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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. Sci Total Environ 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] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [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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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] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
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