Quantifying the Integrative Effects of Rapid Environmental Change for Terrestrial Mammals

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Human induced landscape change can have profound impacts for biodiversity. A reduction in resources, a decrease in population connectivity, and altered interspecific interactions can influence the persistence of species as well as the composition and functioning of ecological communities. When considering the responses of individual populations, the effects of landscape change are variable and dynamic. This is a result of interspecific differences in life history and community context. Considering the inherent complexity of the problem, the science of measuring and predicting the ecological impacts of human activities has much room to grow.******For terrestrial mammals, the science of impacts research' often focuses on the ecology of individuals as they respond to disturbance stimuli or populations as they decline in abundance following habitat loss. Theory and empirical observation suggest that such responses should integrate across ecological scales. Thus, we need to evolve impacts research so that we quantify the complexity of responses, from the fine-scale redistribution of individuals, to the disruption of life-history events such as migration, and the contraction and fragmentation of populations. ******Over the next Discovery Grant period, my research will develop mechanistic linkages between fine-scale animal behaviour and population decline as influenced by rapid or large-scale habitat loss. I propose four projects where we investigate a set of mechanisms across a range of ecological scales that are hypothesised to influence the broad-scale distribution and abundance of populations: 1) intra- and inter-patch movement across rapidly fragmenting landscapes; 2) behavioural interactions as revealed by intraspecific fusion-fission dynamics; 3) range contraction and seasonal migration as a function of environment and population density; and 4) the influence of landscape change on bottom-up and top-down drivers of population decline. Each project will consider behaviour-habitat interactions from the perspective of the individual animal as well as changes in population or distributional dynamics at the scale of the landscape.******I will use American marten, caribou, and moose as model species; this will allow me to capitalise on past results and data from my lab. Study objectives are consistent with my long-term research goals of quantifying and predicting the effects of human activities on the behaviour, distribution and abundance of terrestrial vertebrates. Findings will have direct application to the management and conservation of a number of high-profile species. More broadly, this research will provide new conceptual and methodological avenues for considering the mechanistic elements of population change, and train high-quality personnel whose future employment and contributions in this area will have knowledge-based impacts on the field and economic benefits to Canada.