Habitat amount and quality, not patch size, determine persistence of a woodland-dependent mammal in an agricultural landscape

Gardiner, Riana; Bain, Glen; Hamer, Rowena; Jones, Menna Lloyd; Johnson, Christopher N.

doi:10.1007/s10980-018-0722-0

Cited by 46 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Moreover, this also suggests that smaller patches can contribute to the amount of habitat available within a bettong's range, which was similarly reported byGardiner et al (2018). Moreover, this also suggests that smaller patches can contribute to the amount of habitat available within a bettong's range, which was similarly reported byGardiner et al (2018).…”

supporting

confidence: 74%

“…Previous studies described habitat quality and the amount of fragmentation at each site (Gardiner et al, 2018). Woodlands at each site are broadly described as dry sclerophyll woodland, dominated by Eucalyptus amygdalina as the overstorey species, Acacia dealbata in the midstorey and with a patchy distribution of Lomandra longifolia (mat rushes) and Pteridium esculentum (bracken fern) in the ground level layer.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Site quality has previously been measured as stem density of regenerating overstorey species (Gardiner et al, 2018). Of the three sites, site 1 is considered to be of lower habitat quality than the more fragmented site 2 and 3 (Appendix S1).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the eastern bettong is a woodland specialist with large individual area requirements, it is able to persist in fragmented landscapes (at low population density) provided that a sufficient total area of habitat is available in the local landscape (Gardiner, Bain, Hamer, Jones, & Johnson, 2018). Much of the woodland and forest habitat of the eastern bettong in this region has been converted for agriculture, and woodland remnants are highly fragmented, especially in the intensively farmed bioregion of the Midlands which forms the core of the bettong's distribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have shown that higher stem density of canopy and midstorey trees (or saplings of canopy trees) is an attribute of preferred habitat, probably because it is associated with higher production of the ectomycorrhizal fungi on which the bettong feeds (Gardiner et al, 2018;Johnson, 1994b). We use HMMs to categorize behavioral states from movement data and identify habitat attributes that influence transitions between those states.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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State‐space modeling reveals habitat perception of a small terrestrial mammal in a fragmented landscape

Gardiner

Hamer

Leos‐Barajas

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Habitat loss is a major cause of species loss and is expected to increase. Loss of habitat is often associated with fragmentation of remaining habitat. Whether species can persist in fragmented landscapes may depend on their movement behavior, which determines their capability to respond flexibility to changes in habitat structure and spatial distribution of patches. Movement is frequently generalized to describe a total area used, or segmented to highlight resource use, often overlooking finer‐scale individual behaviors. We applied hidden Markov models (HMM) to movement data from 26 eastern bettongs (Bettongia gaimardi) in fragmented landscapes. HMMs are able to identify distinct behavior states associated with different movement patterns and discover how these behaviors are associated with habitat features. Three distinct behavior states were identified and interpreted as denning, foraging, and fast‐traveling. The probability of occurrence of each state, and of transitions between them, was predicted by variation in tree‐canopy cover and understorey vegetation density. Denning was associated with woodland with low canopy cover but high vegetation density, foraging with high canopy cover but low vegetation density, and fast‐traveling with low canopy cover and low vegetation density. Bettongs did move outside woodland patches, often fast‐traveling through pasture and using smaller stands of trees as stepping stones between neighboring patches. Males were more likely to fast‐travel and venture outside woodlands patches, while females concentrated their movement within woodland patches. Synthesis and applications: Our work demonstrates the value of using animal movement to understand how animals respond to variation in habitat structure, including fragmentation. Analysis using HMMs was able to characterize distinct habitat types needed for foraging and denning, and identify landscape features that facilitate movement between patches. Future work should extend the use of individual movement analyses to guide management of fragmented habitat in ways that support persistence of species potentially threatened by habitat loss.

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supporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

State‐space modeling reveals habitat perception of a small terrestrial mammal in a fragmented landscape

Gardiner

Hamer

Leos‐Barajas

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Contrasting responses of native and introduced mammal communities to fire mosaics in a modified landscape

Zylinski

Swan

Sitters

2022

Ecological Applications

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Planned fire is increasingly recognized as an important tool in conservation, but other factors such as land‐use change may hinder the ability of land managers to use fire for the benefit of biodiversity. The mosaic of past fires in native vegetation may interact with the mosaic of other land‐cover types in human‐modified landscapes, yet the effects of these interactions on mammal communities are unknown. We investigated the responses of ground‐dwelling mammal community composition and species richness to interactions between land cover and post‐fire vegetation growth‐stage mosaics in southern Australia. This fire‐prone, human‐modified landscape features a fine‐scale fire mosaic in native vegetation patches surrounded by pasture, horticulture, and peri‐urban environments. We measured the composition of land‐cover types and fire mosaics (landscape structure) at multiple scales of up to 1257 ha surrounding 129 study sites, and considered native and introduced species together and separately. Land‐cover composition was the primary driver of community composition: native species favored areas with a greater proportion of native heathy woodland, whereas introduced species were associated with landscapes comprising more cleared land. The fire mosaic also influenced community composition and species richness: greater growth‐stage diversity was associated with native habitat‐specialist communities and fewer introduced species. In areas with more cleared land, native species richness increased when there was a greater proportion of mid‐successional vegetation, demonstrating that the effect of fire mosaics on mammal diversity depended on land‐cover composition. The positive relationship between introduced species richness and cleared land extent was also stronger in recently burned sites than in other growth stages, suggesting that introduced species are well suited to more modified areas of the landscape. Land managers need to consider the underlying land‐cover composition and the potential interactions it may have with fire mosaics and species composition. In this landscape a greater diversity of growth stages may disadvantage introduced species yet an increase in mid‐successional vegetation in more modified areas would be likely to benefit native mammal communities. Our study highlights that fire management may need to be tailored depending on the context of land use and the species of interest.

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Home range size scales to habitat amount and increasing fragmentation in a mobile woodland specialist

Gardiner

Proft

Comte

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Studies of impacts of fragmentation have focused heavily on measures of species presence or absence in fragments, or species richness in relation to fragmentation, but have often not considered the effects of fragmentation on ranging behavior of individual species. Effective management will benefit from knowledge of the effects of fragmentation on space use by species. We investigated how a woodland specialist, the eastern bettong (Bettongia gaimardi), responded to fragmentation in an agricultural landscape, the Midlands region of Tasmania, Australia. We tested whether individual bettongs could adjust home range size to maintain access to essential habitat across three sites differing in degree of fragmentation. We used GPS tracking to measure the home ranges of individual bettongs. Our models tested the effects of habitat aggregation and habitat amount measured at two radii comparable to a typical core range (250 m) and a typical home range (750 m), and habitat quality and sex on individual home range. We also tested the relationship between fragmentation on woodland used to determine whether individuals could compensate for fragmentation. Depending on the spatial scale of fragmentation measured, bettongs altered their movement to meet their habitat requirements. Our top model suggested that at the core range scale, individuals had smaller ranges when habitat is more aggregated. The second model showed support for habitat amount at the core range, suggesting individuals can occupy larger areas when there is a higher amount of habitat, regardless of configuration. Species that are relatively mobile may be able to compensate for the effects of habitat fragmentation by altering their movement. We highlight that any patch size is of value within a home range and management efforts should focus on maintaining sufficient habitat especially at the core range scale.

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Habitat amount and quality, not patch size, determine persistence of a woodland-dependent mammal in an agricultural landscape

Cited by 46 publications

References 65 publications

State‐space modeling reveals habitat perception of a small terrestrial mammal in a fragmented landscape

State‐space modeling reveals habitat perception of a small terrestrial mammal in a fragmented landscape

Contrasting responses of native and introduced mammal communities to fire mosaics in a modified landscape

Home range size scales to habitat amount and increasing fragmentation in a mobile woodland specialist

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