Predicting above-ground density and distribution of small mammal prey species at large spatial scales

Grassland and shrub-steppe ecosystems are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activities. Loss of native habitats may negatively impact important small mammal prey species. Little information, however, is available on the impact of habitat variability on density of small mammal prey species at...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2017-05, Vol.12 (5), p.e0177165-e0177165
Main Authors: Olson, Lucretia E, Squires, John R, Oakleaf, Robert J, Wallace, Zachary P, Kennedy, Patricia L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Animal behavior
Animals
Anthropogenic factors
Biology and Life Sciences
Climate and vegetation
Conservation
Correlation
Density
Ecology
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Environment
Environmental aspects
Environmental protection
Estimates
Fisheries
Grasslands
Ground squirrels
Habitats
Human influences
Mammal populations
Mammals
Models, Theoretical
Museums
People and places
Population
Population Density
Prairie dogs
Predators
Predatory Behavior
Predictions
Prey
Remote sensing
Small mammals
Spatial Analysis
Species composition
Squirrels
Studies
Taxa
Variables
Vegetation
Wildlife conservation
Wyoming
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Summary:Grassland and shrub-steppe ecosystems are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activities. Loss of native habitats may negatively impact important small mammal prey species. Little information, however, is available on the impact of habitat variability on density of small mammal prey species at broad spatial scales. We examined the relationship between small mammal density and remotely-sensed environmental covariates in shrub-steppe and grassland ecosystems in Wyoming, USA. We sampled four sciurid and leporid species groups using line transect methods, and used hierarchical distance-sampling to model density in response to variation in vegetation, climate, topographic, and anthropogenic variables, while accounting for variation in detection probability. We created spatial predictions of each species' density and distribution. Sciurid and leporid species exhibited mixed responses to vegetation, such that changes to native habitat will likely affect prey species differently. Density of white-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys leucurus), Wyoming ground squirrels (Urocitellus elegans), and leporids correlated negatively with proportion of shrub or sagebrush cover and positively with herbaceous cover or bare ground, whereas least chipmunks showed a positive correlation with shrub cover and a negative correlation with herbaceous cover. Spatial predictions from our models provide a landscape-scale metric of above-ground prey density, which will facilitate the development of conservation plans for these taxa and their predators at spatial scales relevant to management.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0177165