Human disturbance is the most limiting factor driving habitat selection of a large carnivore throughout Continental Europe

Ripari, Lucia; Premier, Joe; Belotti, Elisa; Bluhm, Hendrik; Breitenmoser‐Würsten, Christine; Bufka, Luděk; Červený, Jaroslav; Drouet‐Hoguet, Nolwenn; Fuxjäger, Christian; Jędrzejewski, Włodzimierz; Kont, Raido; Koubek, Petr; Kowalczyk, Rafał; Krofel, Miha; Krojerová-Prokešová, Jarmila; Molinari-Jobin, Anja; Okarma, Henryk; Oliveira, Teresa; Remm, Jaanus; Schmidt, Krzysztof; Zimmermann, Fridolin; Kramer‐Schadt, Stephanie; Heurich, Marco

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109446

Cited by 30 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 105 publications

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“…As with other studies [ 6 , 17 – 20 , 26 , 32 , 34 , 73 ], we used a version of a human footprint to create an input movement cost layer for our upstream model. This method is based on evidence that many species are more likely to use and move successfully through natural land cover types and conversely, avoid areas with more anthropogenic impact [ 11 , 12 , 74 , 75 ]. Use of an upstream, generic species approach [ 9 ] and a human footprint could be considered a model of structural connectivity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, upstream approaches attempt to model functional connectivity by incorporating the movement behaviours of multiple species across generalized environmental attributes and land cover types. The movement patterns of many species, for example, are known to be negatively affected by human-modified land cover features such as cities and roads [11][12][13][14]. Indeed, a global study found that the movement of 57 mammal species was reduced by up to one half in areas with a high human footprint [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predicting areas important for ecological connectivity throughout Canada

et al. 2023

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Governments around the world have acknowledged that urgent action is needed to conserve and restore ecological connectivity to help reverse the decline of biodiversity. In this study we tested the hypothesis that functional connectivity for multiple species can be estimated across Canada using a single, upstream connectivity model. We developed a movement cost layer with cost values assigned using expert opinion to anthropogenic land cover features and natural features based on their known and assumed effects on the movement of terrestrial, non-volant fauna. We used Circuitscape to conduct an omnidirectional connectivity analysis for terrestrial landscapes, in which the potential contribution of all landscape elements to connectivity were considered and where source and destination nodes were independent of land tenure. Our resulting map of mean current density provided a seamless estimate of movement probability at a 300 m resolution across Canada. We tested predictions in our map using a variety of independently collected wildlife data. We found that GPS data for individual caribou, wolves, moose, and elk that traveled longer distances in western Canada were all significantly correlated with areas of high current densities. The frequency of moose roadkill in New Brunswick was also positively associated with current density, but our map was not able to predict areas of high road mortality for herpetofauna in southern Ontario. The results demonstrate that an upstream modelling approach can be used to characterize functional connectivity for multiple species across a large study area. Our national connectivity map can help governments in Canada prioritize land management decisions to conserve and restore connectivity at both national and regional scales.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting areas important for ecological connectivity throughout Canada

et al. 2023

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“…In addition, responses by large carnivores to human pressures also might vary across spatial scales of habitat use (e.g., establishment of home ranges in the wider landscape vs. use of areas within a home range; Mayor et al 2009). For example, several studies have found carnivores to avoid human-caused mortality risks primarily at broader scales, while selecting mainly for higher resource availability at finer scales (Ripari et al 2022;Thorsen et al 2022). A better understanding of how human pressure shapes large carnivore habitat use across scales could provide important insights into their adaptive capacity and reveal opportunities and limitations for landscapes of coexistence where large carnivores and people co-occur sustainably (Oriol-Cotterill et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to lynx' dispersal ability (Zimmermann et al 2007), their capacity to adjust to human pressure is therefore likely key for determining whether lynx can persist in Europe's human-dominated areas and therefore, to what extent currently isolated populations can be connected into viable metapopulations (Bonn Lynx Expert Group 2021). Several recent studies have highlighted that human pressure is a central driver of lynx habitat selection in Europe (Ripari et al 2022;Thorsen et al 2022), but how lynx adapt their habitat use in relation to human pressure and landscape composition at broad scales remains unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prerequisites for coexistence: human pressure and refuge habitat availability shape continental-scale habitat use patterns of a large carnivore

et al. 2023

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Context Adjustments in habitat use by large carnivores can be a key factor facilitating their coexistence with people in shared landscapes. Landscape composition might be a key factor determining how large carnivores can adapt to occurring alongside humans, yet broad-scale analyses investigating adjustments of habitat use across large gradients of human pressure and landscape composition are lacking. Objectives Here, we investigate adjustments in habitat use by Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in response to varying availability of refuge habitats (i.e., forests and rugged terrain) and human landscape modification. Methods Using a large tracking dataset including 434 individuals from seven populations, we assess functional responses in lynx habitat use across two spatial scales, testing for variation by sex, daytime, and season. Results We found that lynx use refuge habitats more intensively with increasing landscape modification across spatial scales, selecting forests most strongly in otherwise open landscapes and rugged terrain in mountainous regions. Moreover, higher forest availability enabled lynx to place their home ranges in more human-modified landscapes. Human pressure and refuge habitat availability also shaped temporal patterns of lynx habitat use, with lynx increasing refuge habitat use and reducing their use of human-modified areas during periods of high exposure (daytime) or high vulnerability (postnatal period) to human pressure. Conclusions Our findings suggest a remarkable adaptive capacity of lynx towards human pressure and underline the importance of refuge habitats across scales for enabling coexistence between large carnivores and people. More broadly, we highlight that the composition of landscapes determines how large carnivores can adapt to human pressure and thus play an important role shaping large carnivore habitat use and distributions.

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“…Anthropization was found to have three macroscopic, non-neutral, effects over medium and large carnivores. In some cases, anthropized environments are sub-optimal, compared to natural ones, due to decreased prey availability [5] , the influence of human activity and artificial nightlight on foraging [6] [7] , persistent human disturbance [8] , the impact of infrastructures on population connectivity and mortality [9] [10] , disease transmission and competition with domestic dogs [11] and the risk of accidental intoxication [12] . These dynamics can in turn raise metabolic stress [13] , and limit reproduction and survival, thus creating source-sink dynamics with undisturbed areas [14] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A human-neutral large carnivore? No patterns in the body mass of gray wolves (Canis lupus) across a gradient of anthropization

Cerri¹,

Musto²,

Stefanini³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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English - The gray wolf (Canis lupus) expanded its distribution in Europe over the last few decades. To better understand the extent to which wolves could re-occupy their historical range, nowadays including anthropized landscapes, it is important to test if and how anthropization can affect fitness-related traits in this species. We modeled how anthropization was associated with the body condition of 175 wolves that were found dead in Italy between 1999 and 2021. After having accounted for ecologically-relevant confounders, we assessed how anthropization influenced i) the growth of wolves in their first year of age (n = 53), ii) sexual dimorphism between male and female adult wolves (n = 121). Wolves in anthropized areas grow up more slowly during their first year of age. This because young wolves have slightly higher body weight at 3-5 months, possibly due to the availability of human-derived food sources, but not a higher weight later. The difference in the body weight of adult females and males slightly increases with anthropization. However, this because of an increase in the body mass of males only, possibly due to sex-specific differences in dispersal and/or to “dispersal phenotypes”. Anthropization in Italy does not seem to have any clear, nor large, effect on the body mass of young and adult wolves. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a similar effect is reported for a large carnivore. Our findings indicates that wolves could potentially re-occupy most of their historical range in Europe, as anthropized landscapes do not seem to constrain their body mass, an important trait related to their fitness. Wolf management could therefore be needed across vast spatial scales and in anthropized areas prone to social conflicts. Italiano - Il lupo (Canis lupus) è una specie che, nel corso degli ultimi decenni, ha aumentato la propria diffusione in Europa. Per capire meglio se e quanto essa potrebbe occupare nuovamente il proprio areale di distribuzione storico, che oggi include anche paesaggi antropizzati, è importante quantificare se, e quanto, il grado di antropizzazione dell'ambiente ne condizioni alcuni tratti biologici associati alla fitness. In questo studio è stata modellata l’associazione tra l’antropizzazione e la condizione corporea di 175 lupi che sono stati rivenuti morti in Italia, tra il 1999 ed il 2021. In particolare, dopo avere condizionato le analisi ad un set di fattori confondenti potenzialmente rilevanti dal punto di vista ecologico, è stata quantificata l’influenza del grado di antropizzazione dell’ambiente: i) sulla crescita degl individui di lupo durante il primo anno di vita (n = 53), ii) sul dimorfismo sessuale tra maschi e femmine adulti (n = 121). I lupi provenienti da ambienti maggiormente antropizzati sembrano avere un accrescimento più lento durante il primo anno di vita. Questo perché essi hanno un peso corporeo leggermente più alto a 3-5 mesi di età, forse per via della maggiore disponibilità di risorse trofiche di origine umana, ma non un maggiore peso corporeo nei mesi successivi. La differenza nel peso corporeo delle femmine e dei maschi adulti sembra incrementare leggermente con il grado di antropizzazione dell’ambiente. Tuttavia, questo aumento è legato soltanto ad un aumento nel peso corporeo dei maschi, forse a causa di differenze tra maschi e femmine nei processi di dispersione e/o alla presenza di “fenotipi da dispersione”. In Italia,il grado di antropizzazione dell’ambiente non sembra quindi avere nessun effetto chiaro, o importante, sul peso corporeo dei lupi. Né su quello dei giovani, durante primo anno di età, né su quello degli adulti. Per quanto ne sappiamo, questo è il primo studio che rileva l’assenza di un effetto del grado di antropizzazione dell'ambiente su di un grande carnivoro. Implicazioni pratiche. I risultati di questo studio indicano che il lupo potrebbe potenzialmente ri-occupare la maggior parte del proprio areale di distribuzione storico in Europa. Questo in virtù del fatto che il grado di antropizzazione dell’ambiente non sembra condizionarne il peso corporeo, un importante parametro biologico fortemente associato alla fitness. In questo caso, eventuali strategie di gestione della specie andrebbero quindi implementate su grosse scale spaziali, anche in aree antropizzate, dove il rischio di conflitti sociali sul tema è maggiore.

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Human disturbance is the most limiting factor driving habitat selection of a large carnivore throughout Continental Europe

Cited by 30 publications

References 105 publications

Predicting areas important for ecological connectivity throughout Canada

Predicting areas important for ecological connectivity throughout Canada

Prerequisites for coexistence: human pressure and refuge habitat availability shape continental-scale habitat use patterns of a large carnivore

A human-neutral large carnivore? No patterns in the body mass of gray wolves (Canis lupus) across a gradient of anthropization

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