The importance of incorporating functional habitats into conservation planning for highly mobile species in dynamic systems
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Description
<p>The distribution of mobile species in dynamic systems can vary greatly over time and space. Estimating their population size and geographic range can be problematic and affect the accuracy of conservation assessments. Scarce data on mobile species and the resources they need can also limit the type of analytical approaches available to derive such estimates. We quantified change in availability and use of key ecological resources required for breeding for a critically endangered nomadic habitat specialist, the Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor). We compared estimates of occupied habitat derived from dynamic presence-background (i.e., presence-only data) climatic models with estimates derived from dynamic occupancy models that included a direct measure of food availability. We then compared estimates that incorporate fine-resolution spatial data on the availability of key ecological resources (i.e., functional habitats) with more common approaches that focus on broader climatic suitability or vegetation cover (due to the absence of fine-resolution data). The occupancy models produced significantly (P < 0.001) smaller (up to an order of magnitude) and more spatially discrete estimates of the total occupied area than climate-based models. The spatial location and extent of the total area occupied with the occupancy models was highly variable between years (131 and 1498 km<sup>2</sup>). Estimates accounting for the area of functional habitats were significantly smaller (2–58% [SD 16]) than estimates based only on the total area occupied. An increase or decrease in the area of one functional habitat (foraging or nesting) did not necessarily correspond to an increase or decrease in the other. Thus, an increase in the extent of occupied area may not equate to improved habitat quality or function. We argue these patterns are typical for mobile resource specialists but often go unnoticed because of limited data over relevant spatial and temporal scales and lack of spatial data on the availability of key resources. Understanding changes in the relative availability of functional habitats is crucial to informing conservation planning and accurately assessing extinction risk for mobile resource specialists.</p>
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ID Code: | 233234 | ||
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Item Type: | Contribution to Journal (Journal Article) | ||
Refereed: | Yes | ||
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Additional Information: | Acknowledgments: This research was funded by the Australian Research Council, a Commonwealth Government of Australia Environmental Offset (paid by Cumnock Management), the Australian Commonwealth Government, and the Tasmanian State Government. A.T. was funded by the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions. We thank J. Stein for GIS assistance and C. Runge and L. Rayner for valuable discussions and advice on analyses and A. Wiltshire, D. James, F. Hume, S. Thurstans, H. Cook, M. Holdsworth, A. Welling, C. Spencer, and Birdlife Australia for assistance during data collection. We also thank R. Akçakaya and 3 anonymous reviewers for useful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. | ||
Measurements or Duration: | 11 pages | ||
Keywords: | disponibilidad de recursos dinámicos, dynamic resource availability, especialista de hábitat, especies amenazadas, explotador de fragmento rico, habitat specialist, Lathamus discolor, Lathamus discolor, migración, migration, modelo de distribución de especies, rich patch exploiter, species-distribution modeling, threatened species | ||
DOI: | 10.1111/cobi.12899 | ||
ISSN: | 0888-8892 | ||
Pure ID: | 112554880 | ||
Funding Information: | This research was funded by the Australian Research Council, a Commonwealth Government of Australia Environmental Offset (paid by Cumnock Management), the Australian Commonwealth Government, and the Tasmanian State Government. A.T. was funded by the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions. We thank J. Stein for GIS assistance and C. Runge and L. Rayner for valuable discussions and advice on analyses and A. Wiltshire, D. James, F. Hume, S. Thurstans, H. Cook, M. Holdsworth, A. Welling, C. Spencer, and Birdlife Australia for assistance during data collection. We also thank R. Akçakaya and 3 anonymous reviewers for useful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. | ||
Copyright Owner: | 2017 Society for Conservation Biology | ||
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Deposited On: | 05 Jul 2022 02:53 | ||
Last Modified: | 30 Jun 2024 23:48 |
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