Ecological processes in heterogeneous landscapes: predation and diseases

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Humans are causing vast changes to landscapes worldwide. The consequences of these changes to wildlife depends on the spatial and temporal scales at which resources are fragmented, scales at which animals move, and the risks associated with moving to and using the resources. Linking animal performance to landscape heterogeneity therefore remains a key challenge to predicting population dynamics of free-ranging species. The goal of my research is to identify how spatially structured landscapes influences animal movements, interactions, and performance with implications for species management. I propose 3 projects addressing predation and disease in human-altered landscapes. First, loss of migratory populations has been a global phenomenon, but rarely do we fully understand why the loss occurs. In our past studies of elk-wolf- human interactions in montane Alberta, we found a nutritional advantage for migrating in summer that was only partially offset by a predation refuge when elk remain on winter range. We will quantify foraging differences between migrant and resident elk on the sympatric winter range and during calving because nutritional advantages accrued by migrants in summer may be voided and contribute to their demise. Second, carnivore management is among the most controversial wildlife issues worldwide. High but sustainable wolf harvests in central Alberta may be the result of spatially structured harvest from the registered trapline system that is biased toward harvest of juvenile wolves. Because no quotas exist for wolf harvest, I postulate that increasing road access for hunters may have greater influence than trapping on wolves because it is less selective and structured spatially. We explore this hypothesis in a modeling context using wolf demographic and genetic data from past studies. Third, chronic wasting disease is a 100% fatal prion disease in wild deer that was first detected in eastern Alberta in 2005 and is spreading. Seasonal responses of deer to heterogeneous resources is likely to influence the rates of deer contacts and directions of disease spread. We use local information to assess population-level management options for controlling the disease in a spatially structured environment.