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- Title
Seasonal and temporal changes in species use of the landscape: how do they impact the inferences from multi-scale habitat modeling?
- Authors
Mateo-Sánchez, María; Gastón, Aitor; Ciudad, Carlos; García-Viñas, Juan; Cuevas, Jorge; López-Leiva, César; Fernández-Landa, Alfredo; Algeet-Abarquero, Nur; Marchamalo, Miguel; Fortin, Marie-Josée; Saura, Santiago
- Abstract
Context: Multi-scale approaches to habitat modeling have been shown to provide more accurate understanding and predictions of species-habitat associations. It remains however unexplored how spatial and temporal variations in habitat use may affect multi-scale habitat modeling. Objectives: We aimed at assessing how seasonal and temporal differences in species habitat use and distribution impact operational scales, variable influence, habitat suitability spatial patterns, and performance of multi-scale models. Methods: We evaluated the environmental factors driving brown bear habitat relationships in the Cantabrian Range (Spain) based on species presence records (ground observations) for the period 2000-2010, LiDAR data on forest structure, and seasonal estimates of foraging resources. We separately developed multi-scale habitat models for (i) each season (spring, summer, fall and winter) (ii) two sub-periods with different population status: 2000-2004 (with brown bear distribution restricted to the main population nuclei) and 2005-2010 (with expanding bear population and range); and (iii) the entire 2000-2010 period. Results: Scales of effect remained considerably stable across seasonal and temporal variations, but not the influence of certain environmental variables. The predictive ability of multi-scale models was lower in the seasons or periods in which populations used larger areas and a broader variety of environmental conditions. Seasonal estimates of foraging resources, together with LiDAR data, appeared to improve the performance of multi-scale habitat models. Conclusions: We highlight that the understanding of multi-scale behavioral responses of species to spatial patterns that continually shift over time may be essential to unravel habitat relationships and produce reliable estimates of species distributions.
- Subjects
MULTISCALE modeling; HABITATS; BROWN bear; FORAGING behavior; SPECIES distribution; LANDSCAPE ecology
- Publication
Landscape Ecology, 2016, Vol 31, Issue 6, p1261
- ISSN
0921-2973
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10980-015-0324-z