Modeling Fence Location and Density at a Regional Scale for Use in Wildlife Management

Poor, Erin E.; Jakes, Andrew F.; Suitor, Mike

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083912

Cited by 24 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…, Poor et al. ). Despite the widespread abundance of fences, their impacts on wildlife have received far less attention than any other anthropogenic feature (Flesch et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, Poor et al. ). Without a clear understanding of where fences are on the landscape, it becomes impossible to manage the impacts fences have on ungulates and ensure that functional connectivity between seasonal ranges persists.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, Poor et al. ), which would translate to lower fence densities during the winter for resident animals compared to migrants. Alternatively, during winter snow can accumulate along fences making a once permeable fence impassable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…) and a map output of predicted fence locations for the Montana portion of our study area (Poor et al. ) to create our seamless layer of fence locations. Fence locations were unavailable in the Saskatchewan portion of our study area.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, Poor et al. ). Fences are among the most dominant anthropogenic features and may far exceed road densities in these landscapes (Jakes et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fences reduce habitat for a partially migratory ungulate in the Northern Sagebrush Steppe

et al. 2019

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Few studies have examined differential responses of partially migratory ungulates to human development or activity, where some individuals in a population migrate and others do not. Yet understanding how animals with different movement tactics respond to anthropogenic disturbance is key to sustaining global ungulate migrations. We examined seasonal resource selection of a partially migratory population of pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) in the Northern Sagebrush Steppe of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Montana from 2003 to 2011. We developed step‐selection functions (SSF) for migrant and resident pronghorn during the summer and winter at two spatial scales (second order and third order) and then integrated SSFs across scales to estimate pronghorn responses to fences and subsequent habitat loss from these features while accounting for responses to other resource use. Both migrant and resident pronghorn showed the strongest responses to natural and anthropogenic features at the second order and weaker responses at the third order. Selection responses of migrant and residents differed the most in response to normalized difference vegetation index, topography, and anthropogenic features. Seasonally, selection for intermediate greenness was strongest in summer, whereas avoidance of roads strongly influenced winter resource selection of both tactics. Both migrant and resident pronghorn showed strong avoidance of fencing at both spatial scales during summer and winter. Model predictions with complete removal of fences from the landscape (i.e., natural conditions) predicted an increase in the area of high‐quality habitat of 16–38%. In contrast, doubling fence density on the landscape decreased the amount of high‐quality habitat by 1–11% and increased low‐quality habitat by 13–21%. Our results suggest that pronghorn winter and summer ranges can be improved by reducing the density of fences on the landscape, or mitigation measures to enhance fence crossings, to alleviate the indirect loss of habitat for this important endemic prairie species.

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“…, Poor et al. ). Despite the widespread abundance of fences, their impacts on wildlife have received far less attention than any other anthropogenic feature (Flesch et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, Poor et al. ). Fences are among the most dominant anthropogenic features and may far exceed road densities in these landscapes (Jakes et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fences reduce habitat for a partially migratory ungulate in the Northern Sagebrush Steppe

et al. 2019

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Climatically robust multiscale species distribution models to support pronghorn recovery in California

Bean,

Butterfield,

Howard

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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We combined two climate‐based distribution models with three finer‐scale suitability models to identify habitat for pronghorn recovery in California now and into the future. We used a consensus approach to identify areas of suitable climate now and future for pronghorn in California. We compared the results of climate models from two separate hypotheses about their historical ecology in the state. Under the migration hypothesis, pronghorn were expected to be limited climatically by extreme cold in winter and extreme heat in summer; under the niche reduction hypothesis, historical pronghorn of distribution would have better represented the climatic limitations of the species. We combined occurrences from GPS collars distributed across three populations of pronghorn in the state to create three distinct habitat suitability models: (1) an ensemble model using random forests, Maxent, classification and regression Trees, and a generalized linear model; (2) a step selection function; and (3) an expert‐driven model. We evaluated consensus among both the climate models and the suitability models to prioritize areas for, and evaluate the prospects of, pronghorn recovery. Climate suitability for pronghorn in the future depends heavily on model assumptions. Under the migration hypothesis, our model predicted that there will be no suitable climate in California in the future. Under the niche reduction hypothesis, by contrast, suitable climate will expand. Habitat suitability also depended on the methods used, but areas of consensus among all three models exist in large patches throughout the state. Identifying habitat for a species which has undergone extreme range collapse, and which has very fine scale habitat needs, presents novel challenges for spatial ecologists. Our multimethod, multihypothesis approach can allow habitat modelers to identify areas of consensus and, perhaps more importantly, fill critical knowledge gaps that could resolve disagreements among the models. For pronghorn, a better understanding of their upper thermal tolerances and whether historical populations migrated will be crucial to their potential recovery in California and throughout the arid Southwest.

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Spatiotemporal risk factors predict landscape‐scale survivorship for a northern ungulate

Eacker¹,

Jakes

Jones

2023

Ecosphere

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Effective wildlife conservation requires decomposing the drivers of population dynamics for species affected by anthropogenic habitat alterations. Ungulates are often the focus of management actions to restore habitat and maintain connectivity as they are sensitive to landscape disturbances. We used Bayesian proportional hazards models to assess anthropogenic risk factors that could potentially predict landscape-scale survivorship for pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) in the Northern Sagebrush Steppe ecosystem, where extensive habitat alterations occurred from the conversion of native sagebrush grasslands to agricultural lands. Using 170 adult female pronghorn monitored from 2003 to 2011, we tested the importance of linear features (road and fence densities) and forage productivity (maximum decadal normalized difference vegetation index [NDVI]) for spatiotemporal pronghorn mortality risk, while accounting for a seasonally varying proxy of snow depth. We found moderate support for the effects of linear features on mortality risk as coefficient estimates translated to predicted declines in survivorship of 27.1% over the observed range of road densities (0-1.4 km/km 2 ) and 11.8% over the range of fence densities (0-6.1 km/km 2 ) encountered by pronghorn. Our results also suggested that agricultural areas could act as ecological traps for pronghorn, based on mortality risk increasing by a factor of 14.3% with every 0.1 increase in maximum decadal NDVI in summer (range = 0.38-0.73). Like our previous findings, we found considerable support for the effects of average depth (in centimeters) of snow water equivalent (SWE; SWE depth = snow depth Â snow density/water density) within pronghorn seasonal ranges, with mortality risk increasing by 45.7% with every 1 cm increase in SWE depth (range = 0-5.37 cm). We then developed the first broadscale, spatially explicit map of predicted annual pronghorn survivorship based on anthropogenic features and environmental gradients to identify areas for conservation and habitat restoration efforts.These efforts to highlight anthropogenic risk factors on the landscape will hopefully support conservation and habitat restoration for pronghorn populations at the northern periphery of their range.

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Modeling Fence Location and Density at a Regional Scale for Use in Wildlife Management

Cited by 24 publications

References 21 publications

Fences reduce habitat for a partially migratory ungulate in the Northern Sagebrush Steppe

Fences reduce habitat for a partially migratory ungulate in the Northern Sagebrush Steppe

Climatically robust multiscale species distribution models to support pronghorn recovery in California

Spatiotemporal risk factors predict landscape‐scale survivorship for a northern ungulate

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