Roads influence movement and home ranges of a fragmentation-sensitive carnivore, the bobcat, in an urban landscape

Poessel, Sharon A.; Burdett, Christopher L.; Boydston, Erin E.; Lyren, Lisa M.; Alonso, Robert S.; Fisher, Robert N.; Crooks, Kevin R.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2014.10.010

Cited by 82 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Our results support previous findings that animals living in habitats with roads not only minimize the amount of road in their home range ( e.g ., Ursus americanus , Brody & Pelton , Puma concolor , Dickson & Beier , Lynux ruffus , Poessel et al . ), but they can tolerate roads depending on the degree of habitat disparity along roadsides.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of roads on spider monkeys’ home range and mobility in a heterogeneous regenerating forest

et al. 2017

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Arboreal fauna living in tropical ecosystems may be particularly affected by roads given their dependency on forest cover and the high vulnerability of such ecosystems to changes. Over a period of 4 yr, we followed subgroups of spider monkeys living in a regenerating dry tropical forest with 8.2 km of roads within their home range. We aimed to understand whether roads shaped the home range of spider monkeys and which road features affected their movement. Only 18 percent (3 km) of the spider monkeys’ home range perimeter bordered with roads; these roads had greater habitat disparity between road sides than roads inside the home range. Although monkeys were reluctant to be close to roads, and roadside habitat contained low proportions of mature forest, spider monkeys crossed roads at 69 locations (7.5 crossings per kilometer). The main road characteristic affecting crossings was canopy opening size, with greater probability of crossing where canopy openings were smaller. Our findings support the importance of canopy opening size for road crossing of arboreal taxa, but they also indicate the relevant role roadside forest structure may have. Minimizing canopy opening size and forest disturbance along roads can facilitate the movement of arboreal fauna and preserve the important role of spider monkeys and other arboreal taxa in seed dispersal and thus the maintenance and regeneration of forest diversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of roads on spider monkeys’ home range and mobility in a heterogeneous regenerating forest

et al. 2017

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“…However, bobcats are also habitat generalists and may persist near to and even within anthropogenically altered and populated areas (Hunter et al, 2003;Lyren, Alonso, Crooks, & Boydston, 2008b;Riley et al, 2003). Although major roads and dense urban development are barriers to functional connectivity in this region, telemetry and genetic studies (including pathogen genetics) have indicated occasional crossing of major roads by bobcats, mostly facilitated by culverts or underpasses (Fountain-Jones et al, 2017;Lee et al, 2012;Lyren et al, 2008b;Poessel et al, 2014;Riley et al, 2006;Serieys, Lea, Pollinger, Riley, & Wayne, 2015). Nonetheless, several independent microsatellite studies have broadly characterized a collection of genetically distinct bobcat populations, which are confined to discrete habitat patches of varying size separated by major roads and areas of concentrated urban development (Lee et al, 2012;Riley et al, 2006;Ruell et al, 2012;Serieys et al, 2015;Thomassen et al, 2018).…”

Section: Telemetry Studies Show That Bobcats In Coastal Southernmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization reduces genetic connectivity in bobcats (Lynx rufus) at both intra– and interpopulation spatial scales

et al. 2019

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Urbanization is a major factor driving habitat fragmentation and connectivity loss in wildlife. However, the impacts of urbanization on connectivity can vary among species and even populations due to differences in local landscape characteristics, and our ability to detect these relationships may depend on the spatial scale at which they are measured. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) are relatively sensitive to urbanization and the status of bobcat populations is an important indicator of connectivity in urban coastal southern California. We genotyped 271 bobcats at 13,520 SNP loci to conduct a replicated landscape resistance analysis in five genetically distinct populations. We tested urban and natural factors potentially influencing individual connectivity in each population separately, as well as study–wide. Overall, landscape genomic effects were most frequently detected at the study–wide spatial scale, with urban land cover (measured as impervious surface) having negative effects and topographic roughness having positive effects on gene flow. The negative effect of urban land cover on connectivity was also evident when populations were analyzed separately despite varying substantially in spatial area and the proportion of urban development, confirming a pervasive impact of urbanization largely independent of spatial scale. The effect of urban development was strongest in one population where stream habitat had been lost to development, suggesting that riparian corridors may help mitigate reduced connectivity in urbanizing areas. Our results demonstrate the importance of replicating landscape genetic analyses across populations and considering how landscape genetic effects may vary with spatial scale and local landscape structure.

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“…This is another example how urban wild boar modulated the landscape of fear: Usually roads provide a landscape of fear and are avoided but in this case are safe for urban wild boar because the disturbance by cars is predictable. Urban wild boar can be found close to roads while rural wild boar avoided areas close to roads similar to other wildlife (Grinder and Krausman, 2001;Dowding et al, 2010;Poessel et al, 2014;Stillfried et al, 2015;Thurfjell et al, 2015). Hence, the cognitive ability of wild boar to assess risk related road proximity and adjust their behavior accordingly seems very likely.…”

Section: Distance To Human Related Landscape Types (Prediction 3)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Secrets of Success in a Landscape of Fear: Urban Wild Boar Adjust Risk Perception and Tolerate Disturbance

et al. 2017

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In urban areas with a high level of human disturbance, wildlife has to adjust its behavior to deal with the so called "landscape of fear." This can be studied in risk perception during movement in relation to specific habitat types, whereby individuals trade-off between foraging and disturbance. Due to its high behavioral plasticity and increasing occurrence in urban environments, wild boar (Sus scrofa) is an excellent model organism to study adjustment to urbanization. With the help of GPS tracking, space use of 11 wild boar from Berlin's metropolitan region was analyzed: we aimed at understanding how animals adjust space use to deal with the landscape of fear in urban areas compared to rural areas. We compared use vs. availability with help of generalized linear mixed models. First, we studied landscape types selected by rural vs. urban wild boar, second, we analyzed distances of wild boar locations to each of the landscape types. Finally, we mapped the resulting habitat selection probability to predict hotspots of human-wildlife conflicts. A higher tolerance to disturbance in urban wild boar was shown by a one third shorter flight distance and by an increased re-use of areas close to the trap. Urban wild boar had a strong preference for natural landscapes such as swamp areas, green areas and deciduous forests, and areas with high primary productivity, as indicated by high NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) values. The areas selected by urban wild boar were often located closely to roads and houses. The spatial distribution maps show that a large area of Berlin would be suitable for urban wild boar but not their rural conspecifics, with the most likely reason being a different perception of anthropogenic disturbance. Wild boar therefore showed considerable behavioral plasticity suitable to adjust to human-dominated environments in a potentially evolutionarily adaptive manner.

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Roads influence movement and home ranges of a fragmentation-sensitive carnivore, the bobcat, in an urban landscape

Cited by 82 publications

References 32 publications

The effect of roads on spider monkeys’ home range and mobility in a heterogeneous regenerating forest

The effect of roads on spider monkeys’ home range and mobility in a heterogeneous regenerating forest

Urbanization reduces genetic connectivity in bobcats (Lynx rufus) at both intra– and interpopulation spatial scales

Secrets of Success in a Landscape of Fear: Urban Wild Boar Adjust Risk Perception and Tolerate Disturbance

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