Testing the Ideal Free Distribution Hypothesis: Moose Response to Changes in Habitat Amount

Stewart, Abbie; Komers, Petr E.

doi:10.5402/2012/945209

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(43 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Therefore, accuracy in detecting fine‐scale disturbances that are typically not captured by Landsat image resolution is crucial for the setting of conservation milestones and schedules. Disturbance in our study area, including fine‐scale disturbances such as seismic exploration lines, leads to the spread of invasive species (White et al ., ; MacFarlane et al ., ; McClay et al ., ), the loss of viability of already threatened bison and caribou populations (Gates et al ., ; Sorensen et al ., ), and the decline of subsistence resources such as moose (Morgan & Powell, ; Stewart & Komers, ). Even fine‐scale disturbance has a poor record of recovery as only about 8% of 35 year old seismic lines recovered to greater than 50% cover of woody vegetation (Lee & Boutin, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rates of Disturbance vary by data resolution: implications for conservation schedules using the Alberta Boreal Forest as a case study

Komers

Stanojevic

2013

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Investigations of biophysical changes on earth caused by anthropogenic disturbance provide governments with tools to generate sustainable development policy. Canada currently experiences one of the fastest rates of boreal forest disturbance in the world. Plans to conserve the 330 000 km(2) boreal forest in the province of Alberta exist but conservation targets and schedules must be aligned with rates of forest disturbance. We explore how disturbance rate, and the accuracy with which we detect it, may affect conservation success. We performed a change detection analysis from 1992 to 2008 using Landsat and SPOT satellite image data processing. Canada's recovery strategy for boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) states that ≤35% of a caribou range can be either burned or within 500 m of a man-made feature for caribou to recover. Our analyses show that by 2008 78% of the boreal forest was disturbed and that, if the current rate continues, 100% would be disturbed by 2028. Alberta plans to set aside 22% for conservation in a region encompassing oil sands development to balance economic, environmental, and traditional indigenous land-use goals. Contrary to the federal caribou recovery strategy, provincial conservation plans do not consider wildfire a disturbance. Based on analyses used in the provincial plan, we apply a 250 m buffer around anthropogenic footprints. Landsat image analysis indicates that the yearly addition of disturbance is 714 km(2) (0.8%). The higher resolution SPOT images show fine-scale disturbance indicating that actual disturbance was 1.28 times greater than detected by Landsat. If the SPOT image based disturbance rates continue, the 22% threshold may be exceeded within the next decade, up to 20 years earlier than indicated by Landsat-based analysis. Our results show that policies for sustainable development will likely fail if governments do not develop time frames that are grounded by accurate calculations of disturbance rates.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rates of Disturbance vary by data resolution: implications for conservation schedules using the Alberta Boreal Forest as a case study

Komers

Stanojevic

2013

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The IFD suggests that the available energy of an ''island'' is a function of infra-population size (Tregenza, 1995;Stewart and Komers, 2012;Williams et al, 2013). ''Islands'', in particular, have finite resources and conspecific interactions are exacerbated by more individuals vying for the same resources (Tregenza, 1995;Randhawa and Poulin, 2009;Tseng and Myers, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Ideal Free Distribution theory (IFD) predicts free and mobile organisms select habitat ''islands'' providing the greatest reward (Tregenza, 1995;Tyler and Gilliam, 1995;Stewart and Komers, 2012;Williams et al, 2013). Beneath tree outer bark, phloem carries photosynthates from the canopy to the roots (Högberg et al, 2001;Zwieniecki et al, 2004;Pompon et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of aggregation in a novel arboreal parasite: the influence of host size and infra-populations

Yule

Burns

2015

International Journal for Parasitology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Some studies conclude that moose are resilient to landscape disturbance (Schneider & Wasel, ; Torres et al., ) while others found that moose are susceptible to it (Kunkel & Pletscher, ; Laurian et al., ; Stewart & Komers, ). Unfortunately, however, the above studies did not measure the amount or rate of land cover disturbed in their study areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation of wildlife populations: factoring in incremental disturbance

Stewart¹,

Komers²

2017

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Progressive anthropogenic disturbance can alter ecosystem organization potentially causing shifts from one stable state to another. This potential for ecosystem shifts must be considered when establishing targets and objectives for conservation. We ask whether a predator-prey system response to incremental anthropogenic disturbance might shift along a disturbance gradient and, if it does, whether any disturbance thresholds are evident for this system. Development of linear corridors in forested areas increases wolf predation effectiveness, while high density of development provides a safe-haven for their prey. If wolves limit moose population growth, then wolves and moose should respond inversely to land cover disturbance. Using general linear model analysis, we test how the rate of change in moose (Alces alces) density and wolf (Canis lupus) harvest density are influenced by the rate of change in land cover and proportion of land cover disturbed within a 300,000 km 2 area in the boreal forest of Alberta, Canada. Using logistic regression, we test how the direction of change in moose density is influenced by measures of land cover change. In response to incremental land cover disturbance, moose declines occurred where <43% of land cover was disturbed; in such landscapes, there were high rates of increase in linear disturbance and wolf density increased. By contrast, moose increases occurred where >43% of land cover was disturbed and wolf density declined. Wolves and moose appeared to respond inversely to incremental disturbance with the balance between moose decline and wolf increase shifting at about 43% of land cover disturbed. Conservation decisions require quantification of disturbance rates and their relationships to predator-prey systems because ecosystem responses to anthropogenic disturbance shift across disturbance gradients.

show abstract

Testing the Ideal Free Distribution Hypothesis: Moose Response to Changes in Habitat Amount

Cited by 7 publications

References 29 publications

Rates of Disturbance vary by data resolution: implications for conservation schedules using the Alberta Boreal Forest as a case study

Rates of Disturbance vary by data resolution: implications for conservation schedules using the Alberta Boreal Forest as a case study

Drivers of aggregation in a novel arboreal parasite: the influence of host size and infra-populations

Conservation of wildlife populations: factoring in incremental disturbance

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About