Occupancy

About: Occupancy is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2757 publications have been published within this topic receiving 68288 citations.

Scale-specific habitat relationships influence patch occupancy: defining neighborhoods to optimize the effectiveness of landscape-scale grassland bird conservation

Abstract: Beyond the recognized importance of protecting large areas of contiguous habitat, conservation efforts for many species are complicated by the fact that patch suitability may also be affected by characteristics of the landscape within which the patch is located. Currently, little is known about the spatial scales at which species respond to different aspects of the landscape surrounding an occupied patch. Using grassland bird point count data, we describe an approach to evaluating scale-specific effects of landscape composition on patch occupancy. We used data from 793 point count surveys conducted in idle and grazed grasslands across Wisconsin, USA from 2012 to 2014 to evaluate scale-dependencies in the response of grassland birds to landscape composition. Patch occupancy models were used to evaluate the relationship between occupancy and landscape composition at scales from 100 to 3000 m. Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) exhibited a pattern indicating selection for grassland habitats in the surrounding landscape at all spatial scales while selecting against other habitats. Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) displayed evidence of scale sensitivity for all habitat types. Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum) showed a strong positive response to pasture and idle grass at all scales and negatively to cropland at large scales. Unlike other species, patch occupancy by Henslow’s Sparrow (A. henslowii) was primarily influenced by patch area. Our results suggest that both working grasslands (pasture) and idle conservation grasslands can play an important role in grassland bird conservation but also highlight the importance of considering species-specific patch and landscape characteristics for effective conservation.

Occupancy and environmental responses of habitat specialists and generalists depend on dispersal traits

Abstract: Ecologists have been interested in understanding communities through the lens of specialists and generalists to predict species diversity and distribution patterns and to ameliorate worldwide declines in specialist species. Dispersal traits are assumed to be associated with specialization (specialists are weaker dispersers than generalists), but dispersal modes can be variable within groups. Niche-based predictions of occupancy and environmental responses were assessed using invertebrates from California vernal pools that were categorized by specialization (endemic or widespread taxa) and dispersal mode (passive or active dispersal). Data from a latitudinal gradient resulted in widespread taxa with greater percent occupancy than endemic taxa as predicted, but passive dispersers had greater occupancy than active dispersers in contrast to predictions. Endemic species and widespread-active dispersers exhibited similar levels of specialization measured as coefficient of variation among treatments in a mesocosm experiment. This suggested that habitat choice was important, and these differences in specialization were scale dependent (generalists across habitat types and specialists within a habitat type). A negative correlation between latitudinal occupancy and level of specialization demonstrated how local-scale responses and landscape patterns were related and depend on both specialization and dispersal traits. This study underscores how habitat heterogeneity and species traits, including specialization and dispersal, can interact to affect community patterns at different spatial scales.

Factors Affecting Landscape Occupancy by Fishers in North-Central

Abstract: To better understand distribution and density of fishers (Martes pennanti) in industrial forests of north-central British Columbia, Canada, we examined factors affecting the probability of a potential home range being occupied by 10 radiotagged resident fishers in the Sub-Boreal Spruce biogeoclimatic zone between 1996 and 2000. Percentage of a home range in wetlands and recently logged (within past 12 yr) best predicted likelihood of occupancy by each fisher. Probability of a home range area being occupied by a resident fisher decreased with increasing amounts of wetlands and recent logging present in the area. We estimated that a 5% increase in wetlands or recent logging decreased the relative probability of occupancy of a potential home range by 50%. The accelerated rate of timber harvest in forests affected by mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) infestations may have substantial implications for the ability of the landscape of central British Columbia to support sustainable populations of fishers.

A dynamic multi-scale occupancy model to estimate temporal dynamics and hierarchical habitat use for nomadic species.

Abstract: Distribution models are increasingly being used to understand how landscape and climatic changes are affecting the processes driving spatial and temporal distributions of plants and animals. However, many modeling efforts ignore the dynamic processes that drive distributional patterns at different scales, which may result in misleading inference about the factors influencing species distributions. Current occupancy models allow estimation of occupancy at different scales and, separately, estimation of immigration and emigration. However, joint estimation of local extinction, colonization, and occupancy within a multi-scale model is currently unpublished. We extended multi-scale models to account for the dynamic processes governing species distributions, while concurrently modeling local-scale availability. We fit the model to data for lark buntings and chestnut-collared longspurs in the Great Plains, USA, collected under the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions program. We investigate how the amount of grassland and shrubland and annual vegetation conditions affect bird occupancy dynamics and local vegetation structure affects fine-scale occupancy. Buntings were prevalent and longspurs rare in our study area, but both species were locally prevalent when present. Buntings colonized sites with preferred habitat configurations, longspurs colonized a wider range of landscape conditions, and site persistence of both was higher at sites with greener vegetation. Turnover rates were high for both species, quantifying the nomadic behavior of the species. Our model allows researchers to jointly investigate temporal dynamics of species distributions and hierarchical habitat use. Our results indicate that grassland birds respond to different covariates at landscape and local scales suggesting different conservation goals at each scale. High turnover rates of these species highlight the need to account for the dynamics of nomadic species, and our model can help inform how to coordinate management efforts to provide appropriate habitat configurations at the landscape scale and provide habitat targets for local managers.

Northeast regional and state trends in anuran occupancy from calling survey data (2001-2011) from the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program

Abstract: —We present the first regional trends in anuran occupancy from North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) data from 11 northeastern states using 11 years of data. NAAMP is a long-term monitoring program where observers collect data at assigned random roadside routes using a calling survey technique. We assessed occupancy trends for 17 species. Eight species had regional trends whose 95% posterior interval did not include zero; of these seven were negative (Anaxyrus fowleri, Acris crepitans, Pseudacris brachyphona, Pseudacris feriarum-kalmi complex, Lithobates palustris, Lithobates pipiens, and Lithobates sphenocephalus) and one was positive (Hyla versicolor-chrysoscelis complex). We also assessed state level trends for 103 species/state combinations; of these, 29 showed a decline and nine showed an increase in occupancy.