Mapping seasonal European bison habitat in the Caucasus Mountains to identify potential reintroduction sites

Bleyhl, Benjamin; Сипко, Т. П.; Trepet, S. A.; Bragina, Eugenia V.; Leitão, Pedro J.; Radeloff, Volker C.; Kuemmerle, Tobias

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2015.06.011

Cited by 37 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Our analyses relied on the most comprehensive wisent occurrence dataset collected to date, spanning a wide range of environmental conditions, herd sizes and reintroduction histories. Our habitat models had high fits and yielded plausible results, consistent with prior, more fine‐scale assessments (Daleszczyk et al , ; Kuemmerle et al , ; Krasińska & Krasiński, ; Bleyhl et al , ; Kuemmerle et al , ). Still, the number of sampled animals per herd was sometimes low (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To characterize habitat suitability, we used seven predictor variables (Table ) found to be important in previous work on wisent habitat (Kuemmerle et al , ; Bleyhl et al , ). We obtained land‐cover information from the CORINE Land Cover database (http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/), and aggregated the original class catalogue into eight land‐cover classes: coniferous forest, mixed forest, broadleaved forest, grassland, cropland, open settlements, dense settlements and water.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, we used only quadratic and hinge features to limit model complexity and to prevent over-fitting (Elith et al, 2011;Merow et al, 2013). Because sampling background points from too broad areas might result in overly simplistic models (VanDerWal et al, 2009), we took background points only in the minimum convex polygons of To characterize habitat suitability, we used seven predictor variables (Table 2) found to be important in previous work on wisent habitat (Kuemmerle et al, 2010;Bleyhl et al, 2015). We obtained land-cover information from the CORINE Land Cover database (http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/), and aggregated the original class catalogue into eight landcover classes: coniferous forest, mixed forest, broadleaved forest, grassland, cropland, open settlements, dense settlements and water.…”

Section: Habitat Suitability Mappingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Connectivity or isolation? Identifying reintroduction sites for multiple conservation objectives for wisents in Poland

Perzanowski

Bleyhl

Olech

et al. 2019

Animal Conservation

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Large herbivores and carnivores today often only occupy small fractions of their former ranges, and restoring them is a conservation priority. Reintroductions may serve two critical goals in this context: (1) to expand and connect existing populations, or (2) to increase the number of separate populations as insurance in case individual populations are lost, for example, to disease. We developed an approach to identify reintroduction sites for both purposes, using an applied example of European bison or wisent (Bison bonasus) in Poland. Using a large occurrence dataset from all extant herds in Poland, we mapped suitable wisent habitats throughout Poland using a species distribution modelling approach. We identified 47 patches of suitable habitat, together covering 20,710 km2, and used graph theory tools to identify the top candidate reintroduction sites for (1) connecting existing herds into larger metapopulations or (2) establishing ‘reservoir’ herds that could serve as a backup in case of mass die‐offs. The most well‐connected habitat patches ranged between 203 and 728 km2 and occurred mainly in north‐western and south‐eastern Poland, in close vicinity to other free‐ranging herds. In contrast, candidate sites for reservoir herds were smaller (204–410 km2) and occurred mainly in central Poland. Our approach provides a possible blueprint for wisent reintroductions in Poland. More broadly, our work also highlights how jointly planning for multiple conservation goals for wide‐ranging species that depend on reintroductions or translocations can be achieved at the regional scale.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Habitat Suitability Mappingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Connectivity or isolation? Identifying reintroduction sites for multiple conservation objectives for wisents in Poland

Perzanowski

Bleyhl

Olech

et al. 2019

Animal Conservation

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“…good habitat in the environmental model, sub‐optimal habitat in the human disturbance model) and ‘refuges’ (i.e. sub‐optimal habitat in the environmental model, good habitat in the human disturbance model) in the future (Bleyhl et al ).…”

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confidence: 99%

European human‐dominated landscapes provide ample space for the recolonization of large carnivore populations under future land change scenarios

et al. 2017

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Europe is currently being re‐colonized by large carnivore species such as brown bear Ursus arctos, Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx and grey wolf Canis lupus. Approximately one‐third of Europe currently hosts at least one of these large carnivore species: they show permanent occurrence in some regions and sporadic occurrence without reproduction in others. We investigated potential future range expansions of these three large carnivores using three different analyses. First, we compared niche overlap between the historical, current permanent and current sporadic occurrences using n‐dimensional hypervolumes. Second, we identified the environmental variables that best explain differences between current sporadic and permanent occurrences through multi‐model inference. Third, we projected permanent occurrences into the future across a range of land‐use change scenarios. We also determined future refuges (i.e. sub‐optimal habitat in the environmental model, good habitat in the human disturbance model) and ecological traps (i.e. good habitat in the environmental model, sub‐optimal habitat in the human disturbance model). In the three large carnivore species, ecological niche overlap was higher between historical and current permanent occurrences than between historical and current sporadic occurrences, and we also found low ecological niche overlap between current permanent and sporadic occurrences. Between 20 and 24% (corresponding to 86 800 to 173 200 km2) of the current sporadic occurrences could result in permanent settlement of large carnivores in the year 2040, while 17–24% (corresponding to 122 200 to 104 100 km2) and 2.7–4.6% (corresponding to 11 800 to 28 400 km2) of the current sporadic occurrences are likely to become refuges and ecological traps, respectively. Factors affecting range expansion are human activities, which were negatively related to permanent occurrences of all three species. In light of our results, human‐dominated European landscapes provide ample space for the future recolonization of large carnivores.

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“…However, challenges still remain as the free-living bison are distributed on 40 small and rather isolated populations with no or little genetic exchange (15). None of these wild populations are considered to be self-sustaining (17).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild Steps in a Semi-wild Setting? Habitat Selection and Behavior of European Bison reintroduced to an Anthropogenic Landscape

Pedersen

Olsen

Sandel

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Recently, several wild or semi-wild herds of European bison have been reintroduced across Europe. It is essential for future successful bison reintroductions to know how the European bison use different habitats, which environmental parameters drive their habitat selection, and whether their habitat use and behavioural patterns in new reintroduction sites differ from habitats where European bison have been roaming freely for a long time.Here, we address these questions for a 40-ha enclosed site that has been inhabited by semi-free ranging European bison since 2012. The site, Vorup Meadows, is adjacent to the Gudenå river in Denmark and consists of human-modified riparian meadows. During 2013 we monitored the behavioural pattern and spatial use of the 11 bison present and in parallel carried out floristic analyses to assess habitat structure and food quality in the enclosure. We tested habitat use and selection against environmental parameters such as habitat characteristics, plant community traits, topography, and management area (release area vs. meadow area) using linear regression and spatial models.The bison herd had comparable diurnal activity patterns as observed in previous studies on free-roaming bison herds. Topography emerged as the main predictor of the frequency of occurrence in our spatial models, with high-lying drier areas being used more. Bison did not prefer open areas over areas with tree cover when accounting for habitat availability. However, they spent significantly more time in the release area, a former agricultural field with supplementary fodder, than expected from availability compared to the rest of the enclosure, a meadow with tree patches. We wish to increase awareness of possible long-term ethological effects of the release site and the management protocols accomplished here that might reduce the ecological impact by the bison in the target habitat, and thereby compromise or even oppose the conservation goals of the conservation efforts.

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Mapping seasonal European bison habitat in the Caucasus Mountains to identify potential reintroduction sites

Cited by 37 publications

References 56 publications

Connectivity or isolation? Identifying reintroduction sites for multiple conservation objectives for wisents in Poland

Connectivity or isolation? Identifying reintroduction sites for multiple conservation objectives for wisents in Poland

European human‐dominated landscapes provide ample space for the recolonization of large carnivore populations under future land change scenarios

Wild Steps in a Semi-wild Setting? Habitat Selection and Behavior of European Bison reintroduced to an Anthropogenic Landscape

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