Ecological processes in heterogeneous landscapes: predation and diseases

人类正在给世界各地的景观带来巨大的变化。这些变化对野生动物的影响取决于资源分散的空间和时间尺度、动物移动的规模以及与转移和使用资源相关的风险。因此，将动物行为与景观异质性联系起来仍然是预测自由放养物种种群动态的关键挑战。我的研究目标是确定空间结构的景观如何影响动物的运动、相互作用和表现，并对物种管理产生影响。我提出了三个项目，解决人类改变的景观中的捕食和疾病问题。首先，流动人口的流失是一种全球现象，但我们很少能完全理解为什么会发生这种情况。在我们过去对阿尔伯塔省山地麋鹿-狼-人类相互作用的研究中，我们发现了夏季迁徙的营养优势，只有当麋鹿留在冬季牧场时，这种优势才会被捕食避难所部分抵消。我们将量化迁徙的麋鹿和栖息的麋鹿在冬季同域范围和产犊期间的觅食差异，因为迁徙的麋鹿在夏季积累的营养优势可能会被抵消，并导致它们的灭绝。其次，食肉动物的管理是世界上最具争议的野生动物问题之一。艾伯塔省中部狼的高收成但可持续可能是注册栅栏系统空间结构收割的结果，该系统偏向于幼狼的收割。由于狼的收获没有配额，我推测，增加对猎人的道路准入可能比诱捕狼产生更大的影响，因为它不那么有选择性，在空间上也没有那么有结构。我们使用过去研究中的狼人口统计和基因数据在建模环境中探索这一假设。第三，慢性消耗性疾病是一种100%致命的野鹿普恩病毒疾病，于2005年在艾伯塔省东部首次发现，目前正在蔓延。鹿对异质资源的季节性反应可能会影响鹿的接触率和疾病传播的方向。我们使用当地信息来评估在空间结构环境中控制疾病的人口水平管理选择。

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.