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At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS2023

Scale-dependent tradeoffs between habitat and time in explaining Alligator Gar (Atractosteus spatula) movement

Ecological theory predicts that movement by riverine fishes at the population level is characterized by both stationary and mobile individuals together creating a leptokurtic distribution of movement distances. However, studies testing this theory typically ignore spatial heterogeneity in riverscapes, and the theory has not been tested using Alligator Gar ( Atractosteus spatula ), a species of growing interest among anglers and fisheries managers alike. We characterized movements and habitat associations of Alligator Gar in the Brazos River, Texas, at fine (every 2 h for 24 h) and coarse (every month for 16 months) spatiotemporal scales. We tested for the presence of leptokurtosis and relationships between movement distance, habitat dissimilarity, and time-at-large using multivariate and univariate statistical approaches. Dispersal by Alligator Gar revealed leptokurtosis at the coarse scale but not the fine scale. At the fine scale, mixed effects quantile regression revealed there was no relationship between habitat dissimilarity and dispersal distance, but dispersal was positively correlated with time. At the coarse scale, dispersal was positively correlated with increased habitat dissimilarity and time, but only for the most mobile individuals. Our work suggests that short-term movements by riverine Alligator Gar during warm seasons and at base flows increased with time but were unrelated to habitat, and long-term movements over an annual cycle during warm season flow pulses revealed highly mobile members of the population accessed distant and novel floodplain environments.

Environmental Biology of Fishes↗
USGS2025

Alternating movement strategies of a tropical raptor

The majority of raptor species reside in the tropics, yet very little is known about their movement ecology. However, quantifying movement behavior can provide otherwise elusive information on resource needs, habitat selection, and ecological constraints, which is important for understanding ecological patterns and the management of species of conservation concern. On the Island of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i, USA, the endemic ‘Io, or Hawaiian Hawk ( Buteo solitarius ), is a species of conservation concern that little is known of their movement ecology, yet they are dependent on a fragmented and rapidly changing environment. We tracked 15 individuals for up to 18 months across a diverse landscape on the eastern side of the island. We found that all ‘Io occupied a relatively small geographic area, their place of residency, where they spent all or most of their time. However, 10 individuals also exhibited an alternative movement pattern, where individuals repeatedly commuted back and forth between their place of residency to another, geographically disjunct location. These commuter periods, which could last from 24–180 days, were characterized by frequent (9–259) movements, with individual trips lasting 4–77 h away from their place of residency and 12–47 h in between commuter trips. In most cases, individuals went to the same non-contiguous commuting destination, even across multiple commuting sessions, indicating high fidelity to commuting locations. The ‘Io is a forest adapted Buteo but occurs across a diverse landscape from forest to agriculture lands to urban areas. Habitat selection analysis indicated high individual variation among different birds, but generally a preference for forest patches at localized levels. The discovery of the alternative commuting strategy for many ‘Io represents a cryptic movement pattern in the species, demonstrating the power of small, long-lived Global Position System tracking devices to track movement and providing important insights into the ecology of a tropical island raptor.

Hawaii↗
USGS2024

Movement patterns of a small-bodied minnow suggest nomadism in a fragmented, desert river

Background Unfettered movement among habitats is crucial for fish to access patchily distributed resources and complete their life cycle, but many riverscapes in the American Southwest are fragmented by dams. The federally endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow ( Hybognathus amarus , RGSM) persists in a fragmented remnant of its former range (ca. 95% range reduction), and its movement ecology is understudied. Methods We tracked movements of hatchery-reared RGSM, tagged with passive integrated transponder tags, using stationary and mobile antennas from 2019–2022. We quantified probability of movement and total distance moved by RGSM released above and below a dam. We then assessed how well two prevailing riverine movement theories (i.e., restricted movement paradigm [RMP] and colonization cycle hypothesis [CCH]) explained RGSM movement patterns. Results We detected 36.8% of released RGSM (n = 37,215) making at least one movement. Movements were leptokurtic and substantially greater than expected based on the RMP for both stationary (1.7–5.9 m) and mobile (30.3–77.8 m) individuals. On average, RGSM were detected at large for 75 days and moved a total of 12.2 rkm within a year. The maximum total distance moved by RGSM was 103 rkm. Similarly, we observed a multimodal distribution of detected range sizes with a mean detected range of 2.4 rkm and a maximum detected range of 78.2 rkm. We found little support for an upstream movement bias, as expected under the CCH, and most movements (74%) were directed downstream. Conclusions Our data suggest RGSM are highly mobile, with the ability to make long-distance movements. Neither movement theory adequately described movement patterns of RGSM; instead, our findings support a nomadic movement pattern and an apparent drift paradox matching recent studies of other pelagic-broadcast spawning minnows who persist upstream despite experiencing downstream drift as larvae. Resolution of the drift paradox may be achieved through further, targeted studies into different aspects of the species’ life history. Quantification of RGSM movement provides crucial insights into the species’ movement ecology and may help define the appropriate scale of recovery efforts.

New Mexico↗
USGS2023

Movement beyond the mean: decoupling sources of individual variation in brook trout movement across seasons

Movement is an important eco-evolutionary process that can shape population and ecosystem structure and function. Accordingly, a firm understanding of species movement ecology is often foundational to effective management and conservation. However, despite movement being an inherently individual-level behavior, there remains a tendency to describe dispersal and migration patterns using simple population-level processes and effects. Overlooking within- and among-individual variation in movement risks incomplete understanding of the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that govern dispersal dynamics and could potentially result in inadequate management of critical behavioral phenotypes. In this study, we monitored movement of over 100 brook trout ( Salvelinus fontinalis ) and quantified the effect of individual-level traits, season, and their interactions to better understand factors that influence vagility. Our results suggest that movement was higher in fall than in summer, particularly for fish in poor condition. But we found no significant main effects for sex, providing no evidence for sex-biased dispersal. To better understand sources of individual variation, we also allowed for sex- and season-specific residual standard deviations. In doing so, we found that, on average, movement was more variable in fall compared to summer, and that females were more variable than males in vagility. Taken together, these results demonstrate how intrinsic, individual-level traits can interact with abiotic environmental conditions to determine movement. They also highlight the potential for simple explanations of movement ecology to overlook important traits that may help predict individual-level behaviors.

Pennsylvania↗
USGS2013

Movements of wild ruddy shelducks in the Central Asian Flyway and their spatial relationship to outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1

Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 remains a serious concern for both poultry and human health. Wild waterfowl are considered to be the reservoir for low pathogenic avian influenza viruses; however, relatively little is known about their movement ecology in regions where HPAI H5N1 outbreaks regularly occur. We studied movements of the ruddy shelduck ( Tadorna ferruginea ), a wild migratory waterfowl species that was infected in the 2005 Qinghai Lake outbreak. We defined their migration with Brownian Bridge utilization distribution models and their breeding and wintering grounds with fixed kernel home ranges. We correlated their movements with HPAI H5N1 outbreaks, poultry density, land cover, and latitude in the Central Asian Flyway. Our Akaike Information Criterion analysis indicated that outbreaks were correlated with land cover, latitude, and poultry density. Although shelduck movements were included in the top two models, they were not a top parameter selected in AICc stepwise regression results. However, timing of outbreaks suggested that outbreaks in the flyway began during the winter in poultry with spillover to wild birds during the spring migration. Thus, studies of the movement ecology of wild birds in areas with persistent HPAI H5N1 outbreaks may contribute to understanding their role in transmission of this disease.

Viruses↗
USGS2022

Paradigm versus paradox on the prairie: Testing competing stream fish movement frameworks using an imperiled Great Plains minnow

Background Movement information can improve conservation of imperiled species, yet movement is not quantified for many organisms in need of conservation. Prairie chub ( Macrhybopsis australis ) is a regionally endemic freshwater fish with unquantified movement ecology and currently considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The purpose of this study was to test competing ecological theories for prairie chub movement, including the colonization cycle hypothesis (CCH) that posits adults must make upstream movements to compensate for downstream drift at early life stages, and the restricted movement paradigm (RMP) that describes populations as heterogeneous mixes of mostly stationary and few mobile fish. Methods We tagged prairie chub with visible implant elastomer during the summer (May–August) of 2019 and 2020 to estimate net distance moved (m) and movement rate (m/d). We tested the hypotheses that observed prairie chub movement would be greater than expected under the RMP and that prairie chub movement would be biased in an upstream direction as predicted by the CCH. Results We tagged 5771 prairie chub and recaptured 213 individuals across 2019 and 2020. The stationary and mobile components of the prairie chub population moved an order of magnitude further and faster than expected under the RMP during both years. However, we found only limited evidence of upstream bias in adult prairie chub movement as would be expected under the CCH. Conclusions Our findings are partly inconsistent with the RMP and the CCH, and instead closely follow the drift paradox (DP), in which upstream populations persist despite presumed downstream drift during early life stages and in the apparent absence of upstream bias in recolonization. Previous mathematical solutions to the DP suggest organisms that experience drift maintain upstream populations through either minimization of drift periods such that small amounts of upstream movement are needed to counter the effects of advection or increasing dispersal regardless of directionality. We conclude that the resolution to the DP for prairie chub is an increase in total dispersal and our results provide insight into the spatial scales at which prairie chub conservation and management may need to operate to maintain broad-scale habitat connectivity.

Oklahoma, Texas↗
USGS2019

Reproductive ecology and movement of pallid sturgeon in the upper Missouri River, Montana

Successful recruitment of endangered pallid sturgeon has not been documented in the upper Missouri River basin for decades, and research on the reproductive ecology of pallid sturgeon has been hindered by low sample size. A conservation propagation program was initiated in the 1990s, and the oldest age class of hatchery‐origin pallid sturgeon are becoming sexually mature increasing the number of reproductively‐active fish in the system. However, it is currently unknown how the reproductive ecology of hatchery‐origin pallid sturgeon relates to the few remaining wild fish. Following spring reproductive assessments, weekly relocations were recorded for each individual from late‐May to mid‐July to facilitate comparisons of spawning season movements among reproductive classifications and between spring hydrographs (2015 and 2016) for male pallid sturgeon. Mean total movement distances (± SE ) were 104.5 km (18.9) for reproductively‐active wild males, 116.0 km (18.1) for reproductively‐active 1997‐year class males, and 20.6 km (3.0) for non‐reproductively‐active fish of unconfirmed sex. Movement characteristics of reproductively‐active males did not differ between 2015 and 2016 despite a difference of eight days in the timing of peak discharge and a difference of 79 m 3 /s (16.7%) in magnitude. Male aggregations were observed on the descending limb of the hydrograph in 2016 during temperatures suitable for spawning, but female pallid sturgeon underwent follicular atresia, similar to the other years of the study. Hatchery‐origin pallid sturgeon from the conservation propagation program appear to have retained reproductive characteristics from the wild broodstock, a key finding for a population where local extirpation of the wild stock is imminent.

Montana↗
USGS2018

The ecology of movement and behaviour: a saturated tripartite network for describing animal contacts

Ecologists regularly use animal contact networks to describe interactions underlying pathogen transmission, gene flow, and information transfer. However, empirical descriptions of contact often overlook some features of individual movement, and decisions about what kind of network to use in a particular setting are commonly ad hoc . Here, we relate individual movement trajectories to contact networks through a tripartite network model of individual, space, and time nodes. Most networks used in animal contact studies (e.g. individual association networks, home range overlap networks, and spatial networks) are simplifications of this tripartite model. The tripartite structure can incorporate a broad suite of alternative ecological metrics like home range sizes and patch occupancy patterns into inferences about contact network metrics such as modularity and degree distribution. We demonstrate the model's utility with two simulation studies using alternative forms of ecological data to constrain the tripartite network's structure and inform expectations about the harder-to-measure metrics related to contact.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sci↗
USGS2023

Movement dynamics influence population monitoring and adaptive harvest management strategies in migratory birds

Informed population monitoring efforts are essential for sound management of harvested species, and adaptive strategies that provide detailed information to monitoring efforts often require data inputs from complimentary sources. Movement ecology information is seldom directly incorporated into population monitoring or adaptive harvest management strategies, yet can provide valuable information on species distributions, emigration and immigration rates, and aid in determining optimal population monitoring timing. The Rocky Mountain Population (RMP) of Sandhill Cranes is a harvested population subject to a stringent adaptive harvest management framework and an annual aerial survey to estimate population abundance, but movements of Sandhill Cranes during survey windows, and subsequent changes to harvest quotas based on their movement and distribution have not been investigated. We used seven years of GPS tracking data to estimate state-specific emigration and immigration rates, using a Bayesian multi-state capture-recapture model, among states within the RMP distribution to understand how seasonal crane movements may influence optimal aerial survey timing. We then leveraged these transition probabilities in conjunction with aerial survey count data to model how changes in aerial survey timing and movement-informed crane distribution would influence the current RMP Sandhill Crane adaptive harvest management model resulting in estimated changes to harvest allocation among states based on Sandhill Crane movement. We found that Sandhill Crane emigration from northern states began to increase the week of the aerial survey in late September, and continued to increase as autumn migration progressed into October. As expected, immigration to southern states began as emigration from northern states increased. Importantly, little movement among states occurred prior to the current aerial survey design timing. Overall, we found that current survey timing and shortly thereafter (∼1 week) did not greatly influence estimates of Sandhill Crane distribution, and did not greatly influence the harvest reallocation to each state until mid to late October (range of −42–+52 tag allocation change), much later than the current survey design would allow. Using GPS locations, we found that optimal population monitoring efforts could be improved to account for both detection and seasonal movements, while minimally influencing current adaptive harvest management strategies to stakeholders. Linking movement ecology with population monitoring efforts and subsequently adaptive harvest management strategies yields insightful information that can be beneficial for conservation planning, decision-making, and optimal species management of a migratory bird.

Colorado, Idaho, Montaha, Utah, Wyoming↗
USGS2020

Editorial: Contributions of behavior and physiology to conservation biology

Conservation biology is a rapidly evolving discipline, with its synthetic, multidisciplinary framework expanding extensively in recent years. Seemingly disparate disciplines, such as behavior and physiology, are being integrated into this discipline's growing portfolio, resulting in diverse tools that can help develop conservation solutions. Behavior and physiology have traditionally been considered separate fields, yet their integration can provide a more comprehensive approach to developing solutions to conservation and management problems. However, demonstrations are needed of how behavior and physiology—either separately or combined—have contributed to conservation success. Examining species' vulnerabilities to extinction through the lenses of behavior and physiology can provide insight into the mechanisms that drive population declines and extirpations. Our goal is to increase awareness of the benefit of combining behavioral and physiological tools to improve conservation management decisions. Such studies can also help strengthen the basis for evidence-based conservation which, in some cases, has been previously lacking. The diverse studies in our Research Topic illustrate key examples of ways that behavior and physiology can be incorporated into conservation biology. Three main themes emerged from the invited papers with respect to their relevance to conservation: (1) Stress physiology, (2) indicators of health and disease dynamics, (3) and movement ecology. But these themes were also intertwined, thus showing the importance of integrating multiple fields of research to successfully address questions about conservation biology. Two mini reviews discuss the importance of examining how stress physiology may affect individual fitness and capacity to cope with change which, ultimately, affects the resiliency of populations. Walls and Gabor, in their mini review, promoted combining studies of behavior and physiology to aid in developing conservation strategies for amphibians, which could provide conservation managers with workable solutions to global environmental change. Walls and Gabor also pointed out that studies of behavior are useful to understand how native amphibian species respond to invasive predators. This is supported by Roznik et al. who combined physiology and behavior for a more holistic understanding of the impacts of competition between native and invasive frogs. These authors found that invasive Cuban tree frogs outperformed two native species in jump length and speed, offsetting the costs of dehydration. This work also ties in well to a review by Joly, who indicated the importance of exploring movement ecology (on multiple spatial scales) of invasive species to provide insights for invasive species management. Walls and Gabor also emphasized that more studies on phenological shifts of species in response to recent climate change are needed, as explored by Bókony et al. with birds. These authors found that bird species varied their migratory behaviors in response to contemporary climate change which, in turn, influenced subsequent trends in population size.

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution↗
USGS2020

RAPTURE (RAD capture) panel facilitates analyses characterizing sea lamprey reproductive ecology and movement dynamics

Genomic tools are lacking for invasive and native populations of sea lamprey ( Petromyzon marinus ). Our objective was to discover single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci to conduct pedigree analyses to quantify reproductive contributions of adult sea lampreys and dispersion of sibling larval sea lampreys of different ages in Great Lakes tributaries. Additional applications of data were explored using additional geographically expansive samples. We used restriction site‐associated DNA sequencing (RAD‐Seq) to discover genetic variation in Duffins Creek (DC), Ontario, Canada, and the St. Clair River (SCR), Michigan, USA. We subsequently developed RAD capture baits to genotype 3,446 RAD loci that contained 11,970 SNPs. Based on RAD capture assays, estimates of variance in SNP allele frequency among five Great Lakes tributary populations (mean F ST 0.008; range 0.00–0.018) were concordant with previous microsatellite‐based studies; however, outlier loci were identified that contributed substantially to spatial population genetic structure. At finer scales within streams, simulations indicated that accuracy in genetic pedigree reconstruction was high when 200 or 500 independent loci were used, even in situations of high spawner abundance (e.g., 1,000 adults). Based on empirical collections of larval sea lamprey genotypes, we found that age‐1 and age‐2 families of full and half‐siblings were widely but nonrandomly distributed within stream reaches sampled. Using the genomic scale set of SNP loci developed in this study, biologists can rapidly genotype sea lamprey in non‐native and native ranges to investigate questions pertaining to population structuring and reproductive ecology at previously unattainable scales.

Michigan, Ontario, Wisconsin↗
USGS2018

Waterfowl spring migratory behavior and avian influenza transmission risk in the changing landscape of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway

Avian influenza has advanced from a regional concern to a global health issue with significant economic, trade, and public health implications. Wild birds, particularly waterfowl (Anseriformes), are known reservoirs for low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses (AIV) and recent studies have shown their potential in the spread of highly pathogenic forms of virus. East Asia remains an epicenter for the emergence of novel strains of AIV, however, information on movement ecology of waterfowl, and subsequently a clearer understanding of disease transmission risks in this region has been greatly lacking. To address this, we marked two species of wild waterfowl, northern pintail (Anas acuta) and Eurasian wigeon (Anas penelope) , with satellite transmitters on their wintering grounds in Hong Kong, China to study the northward spring migration in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway in relation to disease transmission factors. Northern pintail were found to initiate migration 42 days earlier, travel 2,150 km farther, and perform 4.4 more stopovers than Eurasian wigeon. We found both species used similar stopover locations including areas along the Yangtze River near Shanghai, Bohai Bay and Korea Bay in rapidly developing regions of the Yellow Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk where the species appeared to funnel through a migratory bottleneck. Both species appeared to exhibit strong habitat selection for rice paddies during migration stopovers, a habitat preference which has the potential to influence risks of AIV outbreaks as rapid land use and land cover changes occur throughout China. Both species had greatest association with H5N1 outbreaks during the early stages of migration when they were at lower latitudes. While Eurasian wigeon were not associated with outbreaks after the mean date of wintering ground departures, northern pintail were associated with outbreaks until the majority of individuals departed from the Yellow Sea, a migratory stopover location. Our results show species-level differences in migration timing and behavior for these common and widespread species, demonstrating the need to consider their unique temporal and spatial movement ecology when incorporating wild birds into AIV risk modeling and management.

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution↗
USGS2017

Spatial ecology and movement of reintroduced Canada lynx

Understanding movement behavior and identifying areas of landscape connectivity is critical for the conservation of many species. However, collecting fine‐scale movement data can be prohibitively time consuming and costly, especially for rare or endangered species, whereas existing data sets may provide the best available information on animal movement. Contemporary movement models may not be an option for modeling existing data due to low temporal resolution and large or unusual error structures, but inference can still be obtained using a functional movement modeling approach. We use a functional movement model to perform a population‐level analysis of telemetry data collected during the reintroduction of Canada lynx to Colorado. Little is known about southern lynx populations compared to those in Canada and Alaska, and inference is often limited to a few individuals due to their low densities. Our analysis of a population of Canada lynx fills significant gaps in the knowledge of Canada lynx behavior at the southern edge of its historical range. We analyzed functions of individual‐level movement paths, such as speed, residence time, and tortuosity, and identified a region of connectivity that extended north from the San Juan Mountains, along the continental divide, and terminated in Wyoming at the northern edge of the Southern Rocky Mountains. Individuals were able to traverse large distances across non‐boreal habitat, including exploratory movements to the Greater Yellowstone area and beyond. We found evidence for an effect of seasonality and breeding status on many of the movement quantities and documented a potential reintroduction effect. Our findings provide the first analysis of Canada lynx movement in Colorado and substantially augment the information available for conservation and management decisions. The functional movement framework can be extended to other species and demonstrates that information on movement behavior can be obtained using existing data sets.

Wyoming↗
USGS2012

Role of bird movements in the epidemiology of West Nile and avian influenza virus

Avian influenza virus (AIV) is influenced by site fidelity and movements of bird hosts. We examined the movement ecology of American crows ( Corvus brachyrhynchos ) as potential hosts for West Nile virus (WNV) and greater white-fronted geese ( Anser albifrons frontalis ) as potential hosts for AIVs. Research was based on radio-telemetry studies conducted in the Central Valley of California, USA. While crows were restricted to a small area of only a few square kilometers, the distribution of the geese encompassed the northern Central Valley. The crows used 1.5 to 3.5 different roosting areas monthly from February through October, revealing lower roost fidelity than the geese that used 1.1 to 1.5 roosting areas each month from November through March. The crows moved a mean distance of 0.11 to 0.49 km/month between their roosting sites and 2.5 to 3.9 km/month between roosting and feeding sites. In contrast, the geese moved 4.2 to 19.3 km/month between roosting areas, and their feeding range varied from 13.2 to 19.0 km/month. Our comparison of the ecological characteristics of bird movements suggests that the limited local movements of crows coupled with frequent turnover of roosts may result in persistence of focal areas for WNV infection. In contrast, widespread areas used by geese will provide regular opportunities for intermixing of AIVs over a much greater geographic area.

California↗
USGS2011

Social network models predict movement and connectivity in ecological landscapes

Network analysis is on the rise across scientific disciplines because of its ability to reveal complex, and often emergent, patterns and dynamics. Nonetheless, a growing concern in network analysis is the use of limited data for constructing networks. This concern is strikingly relevant to ecology and conservation biology, where network analysis is used to infer connectivity across landscapes. In this context, movement among patches is the crucial parameter for interpreting connectivity but because of the difficulty of collecting reliable movement data, most network analysis proceeds with only indirect information on movement across landscapes rather than using observed movement to construct networks. Statistical models developed for social networks provide promising alternatives for landscape network construction because they can leverage limited movement information to predict linkages. Using two mark-recapture datasets on individual movement and connectivity across landscapes, we test whether commonly used network constructions for interpreting connectivity can predict actual linkages and network structure, and we contrast these approaches to social network models. We find that currently applied network constructions for assessing connectivity consistently, and substantially, overpredict actual connectivity, resulting in considerable overestimation of metapopulation lifetime. Furthermore, social network models provide accurate predictions of network structure, and can do so with remarkably limited data on movement. Social network models offer a flexible and powerful way for not only understanding the factors influencing connectivity but also for providing more reliable estimates of connectivity and metapopulation persistence in the face of limited data.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of↗
USGS2024

Hunting mode and habitat selection mediate the success of human hunters

Background As a globally widespread apex predator, humans have unprecedented lethal and non-lethal effects on prey populations and ecosystems. Yet compared to non-human predators, little is known about the movement ecology of human hunters, including how hunting behavior interacts with the environment. Methods We characterized the hunting modes, habitat selection, and harvest success of 483 rifle hunters in California using high-resolution GPS data. We used Hidden Markov Models to characterize fine-scale movement behavior, and k-means clustering to group hunters by hunting mode, on the basis of their time spent in each behavioral state. Finally, we used Resource Selection Functions to quantify patterns of habitat selection for successful and unsuccessful hunters of each hunting mode. Results Hunters exhibited three distinct and successful hunting modes (“coursing”, “stalking”, and “sit-and-wait”), with coursings as the most successful strategy. Across hunting modes, there was variation in patterns of selection for roads, topography, and habitat cover, with differences in habitat use of successful and unsuccessful hunters across modes. Conclusions Our study indicates that hunters can successfully employ a diversity of harvest strategies, and that hunting success is mediated by the interacting effects of hunting mode and landscape features. Such results highlight the breadth of human hunting modes, even within a single hunting technique, and lend insight into the varied ways that humans exert predation pressure on wildlife.

California↗
USGS2014

Modelling non-Euclidean movement and landscape connectivity in highly structured ecological networks

Movement is influenced by landscape structure, configuration and geometry, but measuring distance as perceived by animals poses technical and logistical challenges. Instead, movement is typically measured using Euclidean distance, irrespective of location or landscape structure, or is based on arbitrary cost surfaces. A recently proposed extension of spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models resolves this issue using spatial encounter histories of individuals to calculate least-cost paths (ecological distance: Ecology , 94 , 2013, 287) thereby relaxing the Euclidean assumption. We evaluate the consequences of not accounting for movement heterogeneity when estimating abundance in highly structured landscapes, and demonstrate the value of this approach for estimating biologically realistic space-use patterns and landscape connectivity. We simulated SCR data in a riparian habitat network, using the ecological distance model under a range of scenarios where space-use in and around the landscape was increasingly associated with water (i.e. increasingly less Euclidean). To assess the influence of miscalculating distance on estimates of population size, we compared the results from the ecological and Euclidean distance based models. We then demonstrate that the ecological distance model can be used to estimate home range geometry when space use is not symmetrical. Finally, we provide a method for calculating landscape connectivity based on modelled species-landscape interactions generated from capture-recapture data. Using ecological distance always produced unbiased estimates of abundance. Explicitly modelling the strength of the species-landscape interaction provided a direct measure of landscape connectivity and better characterised true home range geometry. Abundance under the Euclidean distance model was increasingly (negatively) biased as space use was more strongly associated with water and, because home ranges are assumed to be symmetrical, produced poor characterisations of home range geometry and no information about landscape connectivity. The ecological distance SCR model uses spatially indexed capture-recapture data to estimate how activity patterns are influenced by landscape structure. As well as reducing bias in estimates of abundance, this approach provides biologically realistic representations of home range geometry, and direct information about species-landscape interactions. The incorporation of both structural (landscape) and functional (movement) components of connectivity provides a direct measure of species-specific landscape connectivity.

Methods in Ecology and Evolution↗
USGS2022

Priorities for translating goodwill between movement ecologists and conservation practitioners into effective collaboration

Addressing ongoing biodiversity loss requires collaboration between conservation scientists and practitioners. However, such collaboration has proved challenging. Despite the potential importance of tracking animal movements for conservation, reviews of the tracking literature have identified a gap between the academic discipline of movement ecology and its application to biodiversity conservation. Through structured conversations with movement ecologists and conservation practitioners, we aimed to understand whether the identified gap is also perceived in practice, and if so, what factors hamper collaboration and how these factors can be remediated. We found that both groups are motivated and willing to collaborate. However, because their motivations differ, there is potential for misunderstandings and miscommunications. In addition, external factors such as funder requirements, academic metrics, and journal scopes may limit the applicability of scientific results in a conservation setting. Potential solutions we identified included improved communication and better presentation of results, acknowledging each other's motivations and desired outputs, and adjustment of funder priorities. Addressing gaps between science and implementation can enhance collaboration and support conservation action to address the global biodiversity crisis more effectively.

Conservation Science and Practice↗