous jurisdictions have adopted management thresholds that allow for limited energy development but minimize undesirable impacts to wildlife. Used for exploration, seismic lines are the most abundant linear feature in the boreal forest and exist at a variety of widths and recovery states. We used American marten (Martes americana) as a model species to measure how line attributes influence species’ response to seismic lines, and asked whether responses to individual lines trigger population impacts. Marten response to seismic lines was strongly influenced by line width and recovery state. Compared to forest interiors, marten used open seismic lines ≥ 3 m wide less often, but used open lines ≤ 2 m wide and partially recovered lines ≥ 6 m wide similarly. Marten response to individual line types appeared to trigger population impacts. The probability of occurrence at the home range scale declined with increasing seismic line density, and the inclusion of behavioral response to line density calculations improved model fit. In our top performing model, we excluded seismic lines ≤ 2 m from our calculation of line density, and the probability of occurrence declined > 80% between home ranges with the lowest and highest line densities. Models that excluded seismic lines did not strongly explain occurrence. We show how wildlife-derived metrics can inform regulatory guidelines to increase the likelihood those guidelines meet intended management objectives. With respect to marten, not all seismic lines constitute disturbances, but avoidance of certain line types scales to population impacts. This approach provides the ecological context required to understand cause and effect relationships among socio-economic and ecological conservation goals.

Potential influence of high‐elevation wind farms on carnivore mobility

“…Although we occasionally detected martens crossing roads, the probability was very low when compared to closed‐canopy hiking trails. This pattern has been documented elsewhere with lower detection rates on open roads and lines that are >3–20 m wide (Robitaille and Aubry , Tigner et al , Slauson et al ). Martens prefer closed canopy forest, especially during winter, as documented at this study site (Sirén et al 2016 a , b ) and in nearby Maine (Fuller and Harrison ).…”

“…Martens prefer closed canopy forest, especially during winter, as documented at this study site (Sirén et al 2016 a , b ) and in nearby Maine (Fuller and Harrison ). It is likely that the hiking trails are not perceived as edge habitat given their narrow width (0.5–2 m), which is within the range that martens tolerate elsewhere (Tigner et al ). Marten space use was also positively associated with elevation (i.e., increased probability of detection on all transect types at higher elevation).…”

“…Montane forest is considered regional climate refugia for martens because of deep snowpack and contiguous boreal habitat (Carroll ). However, high‐elevation (>823 m) wind farms require wide roads and openings that reduce functional connectivity for martens within home ranges (Moriarty et al , Tigner et al , Slauson et al ) and at larger scales (Cushman et al , Tigner et al , Sirén et al 2016 b , Slauson et al ).…”

Effects of Narrow Linear Disturbances on Light and Wind Patterns in Fragmented Boreal Forests in Northeastern Alberta

“…As average wind speed was higher in seismic lines, these features may also be affecting other abiotic conditions including the moisture regime of these forests [35]. This interaction of behavioral and environmental changes may trigger unexpected and complex patterns of responses in boreal species assemblages, with potential interactive effects of changes in behavior [25] (including movement [27]), habitat suitability [22,38], and species interactions across plant, invertebrates and vertebrates [26].…”

Analysis of the vertical canopy structure in native forest fragments and <i>Eucalyptus</i> plantations to detect edge effects

“…Despite being considered one of the largest remaining carbon stores of the world (Pimm et al, 2009;Warkentin and Bradshaw, 2012), Canada's Boreal Forest has been threatened by habitat disturbances due in part to exploration and production of hydrocarbon resources (Tigner et al, 2015). Western Canada's Boreal region contains at least 10% of the Earth's proven oil reserves, making Canada third only to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia (Alberta Energy, 2017).…”