Chapter 2: Habitat Fragmentation
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Effects of Human Disturbance on Terrestrial Apex Predators
diversity Review Effects of Human Disturbance on Terrestrial Apex Predators Andrés Ordiz 1,2,* , Malin Aronsson 1,3, Jens Persson 1 , Ole-Gunnar Støen 4, Jon E. Swenson 2 and Jonas Kindberg 4,5 1 Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-730 91 Riddarhyttan, Sweden; [email protected] (M.A.); [email protected] (J.P.) 2 Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Postbox 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway; [email protected] 3 Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden 4 Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, NO-7485 Trondheim, Norway; [email protected] (O.-G.S.); [email protected] (J.K.) 5 Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The effects of human disturbance spread over virtually all ecosystems and ecological communities on Earth. In this review, we focus on the effects of human disturbance on terrestrial apex predators. We summarize their ecological role in nature and how they respond to different sources of human disturbance. Apex predators control their prey and smaller predators numerically and via behavioral changes to avoid predation risk, which in turn can affect lower trophic levels. Crucially, reducing population numbers and triggering behavioral responses are also the effects that human disturbance causes to apex predators, which may in turn influence their ecological role. Some populations continue to be at the brink of extinction, but others are partially recovering former ranges, via natural recolonization and through reintroductions. -
Analysis of Habitat Fragmentation and Ecosystem Connectivity Within the Castle Parks, Alberta, Canada by Breanna Beaver Submit
Analysis of Habitat Fragmentation and Ecosystem Connectivity within The Castle Parks, Alberta, Canada by Breanna Beaver Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in the Environmental Science Program YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY December, 2017 Analysis of Habitat Fragmentation and Ecosystem Connectivity within The Castle Parks, Alberta, Canada Breanna Beaver I hereby release this thesis to the public. I understand that this thesis will be made available from the OhioLINK ETD Center and the Maag Library Circulation Desk for public access. I also authorize the University or other individuals to make copies of this thesis as needed for scholarly research. Signature: Breanna Beaver, Student Date Approvals: Dawna Cerney, Thesis Advisor Date Peter Kimosop, Committee Member Date Felicia Armstrong, Committee Member Date Clayton Whitesides, Committee Member Date Dr. Salvatore A. Sanders, Dean of Graduate Studies Date Abstract Habitat fragmentation is an important subject of research needed by park management planners, particularly for conservation management. The Castle Parks, in southwest Alberta, Canada, exhibit extensive habitat fragmentation from recreational and resource use activities. Umbrella and keystone species within The Castle Parks include grizzly bears, wolverines, cougars, and elk which are important animals used for conservation agendas to help protect the matrix of the ecosystem. This study identified and analyzed the nature of habitat fragmentation within The Castle Parks for these species, and has identified geographic areas of habitat fragmentation concern. This was accomplished using remote sensing, ArcGIS, and statistical analyses, to develop models of fragmentation for ecosystem cover type and Digital Elevation Models of slope, which acted as proxies for species habitat suitability. -
Restoration of Heterogeneous Disturbance Regimes for the Preservation of Endangered Species Steven D
RESEARCH ARTICLE Restoration of Heterogeneous Disturbance Regimes for the Preservation of Endangered Species Steven D. Warren and Reiner Büttner ABSTRACT Disturbance is a natural component of ecosystems. All species, including threatened and endangered species, evolved in the presence of, and are adapted to natural disturbance regimes that vary in the kind, frequency, severity, and duration of disturbance. We investigated the relationship between the level of visible soil disturbance and the density of four endan- gered plant species on U.S. Army training lands in the German state of Bavaria. Two species, gray hairgrass (Corynephorus canescens) and mudwort (Limosella aquatica), showed marked affinity for or dependency on high levels of recent soil disturbance. The density of fringed gentian (Gentianella ciliata) and shepherd’s cress (Teesdalia nudicaulis) declined with recent disturbance, but appeared to favor older disturbance which could not be quantified by the methods employed in this study. The study illustrates the need to restore and maintain disturbance regimes that are heterogeneous in terms of the intensity of and time since disturbance. Such a restoration strategy has the potential to favor plant species along the entire spectrum of ecological succession, thereby maximizing plant biodiversity and ecosystem stability. Keywords: fringed gentian, gray hairgrass, heterogeneous disturbance hypothesis, mudwort, shepherd’s cress cosystems and the species that create and maintain conditions neces- When the European Commission Einhabit them typically evolve in sary for survival. issued Directive 92/43/EEC (Euro- the presence of quasi-stable distur- The grasslands of northern Europe pean Economic Community 1992) bance regimes which are characterized lie within what would be mostly forest requiring all European Union nations by general patterns of perturbation, in the absence of disturbance. -
Disturbance Processes and Ecosystem Management
Vegetation Management and Protection Research DISTURBANCE PROCESSES AND ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT The paper was chartered by the Directors of Forest Fire and Atmospheric Sciences Research, Fire and Aviation Management, Forest Pest Management, and Forest Insect and Disease Research in response to an action item identified in the National Action Plan for Implementing Ecosystem Management (February 24, 1994). The authors are: Robert D. Averill, Group Leader, Forest Health Management, Renewable Resources, USDA Forest Service Region 2, 740 Sims St., Lakewood, CO 80225 Louise Larson, Forest Fuels Management Specialist, USDA Forest Service Sierra National Forest, 1600 Tollhouse Road, Clovis, CA 93612 Jim Saveland, Fire Ecologist, USDA Forest Service Forest Fire & Atmospheric Sciences Research P.O. Box 96090, Washington, DC 20090 Philip Wargo, Principal Plant Pathologist, USDA Forest Service Northeastern Center for Forest Health Research, 51 Mill Pond Road, Hamden, CT 06514 Jerry Williams, Assistant Director, Fire Operations, USDA Forest Service Fire & Aviation Management Staff, P.O. Box 96090, Washington, DC 20090 Melvin Bellinger, retired, made significant contributions. Abstract This paper is intended to broaden awareness and help develop consensus among USDA Forest Service scientists and resource managers about the role and significance of disturbance in ecosystem dynamics and, hence, resource management. To have an effective ecosystem management policy, resource managers and the public must understand the nature of ecological resiliency and stability and the role of natural disturbance on sustainability. Disturbances are common and important in virtually all ecosystems. Executive Summary "Ecosystems are not defined so much by the objects they contain as by the processes that regulate them" -- Christensen and others 1989 Awareness and understanding of disturbance ecology and the role disturbance plays in ecosystem dynamics, and the ability to communicate that information, is essential in understanding ecosystem potentials and the consequences of management choices. -
1 Changing Disturbance Regimes, Ecological Memory, and Forest Resilience 2 3 4 Authors: Jill F
1 Changing disturbance regimes, ecological memory, and forest resilience 2 3 4 Authors: Jill F. Johnstone1*§, Craig D. Allen2, Jerry F. Franklin3, Lee E. Frelich4, Brian J. 5 Harvey5, Philip E. Higuera6, Michelle C. Mack7, Ross K. Meentemeyer8, Margaret R. Metz9, 6 George L. W. Perry10, Tania Schoennagel11, and Monica G. Turner12§ 7 8 Affiliations: 9 1. Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2 Canada 10 2. U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, Jemez Mountains Field Station, Los 11 Alamos, NM 87544 USA 12 3. College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 USA 13 4. Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108 USA 14 5. Department of Geography, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309 USA 15 6. Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 16 59812 USA 17 7. Center for Ecosystem Science and Society and Department of Biology, Northern Arizona 18 University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011 USA 19 8. Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, 20 Raleigh, NC 27695 USA 21 9. Department of Biology, Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR 97219 USA 22 10. School of Environment, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand 23 11. Department of Geography and INSTAAR, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO 24 80309 USA 25 12. Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53717 26 27 * corresponding author: [email protected]; 28 § co-leaders of this manuscript 29 30 Running title: Changing disturbance and forest resilience 31 1 32 33 Abstract 34 Ecological memory is central to ecosystem response to disturbance. -
Disturbance Versus Restoration
Disturbance and Restoration of Streams P. S. Lake Prelude “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen.” Aldo Leopold “Round River. From the Journals of Aldo Leopold” ed., L. B. Leopold. Oxford U.P. 1953. Read: 1963. Lake George Mining Co., 1952, Captains Flat, N.S.W. Molonglo River. Heavy metals (Z+Cu) + AMD. Black (Lake 1963) clear (Norris 1985) ---Sloane & Norris (2002) Aberfoyle Tin NL, 1982. Rossarden, Tasmania. Tin and Tungsten (W). Cd, Zn. South Esk River, 1974 Lake Pedder, south west Tasmania. • Pristine, remote lake with a remarkable, glacial sand beach, endemic fish (Galaxias pedderensis) and ~5 spp., of invertebrates. • Flooded by two dams to produce hydro-electricity in 1973 • Sampled annually for 21 years. • Initial “trophic upsurge” then a steady decline to paucity. Ecological Disturbance • Interest triggered by Connell J.H (1978) Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis • Disturbances are forces with the potential capability to disrupt populations, communities and ecosystems. Defined by their type, strength, duration and spatial extent---not by their impacts. • Pulse, Press (Bender et al., 1984) and Ramp disturbances (Lake 2000) and responses. Disturbances within Disturbances • Distinct disturbances nested within enveloping disturbances. – Droughts—ramps of water loss, high temperatures, low water quality, loss of connectivity etc. – Climate change with ramps (sea level rise, temperature increase, acidification). Compound Disturbances • Natural e.g. drought and fire – Effect on streams: recovery from catchment-riparian fire impact exacerbated by drought cf., fire alone. (Verkaik et al., 2015). – Sites: Idaho, Catalonia, Victoria, Australia. -
Habitat Fragmentation Analysis of Boulder County
Habitat Fragmentation Analysis of Boulder County Authors: Paul Millhouser GIS Analyst Rocky Mountain Wild [email protected] 303-351-1020 Paige Singer Conservation Biologist/GIS Specialist Rocky Mountain Wild [email protected] 303-454-3340 Developed for Boulder County Parks and Open Space Small Grant Research November 29, 2018 Habitat Fragmentation Analysis of Boulder County INTRODUCTION Over the last twenty years, research on the effects of human changes to the landscape has increasingly emphasized the impacts of habitat fragmentation on the continued viability of wildlife populations. Development, in the form of roads, trails and other infrastructure, can have negative effects on habitat suitability and wildlife more generally. Impacts include changes in wildlife behavior and activity due to an increase in human presence; negative effects on species abundance; loss of habitat and spread of invasive species; increased forms of pollution, including noise and light; species’ loss of access to crucial habitat and resources due to road and human avoidance; decreased population viability; increased potential for human-wildlife conflicts; and direct wildlife mortality. See, for example, Benítez-López et al. 2010; Bennett et al. 2011; Gelbard and Belnap 2003; Jaeger et al. 2005; Jones et al. 2015; Mortensen et al. 2009; Trombulak et al. 2000. It is core to Boulder County Parks and Open Space’s (BCPOS) mission and goals to balance resource management and conservation with meeting the needs of the public. Yet, with more and more people coming to Colorado and settling on the Front Range, those in charge of managing our public lands are feeling an ever increasing pressure to accommodate the needs of wildlife while at the same time ensuring satisfactory experiences for the recreating public. -
Extinction Patterns, Δ18 O Trends, and Magnetostratigraphy from a Southern High-Latitude Cretaceous–Paleogene Section: Links with Deccan Volcanism
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 350–352 (2012) 180–188 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/palaeo Extinction patterns, δ18 O trends, and magnetostratigraphy from a southern high-latitude Cretaceous–Paleogene section: Links with Deccan volcanism Thomas S. Tobin a,⁎, Peter D. Ward a, Eric J. Steig a, Eduardo B. Olivero b, Isaac A. Hilburn c, Ross N. Mitchell d, Matthew R. Diamond c, Timothy D. Raub e, Joseph L. Kirschvink c a University of Washington, Earth and Space Sciences, Box 351310, Seattle WA 98195, United States b CADIC-CONICET, Bernardo Houssay, V9410CAB, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina c California Institute of Technology, Geological and Planetary Sciences, 1200 E. California Blvd. Pasadena CA 91125, United States d Yale University, Geology & Geophysics, 230 Whitney Ave. New Haven, CT 06511, United States e University of St. Andrews, Department of Earth Sciences, St. Andrews KY16 9AL, UK article info abstract Article history: Although abundant evidence now exists for a massive bolide impact coincident with the Cretaceous–Paleogene Received 19 April 2012 (K–Pg) mass extinction event (~65.5 Ma), the relative importance of this impact as an extinction mechanism is Received in revised form 27 May 2012 still the subject of debate. On Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula, the López de Bertodano Formation yields one Accepted 8 June 2012 of the most expanded K–Pg boundary sections known. Using a new chronology from magnetostratigraphy, and Available online 10 July 2012 isotopic data from carbonate-secreting macrofauna, we present a high-resolution, high-latitude paleotemperature record spanning this time interval. -
Habitat Fragmentation Experiments
Review A Survey and Overview of Habitat Fragmentation Experiments DIANE M. DEBINSKI* AND ROBERT D. HOLT† *Department of Animal Ecology, 124 Science II, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, U.S.A., email [email protected] †Natural History Museum and Center for Biodiversity Research, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, U.S.A., email [email protected] Abstract: Habitat destruction and fragmentation are the root causes of many conservation problems. We conducted a literature survey and canvassed the ecological community to identify experimental studies of terrestrial habitat fragmentation and to determine whether consistent themes were emerging from these studies. Our survey revealed 20 fragmentation experiments worldwide. Most studies focused on effects of fragmentation on species richness or on the abundance(s) of particular species. Other important themes were the effect of fragmentation in interspecific interactions, the role of corridors and landscape connectivity in in- dividual movements and species richness, and the influences of edge effects on ecosystem services. Our com- parisons showed a remarkable lack of consistency in results across studies, especially with regard to species richness and abundance relative to fragment size. Experiments with arthropods showed the best fit with the- oretical expectations of greater species richness on larger fragments. Highly mobile taxa such as birds and mammals, early-successional plant species, long-lived species, and generalist predators did not respond in the “expected” manner. Reasons for these discrepancies included edge effects, competitive release in the habitat fragments, and the spatial scale of the experiments. One of the more consistently supported hypotheses was that movement and species richness are positively affected by corridors and connectivity, respectively. -
Habitat Fragmentation Provides a Competitive Advantage to an Invasive Tree Squirrel, Sciurus Carolinensis
Biol Invasions DOI 10.1007/s10530-017-1560-8 ORIGINAL PAPER Habitat fragmentation provides a competitive advantage to an invasive tree squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis Tyler Jessen . Yiwei Wang . Christopher C. Wilmers Received: 13 April 2017 / Accepted: 2 September 2017 Ó Springer International Publishing AG 2017 Abstract Changes in the composition of biological (Sciurus griseus) by non-native eastern gray tree communities can be elicited by competitive exclusion, squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). We tested this wherein a species is excluded from viable habitat by a hypothesis along a continuum of invasion across three superior competitor. Yet less is known about the role study sites in central California. We found that within of environmental change in facilitating or mitigating the developed areas of the University of California at exclusion in the context of invasive species. In these Santa Cruz campus and city of Santa Cruz, S. situations, decline in a native species can be due to the carolinensis excluded S. griseus from viable habitat. effects of habitat change, or due to direct effects from The competitive advantage of S. carolinensis may be invasive species themselves. This is summarized by due to morphological and/or behavioral adaptation to the ‘‘driver-passenger’’ concept of native species loss. terrestrial life in fragmented hardwood forests. We We present a multi-year study of tree squirrels that classify S. carolinensis as a ‘‘driver’’ of the decline of tested the hypothesis that tree canopy fragmentation, native S. griseus in areas with high tree canopy often a result of human development, influenced the fragmentation. Future habitat fragmentation in west- replacement of native western gray tree squirrels ern North America may result in similar invasion dynamics between these species. -
The Effects of Disturbance and Succession on Wildlife Habitat And
This file was created by scanning the printed publication. Errors identified by the software have been corrected; however, some errors may remain. 11 The Effects of Disturbance K EVIN S. McKELVEY and Succession on Wildlife Habitat and Animal Communities his chapter discusses the study of disturbance and al l affect both the postdisturbance wildlife community Tsuccession as they relate to wildlife. As such, the and, more importantly, the trajectory of the postdistur discussion is confined to those disturbance processes bance community. Even for well-studied species, co that change the physical attributes of habitat, leading herent understandings of their relationships to distur to a postdisturbance trajectory. However, even with bance across time and space are therefore often vague. this narrowing of the scope of disturbances discussed, Commonly, we look at successional changes in habi there remain formidable obstacles prior to any co tat quality by using spatial samples of different ages as if herent discussion of disturbance. The first, and most they were a temporal series, which implies spatiotem fundamental, is definitional: what constitutes distur poral constancy in successional dynamics. This assump bance and succession, and what is habitat? The con tion has served wildlife research well, but in the face of cepts of disturbance, habitat, and succession are highly directional climate change and the nearly continuous scale-dependent; disturbances at one scale become addition of exotic species, this approach is becoming part of continuous processes at a larger scale, and ideas increasingly untenable. We need to embrace the idea associated with succession require assumptions of con that postdisturbance succession is increasingly unlikely stancy, which become highly problematic as spatiotem to produce communities similar to those that the dis poral scales increase. -
Habitat Fragmentation a Serious Problem for Bobwhites and Many Other Wildlife Species
BOBWHITE QUAIL INITIATIVE Habitat Fragmentation A serious problem for bobwhites and many other wildlife species Seventh in a series on management techniques to improve habitat for quail A common complaint voiced by land managers who Data collected in Georgia’s Bobwhite Quail Initiative (BQI) are trying to restore or increase quail populations is support the concept that a landscape comprised of large that the same intensity of habitat management, which habitat fragments that are relatively close together should once resulted in high numbers of bobwhites, now yields support higher quail densities than a landscape with small little or no quail population response. Often this occurs habitat fragments that are widely separated. In general, on small tracts of land (less than 2,000 acres) located bobwhite occurrence is higher on large BQI-managed in landscapes that are in poor condition for quail. In fields and where the fields are close together than on small short, the landscape has gradually changed from a “sea” BQI-managed fields that are widely separated. of quail habitat (i.e. grassland-forb habitat consisting of native grasses, weeds, briars and shrubs) to a fragmented landscape comprised of small and often widely separated “islands” or fragments of quail habitat. This process where a continuous habitat is divided into smaller and smaller pieces is referred to as habitat fragmentation, and it appears to be one of the most critical problems currently facing quail and many other wildlife species. Habitat fragmentation is most prevalent and problematic for quail management and restoration in landscapes where closed canopy hardwoods and pines, exotic grass pastures, large agricultural fields and suburban sprawl have replaced the low intensity, but extensive, farming and forestry of the past.