Including biotic interactions with ungulate prey and humans improves habitat conservation modeling for endangered Amur tigers in the Russian Far East

Hebblewhite, Mark; Miquelle, Dale G.; Robinson, Hugh S.; Pikunov, D.G.; Dunishenko, Y.M.; Aramilev, Vladimir V.; Nikolaev, Igor; Salkina, Galina P.; Seryodkin, Ivan V.; Gaponov, V.V.; Litvinov, M. N.; Kostyria, A.V.; Fomenko, Pavel V.; Мурзин, А.А.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2014.07.013

Cited by 60 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Henry et al (2009) suggest that a small group of 10-20 animals in southwest Primorye and in the adjacent province of Jilin in China (Miquelle & Pikunov 2003;Sugimoto et al 2012) are genetically differentiable from the larger Sikhote-Alin population. The territory from southern Primorskii Krai (including Ussuriskii State Nature Reserve) to Khabarovsk is a nearly continuous habitat (Hebblewhite et al 2014) referred to as the Sikhote-Alin Mountain ecosystem, whereas southwest Primorye appears to have been separated from the Sikhote-Alin Mountains by human development in the Razdolnaya River Basin over the past 25 years (Henry et al 2009;Miquelle et al 2015). This conclusion seems at odds with the well-known capacity of Amur tigers to disperse long distances (Heptner and Sludskii 1992;Hernandez-Blanco et al 2015;Wang et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic structure of the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) population: Are tigers in Sikhote‐Alin and southwest Primorye truly isolated?

Сорокин

Рожнов

Krasnenko

et al. 2016

Integrative Zoology

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We used molecular genetic analyses to noninvasively identify individual Amur tigers and define subpopulations of tigers in the Russian Far East. We identified 63 individuals after genotyping 256 feces, 7 hair and 11 blood samples collected within southern, central and northern Sikhote-Alin, as well as Southwest Primorye. Analysis of nuclear DNA at 9 microsatellite loci demonstrated greater genetic similarity between animals from southern and northern Sikhote-Alin (some 500 km apart) than between animals from Ussuriskii State Nature Reserve and Southwest Primorye (less than 10 km apart at their nearest point), suggesting that a true barrier exists preventing movements of tigers between Southwest Primorye and the southern Sikhote-Alin Mountains.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic structure of the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) population: Are tigers in Sikhote‐Alin and southwest Primorye truly isolated?

Сорокин

Рожнов

Krasnenko

et al. 2016

Integrative Zoology

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“…Secondly, we examined frequency distributions of the proportion of successful trappers (defined as harvest of ≥1 animal) relative to trapper effort, which we grouped in equally sized bins ranging from 1–51 to >650 TN. Using these distributions, we identified effort thresholds beyond which this proportion remained stable (see similar approach of Hebblewhite et al, ); for martens and fishers, effort thresholds were >150 TN and >350 TN, respectively. At these thresholds, the proportion of successful marten and fisher trappers was 55% and 71%, respectively, and remained stable thereafter (marten: x̄ = 60%, range = 40%–100%; fisher: x̄ = 73%, range = 50%–100%).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abiotic conditions mediate intraguild interactions between mammalian carnivores

Jensen

Humphries

2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Intraguild (IG) interactions are common among mammalian carnivores, can include intraguild predation (IGP) and interspecific killing (IK), and are often asymmetrical, where a larger more dominant species (IGpredator) kills a smaller one (IGprey). According to ecological theory, the potential for an IGpredator and IGprey to coexist depends on whether the direct consumptive benefits for the IGpredator are substantial (IGP) or insignificant (IK), the extent to which the IGprey is the superior exploitative competitor on shared prey resources, and overall ecosystem productivity. We used resource selection models and spatially explicit age and harvest data for two closely related mesopredators that engage in IG interactions, American martens (Martes americana; IGprey) and fishers (Pekania pennanti; IGpredator), to identify drivers of distributions, delineate areas of sympatry and allopatry, and explore the role of an apex predator (coyote; Canis latrans) on these interactions. Model selection revealed that fisher use of this landscape was strongly influenced by late winter abiotic conditions, but other bottom‐up (forest composition) and top‐down (coyote abundance) factors also influenced their distribution. Overall, fisher probability of use was higher where late winter temperatures were warmer, snowpack was deeper, and measures of productivity were greater. Martens were constrained to areas of the landscape where the probability of fisher use, coyote abundance, and productivity were low and selected for forest conditions that presumably maximized prey availability. Marten age data indicated an increased proportion of juveniles outside of the predicted area of sympatry, suggesting that few animals survived >1.5 years in this area that supported higher densities of fishers and coyotes. Consistent with asymmetrical IG interaction theory, the IGpredator (fishers and, to a lesser degree, coyotes) competitively excluded the IGprey (martens) from more productive, milder temperature habitats, whereas IGpredators and IGprey coexisted in low productivity environments, where a combination of abiotic and biotic conditions enabled the IGprey to be the superior exploitative competitor.

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“…), Amur tigers ( Panthera tigris altaica ; Hebblewhite et al. ), brown bears ( Ursus arctos ; Peters et al. ), fishers ( Pekania pennanti ; Olson et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding and predicting habitat for wildlife conservation: the case of Canada lynx at the range periphery

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Ecologists and managers are motivated to predict the distribution of animals across landscapes as well as understand the mechanisms giving rise to that distribution. Satisfying this motivation requires an integrated framework that characterizes multi-scale habitat use and selection, as well as builds predictive models such as resource selection functions. However, the assumption of constant habitat use or selection is often made in such analyses, which ignores the possibility that individuals experiencing different conditions might respond differently. Assessing functional responses in habitat use evaluates how animal behavior changes with differing environmental conditions, which has basic and applied utility. Here, we combined these ideas into an integrated process that characterizes habitat relationships, predicts habitat, and assesses behavioral differences with changing environmental conditions. Our species of interest was Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) in the Northern Rocky Mountains, which is a rare and federally threatened forest carnivore. Through our process, we developed multi-scale predictions of lynx distribution and learned that across scales and seasons, lynx use more mature, spruce-fir forests than any other structure stage or species. Intermediate snow depths and the distribution of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) were the strongest predictors of where lynx selected their home ranges. Within their home ranges, female and male lynx increasingly used advanced regeneration forest structures as they became more available (up to a maximum availability of 40%). These patterns supported the bottom-up mechanisms regulating Canada lynx in that advanced regeneration generally provides the most abundant snowshoe hares, while mature forest is where lynx appear to hunt efficiently. However, lynx exhibited decreasing use of stand initiation structures (up to a maximum availability of 25%). Land managers have an opportunity to promote lynx habitat in the form of advanced regeneration, but are required to go through the stand initiation phase. Thus, managers can apply the relative proportions of forest structure classes along with our response curves to inform landscape actions (e.g., timber harvest) targeted at facilitating the forest mosaic used and selected by Canada lynx. Collectively, the insights gleaned from our approach advance habitat conservation efforts and consequently are of broad utility to applied ecologists and managers.

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Including biotic interactions with ungulate prey and humans improves habitat conservation modeling for endangered Amur tigers in the Russian Far East

Cited by 60 publications

References 53 publications

Genetic structure of the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) population: Are tigers in Sikhote‐Alin and southwest Primorye truly isolated?

Genetic structure of the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) population: Are tigers in Sikhote‐Alin and southwest Primorye truly isolated?

Abiotic conditions mediate intraguild interactions between mammalian carnivores

Understanding and predicting habitat for wildlife conservation: the case of Canada lynx at the range periphery

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