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Gaston MV, Barnas AF, Smith RM, Murray S, Fisher JT. Native prey, not landscape change or novel prey, drive cougar ( Puma concolor) distribution at a boreal forest range edge. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11146. [PMID: 38571804 PMCID: PMC10985369 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2023] [Revised: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Many large carnivores, despite widespread habitat alteration, are rebounding in parts of their former ranges after decades of persecution and exploitation. Cougars (Puma concolor) are apex predator with their remaining northern core range constricted to mountain landscapes and areas of western North America; however, cougar populations have recently started rebounding in several locations across North America, including northward in boreal forest landscapes. A camera-trap survey of multiple landscapes across Alberta, Canada, delineated a range edge; within this region, we deployed an array of 47 camera traps in a random stratified design across a landscape spanning a gradient of anthropogenic development relative to the predicted expansion front. We completed multiple hypotheses in an information-theoretic framework to determine if cougar occurrence is best explained by natural land cover features, anthropogenic development features, or competitor and prey activity. We predicted that anthropogenic development features from resource extraction and invading white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virgianius) explain cougar distribution at this boreal range edge. Counter to our predictions, the relative activity of native prey, predominantly snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), was the best predictor of cougar occurrence at this range edge. Small-bodied prey items are particularly important for female and sub-adult cougars and may support breeding individuals in the northeast boreal forest. Also, counter to our predictions, there was not a strong relationship detected between cougar occurrence and gray wolf (Canis lupus) activity at this range edge. However, further investigation is recommended as the possibility of cougar expansion into areas of the multi-prey boreal system, where wolves have recently been controlled, could have negative consequences for conservation goals in this region (e.g. the recovery of woodland caribou [Rangifer tarandus caribou]). Our study highlights the need to monitor contemporary distributions to inform conservation management objectives as large carnivores recover across North America.
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Affiliation(s)
- Millicent V. Gaston
- School of Environmental StudiesUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaBritish ColumbiaCanada
| | - Andrew F. Barnas
- School of Environmental StudiesUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaBritish ColumbiaCanada
| | - Rebecca M. Smith
- School of Environmental StudiesUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaBritish ColumbiaCanada
| | - Sean Murray
- School of Environmental StudiesUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaBritish ColumbiaCanada
| | - Jason T. Fisher
- School of Environmental StudiesUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaBritish ColumbiaCanada
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Barnas AF, Ladle A, Burgar JM, Burton AC, Boyce MS, Eliuk L, Grey F, Heim N, Paczkowski J, Stewart FEC, Tattersall E, Fisher JT. How landscape traits affect boreal mammal responses to anthropogenic disturbance. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 915:169285. [PMID: 38103612 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Revised: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/09/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Understanding mammalian responses to anthropogenic disturbance is challenging, as ecological processes and the patterns arising therefrom notoriously change across spatial and temporal scales, and among different landscape contexts. Responses to local scale disturbances are likely influenced by landscape context (e.g., overall landscape-level disturbance, landscape-level productivity). Hierarchical approaches considering small-scale sampling sites as nested holons within larger-scale landscapes, which constrain processes in lower-level holons, can potentially explain differences in ecological processes between multiple locations. We tested hypotheses about mammal responses to disturbance and interactions among holons using collected images from 957 camera sites across 9 landscapes in Alberta from 2007 to 2020 and examined occurrence for 11 mammal species using generalized linear mixed models. White-tailed deer occurred more in higher disturbed sites within lower disturbed landscapes (β = -0.30 [-0.4 to -0.15]), whereas occurrence was greater in highly disturbed sites within highly disturbed landscapes for moose (β = 0.20 [0.09-0.31]), coyote (β = 0.20 [0.08-0.26]), and lynx (β = 0.20 [0.07-0.26]). High disturbance sites in high productivity landscapes had higher occurrence of black bears (β = -0.20 [-0.46 to -0.01]), lynx (β = -0.70 [-0.97 to -0.34]), and wolves (β = -0.50 [-0.73 to -0.21]). Conversely, we found higher probability of occurrence in low productivity landscapes with increasing site disturbance for mule deer (β = 0.80 [0.39-1.14]), and white-tailed deer (β = 0.20 [0.01-0.47]). We found the ecological context created by aggregate sums (high overall landscape disturbance), and by subcontinental hydrogeological processes in which that landscape is embedded (high landscape productivity), alter mammalian responses to anthropogenic disturbance at local scales. These responses also vary by species, which has implications for large-scale conservation planning. Management interventions must consider large-scale geoclimatic processes and geographic location of a landscape when assessing wildlife responses to disturbance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew F Barnas
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada.
| | - Andrew Ladle
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Joanna M Burgar
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada; Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - A Cole Burton
- Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Mark S Boyce
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Laura Eliuk
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada
| | - Fabian Grey
- Whitefish Lake First Nation #459, Atikameg, Alberta, Canada
| | - Nicole Heim
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada
| | - John Paczkowski
- Government of Alberta, Forests, Parks, and Tourism, Canmore, Alberta, Canada
| | - Frances E C Stewart
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada; Department of Biology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario (Haldimand Tract), Canada
| | - Erin Tattersall
- Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Jason T Fisher
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada
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Fisher JT. Camera trapping in ecology: A new section for wildlife research. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e9925. [PMID: 36937062 PMCID: PMC10018383 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jason T. Fisher
- School of Environmental StudiesUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaBritish ColumbiaCanada
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Fuller HW, Frey S, Fisher JT. Integration of aerial surveys and resource selection analysis indicates human land use supports boreal deer expansion. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2023; 33:e2722. [PMID: 36053995 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2021] [Revised: 06/07/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Landscape change is a driver of global biodiversity loss. In the western Nearctic, petroleum exploration and extraction is a major contributor to landscape change, with concomitant effects on large mammal populations. One of those effects is the continued expansion of invasive white-tailed deer populations into the boreal forest, with ramifications for the whole ecosystem. We explored deer resource selection within the oil sands region of the boreal forest using a novel application of aerial ungulate survey (AUS) data. Deer locations from AUS were "used" points and together with randomly allocated "available" points informed deer resource selection in relation to landscape variables in the boreal forest. We created a candidate set of generalized linear models representing competing hypotheses about the role of natural landscape features, forest harvesting, cultivation, roads, and petroleum features. We ranked these in an information-theoretic framework. A combination of natural and anthropogenic landscape features best explained deer resource selection. Deer strongly selected seismic lines and other linear features associated with petroleum exploration and extraction, likely as movement corridors and resource subsidies. Forest harvesting and cultivation, important contributors to expansion in other parts of the white-tailed deer range, were not as important here. Stemming deer expansion to conserve native ungulates and maintain key predator-prey processes will likely require landscape management to restore the widespread linear features crossing the vast oil sands region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hugh W Fuller
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Sandra Frey
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Jason T Fisher
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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Khan P, Eliuk L, Frey S, Bone C, Fisher JT. Shifts in diel activity of Rocky Mountain mammal communities in response to anthropogenic disturbance and sympatric invasive white-tailed deer. Glob Ecol Conserv 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
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Roberts DR, Bayne EM, Beausoleil D, Dennett J, Fisher JT, Hazewinkel RO, Sayanda D, Wyatt F, Dubé MG. A synthetic review of terrestrial biological research from the Alberta oil sands region: 10 years of published literature. INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT 2022; 18:388-406. [PMID: 34510725 PMCID: PMC9292629 DOI: 10.1002/ieam.4519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Revised: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
In the past decade, a large volume of peer-reviewed papers has examined the potential impacts of oil and gas resource extraction in the Canadian oil sands (OS). A large proportion focuses on terrestrial biology: wildlife, birds, and vegetation. We provide a qualitative synthesis of the condition of the environment in the oil sands region (OSR) from 2009 to 2020 to identify gaps and progress cumulative effects assessments. Our objectives were to (1) qualitatively synthesize and critically review knowledge from the OSR; (2) identify consistent trends and generalizable conclusions; and (3) pinpoint gaps in need of greater monitoring or research effort. We visualize knowledge and terrestrial monitoring foci by allocating papers to a conceptual model for the OS. Despite a recent increase in publications, focus has remained concentrated on a few key stressors, especially landscape disturbance, and a few taxa of interest. Stressor and response monitoring is well represented, but direct monitoring of pathways (linkages between stressors and responses) is limited. Important knowledge gaps include understanding effects at multiple spatial scales, mammal health effects monitoring, focused monitoring of local resources important to Indigenous communities, and geospatial coverage and availability, including higher attribute resolution in human footprint, comprehensive land cover mapping, and up-to-date LiDAR coverage. Causal attribution based on spatial proximity to operations or spatial orientation of monitoring in the region is common but may be limited in the strength of inference that it provides. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:388-406. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Erin M. Bayne
- Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of AlbertaEdmontonAlbertaCanada
| | | | - Jacqueline Dennett
- Department of Renewable ResourcesUniversity of AlbertaEdmontonAlbertaCanada
| | - Jason T. Fisher
- School of Environmental StudiesUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaBritish ColumbiaCanada
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