Combining resource selection and movement behavior to predict corridors for Canada lynx at their southern range periphery

Squires, John R.; DeCesare, Nicholas J.; Olson, Lucretia E.; Kolbe, Jay A.; Hebblewhite, Mark; Parks, Sean A.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2012.07.018

Cited by 115 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Extensive work has shown that NDVI provides a reasonable approximation of vegetation density [35]. NDVI is often used as an indirect measure of primary productivity, has been shown to correlate strongly with the density and abundance of herbivores [36 -38], and may further be indicative of predator movements which respond to herbivore density [39]. Our expectation here is that for scavenging carrion eaters such as the turkey vulture, more productive areas would likely attract more wild herbivores or husbandry, or both, potentially increasing food availability for individuals in the areas of higher NDVI.…”

Section: (E) Environmental Data Annotationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental drivers of variability in the movement ecology of turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) in North and South America

Dodge

Bohrer

Bildstein

et al. 2014

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

136

134

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One contribution of 9 to a Theme Issue 'Satellite remote sensing for biodiversity research and conservation applications'. Variation is key to the adaptability of species and their ability to survive changes to the Earth's climate and habitats. Plasticity in movement strategies allows a species to better track spatial dynamics of habitat quality. We describe the mechanisms that shape the movement of a long-distance migrant bird (turkey vulture, Cathartes aura) across two continents using satellite tracking coupled with remote-sensing science. Using nearly 10 years of data from 24 satellite-tracked vultures in four distinct populations, we describe an enormous amount of variation in their movement patterns. We related vulture movement to environmental conditions and found important correlations explaining how far they need to move to find food (indexed by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and how fast they can move based on the prevalence of thermals and temperature. We conclude that the extensive variability in the movement ecology of turkey vultures, facilitated by their energetically efficient thermal soaring, suggests that this species is likely to do well across periods of modest climate change. The large scale and sample sizes needed for such analysis in a widespread migrant emphasizes the need for integrated and collaborative efforts to obtain tracking data and for policies, tools and open datasets to encourage such collaborations and data sharing.

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Section: (E) Environmental Data Annotationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental drivers of variability in the movement ecology of turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) in North and South America

Dodge

Bohrer

Bildstein

et al. 2014

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

136

134

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“…For example, a resistance surface that is supported by independent analysis of movement and genetic data (e.g., Cushman and Lewis 2010) is much more likely to be robust than one developed from a single empirical data set. For example, recent research in telemetry data analysis provides methods that help to distinguish habitat use from dispersal locations (e.g., Dickson et al 2005, Squires et al 2013, Zeller et al 2014). Compared to occurrence-based habitat models, these novel approaches could provide resistance models that more reliably reflect actual species movement across complex landscapes.…”

Section: Conclusion For Connectivity Analysis Based On Habitat Suitamentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating effective landscape distances and movement corridors: comparison of habitat and genetic data

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Resistance models provide a key foundation for landscape connectivity analyses and are widely used to delineate wildlife corridors. Currently, there is no general consensus regarding the most effective empirical methods to parameterize resistance models, but habitat data (species' presence data and related habitat suitability models) and genetic data are the most widely used and advocated approaches. However, the practical consequences of applying one or the other approach have not been well studied. To address this knowledge gap, we performed a comparative study on the implications of using habitat suitability versus genetic data for determining effective landscape distances (a proxy inversely related to isolation among patches) based on least-cost and circuit-theoretic approaches, and for identifying potential movement corridors. For our comparison, we used data for the Cantabrian brown bear in Spain, an endangered population for which connectivity has been identified as a major conservation concern. Our results show that for brown bears, habitat models tend to overestimate resistance to movement through non-optimal areas, whereas genetic data yield higher estimates of effective distances within habitat areas. Therefore, our results suggest that (1) dispersal might be generally less constrained by landscape conditions than habitat utilization in home ranges, and that (2) dispersing animals might be more flexible in their movement behavior than residents are in their habitat resource utilization behavior, with records for residents dominating species occurrence data and subsequent habitat models. The assessed approaches provided dissimilar connectivity models with notable differences in patterns of predicted corridors across the study area, mainly due to differences in predicted connections between subpopulations. Our results highlight that the functional differences in habitat vs. genetic data, as well as the assumptions and potential limitations of different analytical approaches that use these data, need to be considered more carefully in connectivity modeling and subsequent corridor delineation.

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“…In the case of the Canada lynx, the "booms" of these northern cycles may be important for the persistence of southern populations, as the resulting dispersal maintains the geographical reach of the lynx, which is important for the viability of the species (Murray et al 2008, Squires et al 2013. Additionally, cyclic prey species are often keystone herbivores in their ecosystems (Krebs 2011), and major changes to their population dynamics would have cascading ecological effects (Boutin et al 1995).…”

Section: Future Field Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical impacts of habitat loss and generalist predation on predator–prey cycles

Vitense

Wirsing

Tyson

et al. 2016

Ecological Modelling

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I used a reaction-diffusion-advection framework to investigate the relative and combined damping impacts of generalist predation and habitat loss with reaction terms taken from the May and Rosenzweig-MacArthur models. The models were parameterized using data from snowshoe hare and Canada lynx field studies to generate similar cyclic dynamics in the center of a single patch in the absence of generalist predation. I found that generalist predation has strong stabilizing effects for both models and may represent a threat to the persistence of specialized predators. The magnitude of cycle damping due to habitat loss depends on movement rates and model choice, but ultimately results in the loss of cycles. Differences in model carrying capacity may explain differences in model sensitivity to habitat loss, and cycle amplitude may or may not decrease monotonically with habitat loss, depending on model choice. Elevated generalist predation rates at patch edges and in matrix habitat hasten cycle attenuation in situations that lead to increased prey exposure to generalists, including small patch size, higher movement rates into the matrix, and increased prey density at patch edges. Habitat disturbances may therefore have myriad consequences for cyclic systems depending in part on the nature of specialist predator-prey interactions and the extent to which the disturbances increase generalist access to prey. Field data that clarifies the relationships between habitat loss and fragmentation, generalist density and behavior, and cyclic activity would be invaluable in informing future modeling efforts.

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Combining resource selection and movement behavior to predict corridors for Canada lynx at their southern range periphery

Cited by 115 publications

References 59 publications

Environmental drivers of variability in the movement ecology of turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) in North and South America

Environmental drivers of variability in the movement ecology of turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) in North and South America

Estimating effective landscape distances and movement corridors: comparison of habitat and genetic data

Theoretical impacts of habitat loss and generalist predation on predator–prey cycles

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