Source: MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV submitted to NRP
HABITAT SELECTION, DISTRIBUTIONS, AND DEMOGRAPHY OF WILDLIFE ACROSS LANDSCAPES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
MCINTIRE-STENNIS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1008797
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Apr 18, 2016
Project End Date
Apr 17, 2021
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
(N/A)
MISSISSIPPI STATE,MS 39762
Performing Department
Dept of Wildlife and Fisheries
Non Technical Summary
As human populations expand into new areas, wildlife are increasingly forced into conflict with people, and there are increasingly few places, if any, where wildlife do not interact with humans and their interests. These interactions often occur at the landscape level, particularly in terms of where wildlife can be found in a landscape and what they do in these places. Given that humans have vested financial and moral interests in managing local and regional landscapes to suit their own purposes (e.g., forestry, sustainable agriculture), and in maintaining healthy wildlife populations (e.g., hunting, ecotourism), there is a growing need to understand how development of landscapes influences wildlife populations by modifying their natural habitats, and how those populations in turn influence land use practices by using the landscapes we seek to cultivate. This project seeks to provide new insight into human-wildlife interactions and conflicts in both managed and pristine landscapes, and to help state and federal agencies and private stakeholders better manage their land to accommodate human land use demands while simultaneously providing habitats and landscapes of value to wildlife populations. Three projects are proposed that will advance ecological understanding of the interaction between wildlife and landscapes, and create specific management targets and tools to improve management of agricultural and forestry landscapes.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1230611107025%
1350899107025%
1220611107025%
1350850107025%
Knowledge Area
135 - Aquatic and Terrestrial Wildlife; 122 - Management and Control of Forest and Range Fires; 123 - Management and Sustainability of Forest Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0850 - Wildlife habitats; 0611 - Conifer forests of the South; 0899 - Wildlife and natural fisheries, general/other;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;
Goals / Objectives
Habitat loss due to human land use demand is frequently cited as a major contributor to, if not the preeminent cause of, terrestrial species declines throughout the world (Hoffmann et al. 2010, WWF 2014). Because of these global declines in wildlife abundance, there is substantial interest in understanding how wildlife utilize both pristine and managed landscapes (Aarts et al. 2008, Morales et al. 2010, Street et al. 2015b), how variation in landscape characteristics influence animal distributions and demography (Sæther et al. 2008, Aarts et al. 2013, Street et al. 2015a), and the amount of habitat availability and connectivity necessary to sustain viable populations of species of interest (Fahrig 2001, Swift and Hannon 2010). Given the potentially conflicting demands of land management and wildlife-based recreation, there is substantial opportunity in Mississippi to investigate the role of managed landscapes in determining the distribution and abundance of wildlife species of interest. Thus my research platform is intended to investigate these issues from applied and ecological perspectives by developing new insights into the role of landscapes in shaping species distributions while simultaneously providing useful guidance and products to land owners and managers throughout Mississippi and the United States.
Project Methods
Project 1: Moose Habitat SelectionThis research is based on biotelemetry data from GPS collared moose in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario at and across the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence/boreal forest boundary. This study couples the known locations of moose based on GPS position relative to remotely sensed landscape characteristics to assess habitat selection and home range characteristics of moose. Data collection for these projects has either been completed or is ongoing by academic and government personnel. This project is in collaboration with Drs. John Fieberg and James Forester with the University of Minnesota, Dr. Arthur Rodgers with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Dr. Michelle Carstensen with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and Dr. Eric Van Der Wal with Memorial University of Newfoundland.The Ontario data includes 122 adult female moose spanning 1995-2001, and is located northwest of Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. The Minnesota data includes 134 adult female moose, spans 2010-current, and is located in the northeast Arrowhead region north of Lake Superior and south of the U.S.-Canadian border. These sites differ in relative abundance of habitat types, particularly water and deciduous cover, but are otherwise ecologically similar. Ontario capture and collaring protocols were approved by OMNRF, and Minnesota protocols were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and followed recommendations set forth by the Animal Care and Use Council of the American Society of Mammalogists. Landscape data is available from the Ontario Land Cover 2000 (OLC) and the National Land Cover Database 2011 (NLCD), both of which are publically available. No additional collaring is anticipated; however, if necessary, additional collars will be purchased and deployed by MNDNR or OMNRF technicians. Environmental data (e.g., temperature, precipitation) is publically available from Environment Canada (EC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).A second component of this research includes examining potential time lags and carry over effects in environmental conditions (i.e., temperature, precipitation) and disturbance regimes as they affect demography and habitat selection. Time series of moose population abundance and distribution are available in Ontario from the Moose Aerial Inventory, which is publically available via data sharing agreement with OMNRF. These data can be compared to either the OLC or the Forest Resource Inventory (FRI). The FRI is a spatially and temporally explicit dataset of forest stand types, vegetative associations (i.e., canopy and understory composition), and both natural and anthropogenic disturbance events, and spans the entire managed forests of Ontario. The FRI is publically available with a data sharing agreement from the OMNRF.Project 2: White-Tailed Deer Predator-Prey InteractionsThis project will be based on biotelemetry data obtained from GPS collared white-tailed deer in Mississippi. This study will couple the estimated location of deer relative to landscape characteristics based on remotely sensed landscapes. Data collection and collar deployment is currently being planned by Drs. Steve Demarais, Bronson Strickland, and myself. We are actively seeking a Ph.D. candidate for the project.This dataset will consist of biotelemetry data of adult male white-tailed deer obtained from approximately 50 as yet unpurchased GPS collars. Capture and deployment protocols will be approved by IACUC and will follow recommendations set forth by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the American Society of Mammalogists. Landscape data will be obtained from the NLCD dataset, aerial photography, and ground-truthed data (e.g., actual composition of stands, stand density, etc.) where appropriate. We will identify experimental sites based on variation in topography and landscape configuration to encompass a variety of landscape types. We will directly manipulate how many hunters have access to the experimental sites and when hunts take place. If possible, we will also directly track hunter effort (hunter-days) and deploy GPS data loggers with hunters to track their movement rates and habitat selection trends. Environmental data is publically available from NOAA.Project 3: Post-Disturbance Wildlife EstablishmentThis research will be based on field data collected in managed forests implementing prescribed fire protocols. This study will compare plant community composition and successional trajectories and rates post-disturbance to temporal patterns of habitat use and establishment by wildlife. Data collection is currently being planned by Dr. Marcus Lashley and myself. We are also actively seeking two graduate students (MSc, or Ph.D. contingent upon funding) to conduct the majority of field site management, prescribed fire application, and data collection.This dataset will consist of rigorously collected data on plant community composition post-fire. We currently have access to the Mississippi State University Andrews Forestry and Wildlife Laboratory. Potential replicate sites include the John Starr Memorial Forest, the Wes Starr Forest, and Spirit Hill Farm; however, use of these sites is contingent upon approval by site managers, which we are currently pursuing. Experimental sites will be subject to a variety of burning and thinning treatments (e.g., burning along, burning with thinning, burning with herbicide, etc.) with options for 1-, 3-, and 5-year return rates (i.e., fire frequency). Using standard transect or grid surveys, a graduate student will collect data on the abundance of plant species post-disturbance. We will also collect samples for nutritional analysis (e.g., carbon:nitrogen ratios, macronutrient concentrations). This portion of the project will largely be the purview of Dr. Lashley, and the primary goal will be to track changes in plant community composition and characteristics over time.Another graduate student will simultaneously collect data on wildlife use by experimental treatments. We will deploy camera traps to systematically record use of treatments by large species (e.g., turkey, white-tailed deer). Use by ground-nesting birds and songbirds will be detected by song identification based on point counts along transects and/or systematic placement of recording devices. The timing of surveys will be adjusted to suit the song timing (i.e., dawn or evening chorus) of key species of interest (e.g., bob-white quail). We may also collect data on small mammals using non-lethal capture methods such live traps or Hunt camera traps (see McCleery et al. 2014 in Wildlife Society Bulletin); and by herpetofauna using coverboards or funnel traps. Any field methods involving manipulation or capture of wildlife will be approved by IACUC and will follow recommendations set forth by taxon-specific scientific organizations (e.g., American Society of Mammalogists, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists). These data will be used to track changes in intensity of use by wildlife as a function of plant community composition and succession, and to provide recommendations to further conservation in managed forest landscapes.

Progress 04/18/16 to 04/17/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached this year has primarily been academic peers (professors, research scientists, federal cooperators, etc.). Due to COVID-19, results and progress have been disseminated primarily through peer-reviewed publications. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Because this project is now complete,there has been no training and professional development under this project since the last report. All training and development activities now take place under How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project was completed in 2021. Since that time, and since the last report completed, no additional accomplishments on this project have been completed because all mentors, mentees, and students are now working under a separate project.

Publications


    Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The target audience reached this year has primarily been academic peers (professors, research scientists, federal cooperators, etc.). Due to COVID-19, results and progress have been disseminated primarily through peer-reviewed publications. Changes/Problems:The greatest challenge to this project was the COVID-19 pandemic. We had planned to host a third movement ecology summer workshop at University of Miami or Mississippi State University but were unable to do so due to reduced interest in the workshop during the pandemic. Fortunately, data collection for this project has either been completed or is ongoing via automated remote-sensing technologies, so student training and workshops were the only activities impacted by the pandemic. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As we have no current graduate or undergraduate students working on this project, there has been no training and professional development under this project this year. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our results have been disseminated to the academic community through peer-reviewed manuscripts, as reported here. Additionally, certain findings have been shared with Mississippi landowners through extension activities and publications, and to the broader U.S. through social media (Facebook, YouTube, etc.). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This project is scheduled to terminate on February 28, 2021. As such, we will spend the next 2 months finalizing as many of our new projects and publications as we can; beyond this, no additional effort on this specific project is expected prior to project termination.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? The primary accomplishment of this project this year is the finalization of the mathematics and statistical framework for calculating precisely how much data is necessary to conduct a resource-selection analysis to a desired degree of accuracy. Our maths show that this is depending only on two biologically meaningful quantities: habitat selection strength and a novel metric of landscape complexity. This is a major conceptual and analytical breakthrough in our field, and we are seeking to publish this work in a Tier 1 research journal. We also published several new papers in the realm of animal movement and space use with respect to landscape structure and management activities, including distribution models for endangered plant species across the Southeast; interactions between deer habitat selection and forest structure during the hunting season; movements and habitat use by tiger sharks in the Gulf of Mexico; spatial population viability of endangered woodland caribou across managed pine forests; and fine-scale foraging decisions and trade-offs by caribou. In addition to these, we have a number of new manuscripts currently in review investigating similar questions and problems.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ramirez-Reyes, C., G. M. Street, F. J. Vilella, D. T. Jones-Farrand, M. S. Wiggers, and K. O. Evans. 2020. Ensemble species distribution model identifies survey opportunities for at-risk bearded beaksedge (Rhynchospora crinipes) in the southeastern United States. Accepted to Natural Areas Journal.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ramirez-Reyes, C., M. Nazeri, D. T. Jones-Farrand, G. M. Street, F. J. Vilella, and K. O. Evans. Embracing ensemble species distribution models to inform at-risk species status assessments. Status: Submitted to Journal of Applied Ecology.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Henderson, C. B., S. Demarais, B. K. Strickland, A. Chance, W. McKinley, and G. M. Street. Relative hunter activity affects adult male white-tailed deer habitat selection. Status: Submitted to Wildlife Biology.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hammerschlag, N., L. H. McDonnell, G. M. Street, E. L. Hazen, L. J. Natanson, C. T. McCandless, A. J. Gallagher, M. L. Pinsky, and B. Kirtman. Ocean warming drives rapid home range shifts in a marine apex predator. Status: Submitted to Current Biology.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Shamaskin, A. C., S. B. Correa, G. M. Street, A. C. Linhoss, and K. O Evans. Considering the influence of land-use/land cover on estuarine biotic richness with Bayesian hierarchical models. Status: Submitted to Ecological Applications.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Henderson, C. B., S. Demarais, G. M. Street, B. K. Strickland, and W. D. McKinley. 2020. Fine-scale vegetation use by white-tailed deer in a forested landscape during hunting season. Journal of Forest Research 25: 439-443.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ajemian, M. J., J. M. Drymon, N. Hammerschlag, R. J. D. Wells, G. M. Street, B. Falterman, J. McKinney, W. Driggers III, E. Hoffmayer, C. Fischer, G. Stunz. 2020. Movement patterns and habitat use of tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) across ontogeny in the Gulf of Mexico. PLoS One 15: e0234868.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: McNeill, E. P., I. D. Thompson, P. A. Wiebe, G. M. Street, J. Shuter, A. R. Rodgers, and J. M. Fryxell. 2020. Multi-scale foraging decisions made by woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in summer. Canadian Journal of Zoology 98: 331-341.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Fryxell, J. M., T. Avgar, B. Liu, J. A. Baker, A. R. Rodgers, J. Shuter, I. D. Thompson, D. E. B. Reid, J. Hagens, A. M. Kittle, A. Mosser, S. G. Newmaster, G. M. Street, M. J. Turetsky, G. S. Brown, and B. R. Patterson. 2020. Anthropogenic disturbance and population viability of Woodland Caribou in Ontario. Journal of Wildlife Management 84: 636-650.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: B�rger, L., A. Bijleveld, A. L. Fayet, G. E. Machovsky-Capuska, S. C. Patrick, G. M. Street, and E. Vander Wal. 2020. Editorial: Biologging special feature. Journal of Animal Ecology 89: 6-15.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Dentinger, J. E., L. B�rger, M. D. Holton, R. J. Marandi, D. A. Norman, B. K. Smith, S. F. Oppenheimer, B. K. Strickland, R. P. Wilson, and G. M. Street. A probabilistic framework for behavioral identification from animal-borne accelerometers. Status: Submitted to Ecological Modelling.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Street, G. M., J. R. Potts, L. B�rger, J. C. Beasley, S. Demarais, J. M. Fryxell, P. D. McLoughlin, K. L. Monteith, C. M. Prokopenko, M. C. Ribiero, A. R. Rodgers, B. K. Strickland, F. M. van Beest, D. A. Bernasconi, L. T. Beumer, G. Dharmarajan, S. P. Dwinnell, D. A. Keiter, A. Keuroghlian, L. J. Newediuk, J. E. F. Oshima, O. Rhodes Jr., P. E. Schlichting, N. M. Schmidt, and E. Vander Wal. Solving the sample size problem for species distribution models. Status: Submitted to Ecology Letters.


    Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The work performed thus far has been published in the journals Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Environmental Quality, Basic & Applied Ecology, Global Ecology & Biogeography, Global Ecology & Conservation,PLoS One, Forest Science, Methods in Ecology & Evolution, Ecology & Evolution, Mammalian Biology, and Ecography. Since the last reporting period, relevant presentations were delivered at The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting 2019, and the British Ecological Society's 2018 annual meeting. Additionally, a workshop targeting early-career professionals was developed and presented at the Noble Research Institute in Ardmore, OK, in collaboration with the British Ecological Society. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All undergraduate and graduate students involved in these projects have received substantial training in advanced statistical modeling and fundamental theories of statistics to create and understand the outputs from a bootstrap protocol and from generalized linear and additive models. They have furthered their data carpentry skills, their understanding of generalized linear and additive models, and their understanding of error accommodation in complex models. Additionally, I co-organized and lead a workshop at the Noble Research Institute (Ardmore, OK) on statistical analysis of animal movement and space use data (the predominate types of data I collect and use for my research). This workshop covered fundamental programming and data carpentry, data visualization, path analysis, home ranging, resource- and step-selection, hidden Markov models, and state-space models. We had 25 attendees (>90% graduate students). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have submitted and published multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts and given multiple talks at society conferences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to pursue publication of manuscripts developed from these projects. Additionally, with several new students identified we will develop new graduate projects relevant to the goals of this CRIS proposal, and I will continue to develop novel mathematical and simulation models of relevance. Specifically, I intend to develop new grant proposals in collaboration with UK researchers extending the findings of the sample size equations to the field and to test novel hierarchical models of species distribution using partial differential equations to fore- and back-cast animal distributions in time. We will also continue to develop the ensemble SDM approach for USFWS.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Under these goals, I have completed two critical modeling projects. The first asks how human disturbance and activities have affected the abundance of primary consumers at regional and global scales. This work is the culmination of years of collaborative effort between myself and Dr. Gordon McNickle at Purdue University, and we show in the resulting paper that primary consumers are as productive as global scales as many global biomes. We also show that anthropogenic disturbance has reduced net secondary production by an estimated 50%. The second modeling project asks, how much data is necessary to estimate a model of species distribution? In collaboration with biomathematicians, Ihave generated novel analytical solutions to this question showing that the amount of information needed is affected by only two variables: habitat selection strength and a novel estimator of landscape variance. This work shows that far less information is necessary to estimate the most biologically relevant effects by landscapes on species distributions and allows researchers to better justify their modeling and research efforts, and to make better use of awarded research dollars by better predicting how much sampling effort will be necessary for SDM-based research. I have also continued to perform the experimental work on animal perception, fitness, and space use in fruit fly microcosms. We encountered unexpected difficulties in this past year, and we should now be concluding this effort in the next 6 months. Finally, I continue to collaborate with U.S. Fish & Wildlife on ensemble species distribution modeling for rare and at-risk species. We have now completed modeling activities for 3 species under consideration for listing under the ESA, and we have returned deliverable products to cooperating agencies and biologists. We are also developing a manuscript describing this work and its relevance to species status assessments and listing activities.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Chance, D. P., J. R. McCollum, G. M. Street, B. K. Strickland, and M. A. Lashley. 2019. Native species abundance buffers non-native plant invasibility following intermediate disturbance. Forest Science 65: 336-343.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Wong, S. T., J. L. Belant, R. Sollmann, A. Mohamed, J. Niedballa, J. Mathai, G. M. Street, and A. Wilting. 2019. Influence of body mass, sociality, and movement behavior on improved detection probabilities when using a second camera trap. Global Ecology and Conservation 20: e00791.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Street, G. M., and G. G. McNickle. 2019. A global estimate of terrestrial net secondary productivity of primary consumers. Global Ecology and Biogeography 28: 1763-1773.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Chance, D. P., J. R. R. McCollum, G. M. Street, B. K. Strickland, and M. A. Lashley. Vegetation characteristics influence fine-scale intensity of habitat use by wild turkey and white-tailed deer in a loblolly pine plantation. Status: Accepted to Basic & Applied Ecology.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: B�rger, L., A. Bijleveld, A. L. Fayet, G. E. Machovsky-Capuska, S. C. Patrick, G. M. Street, and E. Vander Wal. Editorial: Biologging special feature. Status: Accepted to Journal of Animal Ecology.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Fryxell, J. M., T. Avgar, B. Liu, J. A. Baker, A. R. Rodgers, J. Shuter, I. D. Thompson, D. E. B. Reid, J. Hagens, A. M. Kittle, A. Mosser, S. G. Newmaster, G. M. Street, M. J. Turetsky, G. S. Brown, and B. R. Patterson. Population viability of boreal woodland caribou across an anthropogenic disturbance gradient. Status: Submitted to Journal of Wildlife Management.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Henderson, C. B., S. Demarais, G. M. Street, B. K. Strickland, and W. D. McKinley. Finding escape cover: vegetation in areas used by white-tailed deer during hunting season. Status: Submitted to Wildlife Biology.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: McNeill, E. P., I. D. Thompson, P. A. Wiebe, G. M. Street, J. Shuter, A. R. Rodgers, and J. M. Fryxell. Multi-scale foraging decisions made by woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in summer. Status: Submitted to Canadian Journal of Zoology.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: How many animals are required for measuring species distributions? The British Ecological Society Annual Meeting 2019, Belfast, UK: Contributed presentation (Presented by J. R. Potts)
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Burr, P. C., J. L. Avery, G. M. Street, B. K. Strickland, and B. S. Dorr. Fine-scale characteristics of catfish aquaculture ponds influencing piscivorous avian species foraging use in the Mississippi Delta. Status: Submitted to PLoS One.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: An ensemble modeling framework to better predict distribution of at-risk species in the southeastern U.S. The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting 2019, Reno, Nevada: Contributed presentation.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Burr, P. C., J. L. Avery, G. M. Street, B. K. Strickland, and B. S. Dorr. Historic and contemporary use of catfish aquaculture farms by piscivorous avian species in the Mississippi Delta. Status: Submitted to The Condor.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Burr, P. C., J. L. Avery, G. M. Street, B. K. Strickland, and B. S. Dorr. Foraging habitat use of double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) and great egrets (Ardea alba) wintering in the Mississippi Delta: aquaculture ponds versus naturally occurring water bodies. Status: Submitted to Journal of Wildlife Management.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Dentinger, J. E., L. B�rger, M. D. Holton, R. J. Marandi, D. A. Norman, B. K. Smith, S. F. Oppenheimer, B. K. Strickland, R. P. Wilson, and G. M. Street. A probabilistic framework for behavioral identification from animal-borne accelerometers. Status: Submitted to Methods in Ecology & Evolution.


    Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The work performed thus far has been published in the journals PLoS One, Forest Science, Methods in Ecology & Evolution, Ecology & Evolution, Mammalian Biology, and Ecography. Additional manuscripts have been submitted to Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Ecology & Evolution, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Applied Ecology, Basic & Applied Ecology, and Methods in Ecology & Evolution. A presentation was deliveredat TWS 2018, and a workshop targeting early-career researchers was conducted at the University of British Columbia in collaboration with The British Ecological Society and UBC. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All undergraduate and graduate students involved in these projects have received substantialtraining in advanced statistical modeling and fundamental theories of statistics to create and understand the outputs from a bootstrap protocol and from generalized linear and additive models. They have furthered their data carpentry skills, their understanding of generalized linear and additive models, and their understanding of error accommodation in complex models. Additionally, I co-organized and lead a workshop at the University of British Columbia on statistical analysis of animal movement and space use data (the predominate typesof data I collect and use for my research). This workshop covered fundamental programming and data carpentry, data visualization, path analysis, home ranging, resource- and step-selection, hidden Markov models, and state-space models. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have submitted and published multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts, and given multiple talks at society conferences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to pursue publication of manuscripts developed from these projects. Additionally, with several new students identified we will develop new graduate projects relevant to the goals of this CRIS proposal, and I will continue to develop novel mathematical and simulation models of relevance. Specifically, we intend to investigate feral swine distributions in natural forests in relation to biogeographic theory, application and modification of ensemble models for at-risk species assessments, and how sample sizes influence the outcome of commonly utilized species distribution models.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Under these goals, I have completed data collection for the abundance and distribution of difference mammalian species in a managed pine forest. This work involved collecting data on theabundance and quality of plants in forest stands, and occupancy and abundance of mammals using camera traps. The students on this project (Don Chance and Johannah McCollum) have since matriculated. This has resulted in 1 accepted publication and 3 submitted publications. I have also been conducting research on animal perception of landscapes using fruit flies as an experimental microcosm. This research is ongoing, but the 2 undergraduate researchers on the project (Isabella Durham and Jennifer Sublett) have nearly completed data collection, and preliminary data analyses are underway. We anticipate at least 1 manuscript submitted in the coming year. Finally, in collaboration with U.S. Fish & Wildlife, I have been working with a post-doctoral researcher to create novel ensemble models for the distributions of rare and at-risk species for species status assessments. The first year of this project is complete with two additional years recently funded, and we anticipate having at least 2 manuscripts submitted in the coming year.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Street, G. M., T. Avgar, and L. B�rger. 2018. Net displacement and temporal scaling: model fitting, interpretation, and implementation. Methods in Ecology & Evolution 9: 1503-1517.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Street, G. M., I. Erovenko, and J. T. Rowell. 2018. Dynamical facilitation of the ideal free distribution in non-ideal populations. Ecology & Evolution 8: 2471-2481.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Wong, S. T., J. L. Belant, R. Sollmann, A. Mohamed, J. Niedballa, J. Mathat, E. Meijaard, G. M. Street, J. Kissing, S. Mannan, and A. Wilting. 2018. Habitat associations of the Sunda stink-badger Mydaus javanensis in three forest reserves in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Mammalian Biology 88: 75-80.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Fieberg, J., J. D. Forester, G. M. Street, D. Johnson, A. A. ArchMiller, J. Matthiopoulos. 2018. Used-habitat calibration plots: a new procedure for validating species distribution, resource selection, and step-selection models. Ecography 41: 737-752.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Chance, D. P., J. R. McCollum, G. M. Street, B. K. Strickland, and M. A. Lashley. Native species abundance buffers non-native plant invisibility following intermediate disturbance. Status: Accepted to Forest Science.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Street, G. M., and G. G. McNickle. A global estimate of terrestrial net secondary productivity of primary consumers. Status: Revised and resubmitted to Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Paolini, K. E., B. K. Strickland, J. L. Tegt, K. C. VerCauteren, and G. M. Street. The habitat functional response links seasonal third-order selection to second-order landscape characteristics. Status: Submitted to Ecology & Evolution.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Wong, S. T., J. L. Belant, R. Sollmann, A. Mohamed, J. Niedballa, J. Mathai, G. M. Street, and A. Wilting. Influence of body mass, sociality, and movement behavior on improved detection probabilities when using a second camera trap. Status: Submitted to PLoS One.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2018 Citation: McCollum, J. R. R., D. P. Chance, M. A. Lashley, S. A. Rush, and G. M. Street. Accommodating imperfect detection in count data to assess model reliability for ecological inference. Status: Submitted to Journal of Animal Ecology.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2018 Citation: McCollum, J. R. R., D. P. Chance, M. A. Lashley, S. A. Rush, and G. M. Street. Habitat management works: mammalian community space use in a managed loblolly pine forest. Status: Submitted to Journal of Applied Ecology.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Fryxell, J. M., T. Avgar, B. Liu, J. A. Baker, A. R. Rodgers, J. Shuter, I. D. Thompson, D. E. B. Reid, J. Hagens, A. M. Kittle, A. Mosser, S. G. Newmaster, G. M. Street, M. J. Turetsky, G. S. Brown, and B. R. Patterson. Population viability of boreal woodland caribou across an anthropogenic disturbance gradient. Status: Submitted to Journal of Animal Ecology.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Chance, D. P., J. R. R. McCollum, G. M. Street, B. K. Strickland, and M. A. Lashley. Cover is the habitat component influencing fine-scale habitat use of wild turkey and white-tailed deer. Status: Submitted to Basic & Applied Ecology.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Description and prediction of carrying capacity from habitat selection across bioclimatic gradients. International Deer Biology Congress 2018, Estes Park, Colorado: Invited speaker.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: In search of does: male white-tailed deer exhibit unique movement patterns during the breeding season. International Deer Biology Congress 2018, Estes Park, Colorado: Contributed presentation. (Primary author: A. M. Jones)


    Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Our target audience thus far has been the scientific community. Our results to date have been presented at several scientific conferences, with severalnew publications in peer-reviewed journals. Changes/Problems:We have experienced no problems in pursuing these projects. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The graduate students involved in this project have received substantial training in advanced statistical modeling and fundamental theories of statistics to create and understand the outputs from a bootstrap protocol. They have furthered their data carpentry skills, their understanding of generalized linear and additive models, and their understanding of error accommodation in complex models. The undergraduate on the fruit fly research has continued developing her skills on data collection and experimental design. She has also begun working with generalized linear models to analyze fecundity counts. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have submitted and published multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts, and given multiple talks and posters at society conferences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to develop and refine the bootstrap models for animal detection and point count estimation. We will also implement the model in a spatial framework to predict the utilization distribution of different species and taxa to examine functional relationships in species-by-habitat interactions. Lastly, we will continue to develop the fruit fly experimental microcosm to better understand how perceived habitat quality influences the realized movement and space use trends of species, and subsequent realized vs. potential fitness discrepancies.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Under these goals, I have mostly completed data collection for the abundance and distribution of different components of the animal community in a managed pine forest under different management regimes. This work involves collecting data on the abundance and quality of plants in forest stands, and occupancy and abundance ofmammals using camera traps. The students on this project (Don Chance and Johannah McCollum) have finished the majority of data analysis and are now preparing their projects for publication.

    Publications

    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: A global estimate of net secondary productivity: wildlife in a changing world. The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting 2017, Albuquerque, New Mexico: Contributed presentation.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Adaptation to dishonest environmental signals: insights from an experimental microcosm. The British Ecological Society Annual Meeting 2017, Ghent, Belgium: Contributed presentation. (Primary author: I. J. Durham)
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: A global estimate of net secondary production of primary consumers. The British Ecological Society Annual Meeting 2017, Ghent, Belgium: Contributed presentation.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Fieberg, J., J. D. Forester, G. M. Street, D. Johnson, A. A. ArchMiller, J. Matthiopoulos. Used-habitat calibration plots: a new procedure for validating species distribution, resource selection, and step-selection models. Ecography: In Press.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Baruzzi, C., D. P. Chance, J. R. R. McCollum, G. M. Street, C. Brookshire, and M. A. Lashley. Invited cleaners or unsolicited visitors: eastern phoebes use white-tailed deer to forage. Food Webs: In Press.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Kittle, A., M., M. Anderson, T. Avgar, J. A. Baker, G. S. Brown, J. Hagens, E. Iwachewski, S. Moffatt, A. Mosser, B. R. Patterson, D. E. B. Reid, A. R. Rodgers, J. Shuter, G. M. Street, I. D. Thompson, L. M. Vander Vennen, and J. M. Fryxell. 2017. Landscape-level wolf space use is correlated with prey abundance, ease of mobility, and the distribution of prey habitat. Ecosphere 8: e01783.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Street, G. M., A. R. Rodgers, T. Avgar, L. M. Vander Vennen, and J. M. Fryxell. 2017. Comparing resource selection and demographic models for predicting animal density. Journal of Wildlife Management 81: 16-25.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Street, G. M., and G. G. McNickle. A global estimate of terrestrial net secondary productivity of primary consumers. Status: Submitted to Global Change Biology.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Street, G. M., I. Erovenko, and J. T. Rowell. Population dynamics facilitate an ideal free distribution in non-ideal organisms. Status: Submitted to Ecology & Evolution.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Street, G. M., T. Avgar, and L. B�rger. Net displacement and temporal scaling: model fitting, interpretation, and implementation. Status: Submitted to Methods in Ecology & Evolution.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Wong, S. T., J. L. Belant, R. Sollmann, A. Mohamed, J. Niedballa, J. Mathat, E. Meijaard, G. M. Street, J. Kissing, S. Mannan, and A. Wilting. Habitat associations of the Sunda stink-badger Mydaus javanensis in three forest reserves in Sabah, Malaysian Borner. Status: Submitted to Mammalian Biology.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Wong, S. T., J. L. Belant, R. Sollmann, A. Mohamed, J. Niefballa, J. Mathai, G. M. Street, and A. Wilting. Influence of body mass, sociality, and movement behavior on improved detection probabilities when using a second camera trap. Status: Submitted to PLoS ONE.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Street, G. M., and S. L. Webb. Book Review: Animal Movement: Statistical Models for Telemetry Data. Status: Accepted at Journal of Wildlife Management.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Can vegetation characteristics indicate habitat quality for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)? The Southeast Deer Study Group Annual Meeting 2017, St. Louis, Missouri: Contributed poster. (Primary author: D. P. Chance)
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Do common forest management techniques facilitate non-native plant invasions? The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting 2017, Albuquerque, New Mexico: Contributes presentation. (Primary author: D. P. Chance)


    Progress 04/18/16 to 09/30/16

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The results of this work thus far has been reported to members of the scientific community via the Mississippi Chapter of the Wildlife Society Annual Meeting 2016 in both presentation and poster form. Additionally, the undergraduate research on this project has been publicly distributed via Mississippi State University outreach and recruitment efforts for the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The graduate students involved in this work have received training in the identification and ecology of Mississippi plants and vegetative associations. They have also received training in data management and input anddata carpentry, and are preparing to begin data analysis using spatial statistics and multiple regression techniques. The undergraduate on the fruit fly research has received training in lab safety, experimental design, and data collection. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been disseminated through invited talks at Swansea University, through posters and presentations given at the Mississippi Chapter of the Wildlife Society Annual Meeting 2016, and through multiple peer-reviewed publications.Additionally, the undergraduate research has been disseminated through outreach newsletters and bulletins through the MSUUndergraduate Research Scholars Program. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue data collection in the managed pine forest through another growing season to accumulate sufficient data to explore how animal community structure and distribution vary with changes in landscape management techniques, and will begin data analysis to create statistical models of abundance and community composition with respect to environmental covariates. We will continue collection of fruit fly fitness data to assess how fitness changes in isolated populations with respect to actual andperceived foragequality. We will also monitor the movement and establishment of flies in the experimental arenas to understand how variation in fitness arises over space. Lastly, I have submitted along with Luca Börger (Professor, Swansea University) a request to the British Ecological Society to initiate a Movement Ecology Special Interest Group. If accepted, we will use this group as an avenue to disseminate new results and to develop working collaborations with scientists abroad.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Under these goals, I have begun data collection for the abundance and distribution of different components of the animal community in a managed pine forest under different management regimes. This work involves collecting data on the abundance and quality of plants in forest stands,and occupancy and abundance of reptiles, amphibians mammals, and birdsusing non-invasive sampling techniques (including direct observation, sampling tubes, cover boards, and camera traps). This project is currently under way. I also began data collection on a project linking habitat selection to fitness via animal perception in an experimental microcosm using fruit flies. I constructed spatial arenas for fly movement and resource selection, and a student on the project has begun growing flies on different substrates to evaluate how fitness changes with perceived quality. This project will culminate in a series of experiments assessing how perceived quality influences space use, and this how spatial variation in fitness arises based on animal behavior.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Lashley, M. A., M. C. Chitwood, G. M. Street, C. E. Moorman, and C. S. DePerno. 2016. Do indirect bite count surveys accurately represent diet selection of white-tailed deer in a forested environment? Wildlife Research 43: 254-260
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2016 Citation: Street, G. M., J. Fieberg, A. R. Rodgers, M. Carstensen, R. Moen, S. A. Moore, S. K. Windels, and J. D. Forester. 2016. Habitat functional response mitigates reduced foraging opportunity: implications for animal fitness and space use. Landscape Ecology 31: 1939-1953.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2016 Citation: Street, G. M., A. R. Rodgers, T. Avgar, L. M. Vander Vennen, and J. M. Fryxell. 2016. Estimating animal densities in a novel landscape: a comparison of resource selection-based and demographic population prediction. Journal of Wildlife Management: In Press.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Street, G. M., and G. G. McNickle. Predicting animal production from net primary productivity: the animal biome. Status: Submitted to Nature.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Fieberg, J., J. D. Forester, G. M. Street, D. Johnson, A. A. ArchMiller, J. Matthiopoulos. Species distribution models: predictive snipers or shots in the dark? Status: Submitted to Ecology Letters.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Kittle, A., M., M. Anderson, T. Avgar, J. A. Baker, G. S. Brown, J. Hagens, E. Iwachewski, S. Moffatt, A. Mosser, B. R. Patterson, D. E. B. Reid, A. R. Rodgers, J. Shuter, G. M. Street, I. D. Thompson, L. M. Vander Vennen, and J. M. Fryxell. Prey distribution, prey resource distribution and predator mobility link to landscape level predator space use patterns. Status: Submitted to Ecosphere.