Ecological processes in heterogeneous landscapes: predation and diseases

人类正在给世界各地的景观造成巨大的变化。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、动物迁移的尺度以及与迁移和利用资源相关的风险。因此，将动物生产性能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景观如何影响动物运动、相互作用和物种管理的表现。我提出了三个项目来解决人类改变景观中的捕食和疾病问题。首先，迁徙人口的减少是一种全球现象，但我们很少完全了解这种减少发生的原因。在我们过去对阿尔伯塔山区麋鹿-狼-人类相互作用的研究中，我们发现夏季迁徙的营养优势，只有当麋鹿留在冬季范围内时，一个捕食避难所才能部分抵消。我们将量化迁徙麋鹿和居住麋鹿在同域冬季范围和产犊期间的觅食差异，因为迁徙麋鹿在夏季积累的营养优势可能会失效，并导致它们的死亡。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。在阿尔伯塔省中部，狼的高但可持续的收获可能是空间结构化的收获的结果，这种收获来自于对幼狼的收获。由于狼的捕杀不存在配额，我假设增加猎人的道路通道可能比诱捕狼有更大的影响，因为它的选择性和空间结构更少。我们利用过去研究中狼的人口统计学和遗传数据在建模环境中探索了这一假设。第三，慢性消耗病是野鹿中一种100%致命的朊病毒疾病，2005年在阿尔伯塔省东部首次发现并正在蔓延。鹿对异质资源的季节性反应可能影响鹿接触率和疾病传播方向。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.