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- Data packageData from: Back to the wild: Post-translocation GPS monitoring of a rehabilitated ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in a high competition, forest-agriculture matrix(2024-12-30) Wicks, Sarah; Christopher, Beirne; Schellmann, Cristina Azzopardi; Flatt, Eleanor; Beita, Sandy Quirós; Rocha, Rigoberto Pereira; Whitworth, AndrewThe sparsity of post-translocation monitoring data for rehabilitated felids leaves a pressing gap in our current understanding of their integration into and use of novel landscapes. Remote monitoring tools such as GPS collars can provide crucial insights into animal movement behavior and habitat selection following translocation and assist in the decision-making process for rehabilitation and release sites. In January 2023, a young male ocelot was released on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, after eight months of rehabilitation following a vehicle strike. Six months of post-translocation monitoring using a GPS and VHF-enabled collar revealed distinctive spatial patterns between the ocelot’s initial exploratory phase (~75 days) and subsequent residential period, as well as a selection for agricultural-forest matrix habitat over primary forest. We discuss the findings in terms of learning lessons for future post-release monitoring effects and provide insight into an individual’s patterns of habitat selection in an anthropogenically modified landscape.
- Data packageData from: Study "Red Knot geolocator tracking New Zealand 2013"(2024-12-30) Battley, Phil F.; Lisovski, Simeon; Conklin, Jesse R.The pace and scale of environmental change represent major challenges to many organisms. Animals that move long distances, such as migratory birds, are especially vulnerable to change since they need chains of intact habitat along their migratory routes. Estimating the resilience of such species to environmental changes assists in targeting conservation efforts. We developed a migration modeling framework to predict past (1960s), present (2010s), and future (2060s) optimal migration strategies across five shorebird species (Scolopacidae) within the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, which has seen major habitat deterioration and loss over the last century, and compared these predictions to empirical tracks from the present. Our model captured the migration strategies of the five species and identified the changes in migrations needed to respond to habitat deterioration and climate change. Notably, the larger species, with single or few major stopover sites, need to establish new migration routes and strategies, while smaller species can buffer habitat loss by redistributing their stopover areas to novel or less-used sites. Comparing model predictions with empirical tracks also indicates that larger species with the stronger need for adaptations continue to migrate closer to the optimal routes of the past, before habitat deterioration accelerated. Our study not only quantifies the vulnerability of species in the face of global change but also explicitly reveals the extent of adaptations required to sustain their migrations. This modeling framework provides a tool for conservation planning that can accommodate the future needs of migratory species.
- Data packageData from: Study "Bar-tailed Godwit geolocator tracking New Zealand 2013-2014"(2024-12-30) Battley, Phil F.; Lisovski, Simeon; Conklin, Jesse R.The pace and scale of environmental change represent major challenges to many organisms. Animals that move long distances, such as migratory birds, are especially vulnerable to change since they need chains of intact habitat along their migratory routes. Estimating the resilience of such species to environmental changes assists in targeting conservation efforts. We developed a migration modeling framework to predict past (1960s), present (2010s), and future (2060s) optimal migration strategies across five shorebird species (Scolopacidae) within the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, which has seen major habitat deterioration and loss over the last century, and compared these predictions to empirical tracks from the present. Our model captured the migration strategies of the five species and identified the changes in migrations needed to respond to habitat deterioration and climate change. Notably, the larger species, with single or few major stopover sites, need to establish new migration routes and strategies, while smaller species can buffer habitat loss by redistributing their stopover areas to novel or less-used sites. Comparing model predictions with empirical tracks also indicates that larger species with the stronger need for adaptations continue to migrate closer to the optimal routes of the past, before habitat deterioration accelerated. Our study not only quantifies the vulnerability of species in the face of global change but also explicitly reveals the extent of adaptations required to sustain their migrations. This modeling framework provides a tool for conservation planning that can accommodate the future needs of migratory species.
- Data packageData from: Study "Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) in UK wet grasslands"(2024-12-30) Porteus, Tom A.; Short, Mike J.; Hoodless, Andrew N.; Reynolds, Jonathan C.The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is a widely distributed generalist meso-predator implicated in declines of wading bird populations. In the wet grassland habitats where waders breed, wildlife managers work to mitigate fox predation risk to waders during the nesting period through lethal and non-lethal control methods. However, limited knowledge on fox movement ecology in these habitats makes it difficult to design effective management strategies. We used GPS telemetry to understand fox home range size, daily activity and movement patterns, and how these metrics may vary among wet grassland sites with different management. We caught and GPS-tagged 35 foxes in the March–June wader nesting period on two wet grassland sites in central southern England; Britford during 2016/17 and Somerley during 2018/19. We estimated home range areas from location data using local convex hulls, and from these estimates we derived the minimum fox density at each site and year. Daily activity patterns and movement behaviour of each fox were obtained using both telemetry and trail camera data. Mean fox home range area at Britford (0.21 km2, SE = 0.025) was significantly smaller than at Somerley (0.68 km2, SE = 0.067), and estimated minimum densities were around four times higher (Britford = 10.6 foxes/km2, Somerley = 2.4 foxes/km2). Foxes were more active and moved faster during twilight and night hours, but both telemetry and camera data indicate they were also active for one-third of daylight hours. Distances moved per day were variable between foxes but generally smaller at Britford. We also found evidence for dispersal during spring, with movements of up to 19 km per day. Home ranges at both wet grassland sites were smaller than comparable sites elsewhere. These indicated foxes were living at exceptionally high densities at Britford, where there is no fox control, increased food availability and where waders no longer breed. Spatio-temporal movement patterns were closely related to home range metrics, with higher levels of fox activity at Somerley, where home ranges were larger. The movements of itinerant and dispersing foxes during the nesting period suggests that lethal control would need to be very intensive to be effective. The likely anthropogenic food subsidy of fox density at Britford suggests that controlling access to similar food resources would help reduce predation pressure on breeding waders.
- Data packageData from: Study "Bobcat habitat connectivity study in central California"(2024-12-30) Serieys, Laurel E.K.; Matsushima, Stephani S.; Wilmers, Christopher C.Landscape connectivity is essential to conserving resilient wildlife populations in the Anthropocene. Maintaining connectivity requires preserving or restoring patches of habitat, accounting for the behavioral factors that determine movement between patches and mitigating threats. We measured natural and anthropogenic features that influence movement and mortality for bobcats (Lynx rufus) in a system threatened with complete isolation by urbanization. Our overarching objective was to inform local land acquisition and restoration to maintain two last-chance wildlife corridors. We collected five-minute movement data from 36 bobcats in central California to assess features of road-crossing hotspots and model habitat selection, including functional responses to housing densities and vegetation. We collected opportunistic mortalities and assessed rat poison exposure to evaluate edge effects as acute threats. Bobcats strongly selected for natural vegetation, evident at the level of a single tree or shrub. Individuals selected low-density housing (<5 houses/ha) yet avoided high-density housing development and monoculture agriculture. Narrow (<25 m wide) riparian strips were critical to connectivity. Bobcats successfully crossed the busiest highway in the landscape but frequently died when crossing a less-trafficked road with a high median barrier. Vehicles and disease were dominant sources of mortality, while 94% of bobcats were exposed to rat poisons despite California's 2014 regulations implemented to reduced wildlife exposure. Maintaining landscape connectivity requires conserving key habitats, mitigating the effects of infrastructure, and sustaining populations of highly mobile, healthy individuals. Our findings have driven conservation action through land acquisition. We demonstrate how robust, rapid data collection can facilitate real-world conservation outcomes.