Find research datasets worth reusing

opencc-zeroDec 2023View details →

Forest associated habitat variables influence human-tick encounters in the southeastern United States

Due to the increased frequency of human-tick encounters and expanding ranges of ticks in the United States, there is a critical need to identify environmental conditions associated with tick populations and their likelihood to contact human hosts. In a passive tick surveillance partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, we identified environmental variables associated with tick encounters by forestry personnel. Ticks were identified to species and life stage and site-specific variables were associated with each tick using FIA forest inventory datasets and generalized linear and zero-inflated models. Of the 55 FIA variables available, we identified biotic and abiotic environmental variables associated with Amblyomma americanum (carbon in litter material and standing dead tree aboveground dry biomass), Dermacentor variabilis (live sapling belowground dry biomass, carbon in litter material, forest stand age, and elevation), and Ixodes scapularis (carbon in dead woody material and seedling species unevenness). We propose that land management decisions not only affect common flora and fauna but changes to these habitats can also alter the way ticks parasitize hosts and use vegetation to find those hosts. Testing of these results can be used with land management decisions to prevent future encounters and highlight risk areas. Foresters that inventory sites encounter ticks, which we can then use to better understand the environmental conditions conducive to increased tick abundance or habitat suitability.

opencc-zeroFeb 2024View details →

Native forest and proximity to humans are stronger drivers of Brazilian cottontail habitat use than invasive European hare

Human activities and biological invasions have caused unprecedented biodiversity loss over the past 500 years. Proximity to humans drives the spatial distribution of species toward less disturbed habitats. Invasive species can competitively exclude native species, but species may coexist due to different habitat preferences. Here, we investigated how proximity to farms and the presence of the non-native European hare (Lepus europaeus) influence the habitat use by the Brazilian cottontail (Sylvilagus minensis) in southeastern Brazil. We found that the probability of cottontail site use increased with native forest cover and decreased with farmhouse proximity, ranging from 0.05 (SE = 0.02) at sites close to farmhouses (≅ 900 m) with no native forest to 0.70 (SE = 0.15) at sites far from farmhouses (≅ 2500 m) dominated by native forest. Higher risk of harassment and predation by free-roaming dogs and cats may explain the negative effect of farmhouse proximity on cottontail habitat use. We found little evidence for competitive exclusion by the European hare. Instead, our results suggest that the two species spatially segregate due to different habitat preferences. While the European hare more likely uses farmland in its native and non-native range, our results suggest that the Brazilian cottontail is a forest dweller. Although we found only weak evidence of competitive exclusion, we advise caution because invasive species may delay the onset of detrimental effects due to initial low population densities in newly invaded areas as is the case of the European hare in southeastern Brazil.

opencc-zeroMar 2024View details →

The comparative effects of landscape-level forest fragmentation, forest area and local habitat measures on Connecticut bird communities

I studied how breeding and wintering forest bird communities across Connecticut responded to variation in habitat characteristics and particularly such landscape attributes as forest fragmentation. I surveyed birds at 1,815 points along 121 transects that traversed ca. 400 km of forest. I also made 12705 habitat measurements at survey points and computed areas of forest, non-forest, core forest and perimeter/area ratios of forest for 31,550 ha of study area. I computed sampled species richness and community density as well as individual species' population densities for each transect. Moreover, I classified species encountered as to their nest site selection, macrohabitat use, microhabitat use, migratory strategy and trophic affiliation. Based on observations of 36,702 summering individuals of 123 species and 13,742 wintering individuals of 63 species, declines in community density occurred with increasing fragmentation although species richness was often more closely associated with habitat measures. Among landscape measures, forest fragmentation had the closest association with summer community measures 67% of the time, strongly suggesting that fragmentation effects were the predominant driver of such community patterns. However, short-distance migrant density and richness, foraging generalist density and richness, edge/successional species density and richness, habitat generalist density, and Brown-headed Cowbird density showed little relationship to landscape measures. The effects of fragmentation appeared to predominate over those of simply forest extent in predicting summer and winter bird community characteristics even in the comparatively extensive forests of southern New England. Despite the importance of fragmentation effects, community and individual species measures often tended to be more closely associated with habitat measures than with those of fragmentation. In addition, few summer or winter community measures or species patterns showed any significant relationship to natural forest breaks. Winter community and species density patterns showed little relationship to any landscape measures, with particularly elevation appearing to be a principal driver of winter patterns.

opencc-zeroMay 2022View details →

Range-wide habitat use of the Harpy Eagle indicates four major tropical forest gaps in the Key Biodiversity Area network

Quantifying habitat use is important for understanding how animals meet their requirements for survival and provides information for conservation planning. Currently, assessments of range-wide habitat use that delimit species distributions are incomplete for many taxa. The Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja) is a raptor of conservation concern, widely distributed across Neotropical lowland forests, that currently faces threats from habitat loss and fragmentation. Here, we use penalized logistic regression to identify species-habitat associations and predict habitat suitability based on a new International Union for the Conservation of Nature range metric, termed Area of Habitat. From the species-habitat model, we performed a gap analysis to identify areas of high habitat suitability in regions with limited coverage in the Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) network. Range-wide habitat use indicated that Harpy Eagles prefer areas of 70-75% evergreen forest cover, low elevation, and high vegetation species richness. Conversely, Harpy Eagles avoid areas of >10% cultivated landcover and mosaic forest, and topographically complex areas. Our species-habitat model identified a large continuous area of potential habitat across the pan-Amazonia region, and a habitat corridor from the Chocó-Darién ecoregion of Colombia running north along the Caribbean coast of Central America. Little habitat was predicted across the Atlantic Forest biome, which is now severely degraded. The current KBA network covered 18% of medium to high Harpy Eagle habitat exceeding a target biodiversity area representation of 10%, based on species range size. Four major areas of high suitability habitat lacking coverage in the KBA network were identified in north and west Colombia, western Guyana, and north-west Brazil. We recommend these multiple gaps of habitat as new KBAs for strengthening the current KBA network. Modelled area of habitat estimates as described here are a useful tool for large-scale conservation planning and can be readily applied to many taxa.

opencc-zeroJun 2022View details →

Random forest modelling of multi-scale, multi-species habitat associations within KAZA transfrontier conservation area using spoor data

As landscape-scale conservation models grow in prominence, assessments of how wildlife utilise multiple-use landscapes are required to inform effective conservation and management planning. Such efforts should strive to incorporate multi-species perspectives to maximise value for conservation, and should account for scale to accurately capture species-environment relationships. We show that the random forest machine learning algorithm can be used to model large-scale sign-based data in a multi-scale framework. We used this method to investigate scale-dependent habitat associations for 16 mammal species of high conservation importance across the southern Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area in Botswana and Zimbabwe. Our findings revealed substantial variation in the factors shaping habitat use across species, and illustrate that different species often have divergent responses to the same environmental and anthropogenic factors, and differ in the scales at which they respond to them. For all variables across all species, scale optimisation most often selected our largest scale. Precipitation, soil nutrients, and vegetation appeared to be the most important factors determining mammal distributions, likely through their associations with food resources for herbivores and, in turn, prey availability for carnivores. Anthropogenic pressures also had an important influence on habitat use, with many species selecting against areas with high cattle density. The variety of relationships with human density indicated that species vary in their tolerance of humans. We found a consistent positive relationship with areas under high protection, and negative relationship with unprotected and less-strictly protected areas. Policy implications: This study highlights the importance of adopting a multi-scale, multi-species approach for critical decision-making processes that depend on understanding wildlife distributions and habitat associations, such as protected area, corridor, and buffer zone prioritisation. We use our findings to identify changing rainfall patterns and increasing livestock numbers as two emerging trends that may impact wildlife distributions, both within sub-Saharan Africa and on a global scale.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2022View details →

Data associated with: Climate change will likely threaten areas of suitable habitats for the most relevant medicinal plants native to the Caatinga dry forest

Medicinal plants play an important role in providing ecosystem services, such as local cultural and economic value, and human well-being, especially in poor regions. The use of plants to improve living conditions and increase the chances of survival comes from the beginning of human life. Climate change has the potential to contract areas of suitable habitat for medicinal plant species across different regions. As a consequence of climate change, the possibility of treating diseases can be compromised, and even interrupted. We collected data from the medicinal applications and the parts that are used of 10 species of medicinal plants native to the Caatinga dry forest [i.e., Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão (Anacardiaceae), Cereus jamacaru DC (Cactaceae), Neocalyptrocalyx longifolium (Mart) Cornejo & Iltis (Caparaceae), Maytenus rigida Mart (Celastraceae), Operculina hamiltonii (G Don) DF Austin Staples, Operculina macrocarpa (L) Urb (Convolvulaceae), Amburana cearensis (Allemao) AC Sm, Anadenantehra colubrina (Vell) Brenan, Bauhinia cheilantha (Bong) Steud and Erythrina velutina Willd (Legimonosae). In addition, we also collected precise georeferenced data (native occurrence) of these medicinal plant species, that was accessed in 1) The Global Biodiversity Information Facility platform (GBIF) is an international data network funded by governments around the world, providing open access to data on all life on Earth (https:// www.gbif.org, accessed May 2022); 2) REFLORA - Herbário Virtual, virtual herbarium network that contains information on Brazilian plants that are deposited in 63 herbaria in Brazil and 10 international herbaria (http://reflora.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/herbarioVirtual, accessed May 2022); 3) Botanical Information and Ecology Network Platform (BIEN), a global information network that helps to document patterns of plant diversity, trait records and distribution, which includes georeferenced plant observation data from herbarium records, plots, survey inventories (https://bien .nceas.ucsb.edu/bien/biendata, accessed May 2022) and 4) 95 botanical monographs and floras. We excluded all repeated and mismatch occurrence data for each species. We collected all the available points for the studied species.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2022View details →

Raw data for the manuscript entitled "Forest age and topographic position jointly shape the species richness and composition of vascular plants in karstic habitats"

Doline surveys from the Mecsek Mountains, Hungary. Transects were established with north to south orientation across each doline, traversing their deepest point. Transects began and ended on doline rims, and consisted of 1 m  × 1 m plots spaced at 2 m intervals (94, 89, 90 and 99 plots in the different forest age classes, respectively; 372 plots in total). We recorded the presence/absence data of shrubs and herbs in each plot. Fieldwork was carried out between 2007 and 2019 from June to August, at the peak of the growing season.

opencc-zeroAug 2022View details →

Data from: Sex-biased habitat selection by American marten in the Acadian forest

Differences in spatial ecology between the sexes are generally expected for mammalian carnivores because of physiological (e.g., sexual dimorphism) or behavioral (e.g., uniparental care of offspring) differences, but sex is rarely included in studies of occurrence or occupancy. We evaluated differences in landscape-scale occurrence, as a function of habitat amount and configuration, between male and female American martens in the heterogeneous, commercially-managed forests of northern Maine. Our analysis focused on resident adults; individuals that had survived to >1 year old, dispersed, and successfully established their home range.

opencc-by-4.0May 2024View details →

Data and code from: Neighborhood habitat gains increase plant species richness in forest fragments - Rosenblad & Sullivan (2024)

This repository contains all data and R code necessary to reproduce the results of Rosenblad & Sullivan (2024) Neighborhood habitat gains increase plant species richness in forest fragments. README.md explains how the files fit together.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2022View details →

Fig. 14 in New records of Adelidae from forested habitats of Calabria (South Italy) with an update of the Italian ckecklist (Lepidoptera: Adeloidea)

Fig. 14 – Male genitalia of Nematopogon swammerdamella, Cappiglione (microscope slide: CREA-0238).

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2019View details →

Dataset for "Assessing the exposure of forest habitat types to projected climate change – implications for Bavarian protected areas"

This dataset relates to the publication C. Steinacker, C. Beierkuhnlein, A. Jaeschke (2019), "Assessing the exposure of forest habitat types to projected climate change—Implications for Bavarian protected areas", Ecology and Evolution. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5877"> 10.1002/ece3.5877</a>. The file contains: <ul> <li>the R script,</li> <li>the model outputs (raster data of projected distribution of habitat types),</li> <li>the results of the range change analysis,</li> <li>the protected area shapefile with information on the elevational range inside of them and their projected environmental suitability for the corresponding habitat types.</li> </ul> The products build on freely available data (e.g. distribution data from the EEA under the Habitats Directive). All data sources are cited in the related publication. Methodologically, we applied correlative species distribution models and further spatial and geostatistical analyses. We used R (e.g. biomod2-package) as well as GIS-software to conduct the analyses. More detailed descriptions of the methodology are placed in the publication.

opencc-zeroJul 2021View details →

Immigration credit of temperate forest herbs in fragmented landscapes – implications for restoration of habitat connectivity

1. In many agricultural landscapes, it is important to restore networks of forests to provide habitat and stepping stones for forest specialist taxa. More knowledge is, however, needed on how to facilitate the immigration of such taxa in restored forest patches. Here, we present the first chronosequence study to quantify the dynamics of immigration credits of forest specialist plants in post-arable forest patches. 2. We studied the distribution of herbaceous forest specialist plant species in 54 post-arable broadleaved forest patches along gradients of age (20-140 years since forest establishment), distance from ancient forest (0-2600 m) and patch area (0.5-9.6 ha). With Linear Mixed Models we estimated the effects of these factors on species richness, patch means of four dispersal-related plant traits and with Generalized Linear Models on the occurrence of 20 individual species. 3. Post-arable forest patch age and spatial isolation from ancient forest, but not patch size, were important predictors for species richness of forest specialists, suggesting that also small patches are valuable for habitat connectivity. Compared to species richness in ancient forest stands, the immigration credit was reduced by more than 90% after 80 years in post-arable forest patches contiguous to ancient forest compared to 40% after 80 years and 60% after 140 years in isolated patches (at least 100 m to next forest). Tall-growing species with adaptations to long-distance dispersal were faster colonizers while species with heavy diaspores and clonal growth were slower to colonize. 4. Synthesis and applications: We show that post-arable oak plantations have a high potential for restoration of forest herb vegetation. Dispersal-related plant traits play a key role in explaining interspecific differences among forest specialists. To facilitate forest herb immigration across all functional groups in agricultural landscapes, we suggest to create clusters of relatively small new forest patches nearby older forest with source populations.

opencc-zeroJul 2022View details →

Projected impacts of climate and land use changes on the habitat of Atlantic Forest plants in Brazil

Aim: To provide novel evidence on the average impact of climate and land use changes on habitat suitability for tropical plants and to test previous conclusions on the relative importance of these two drivers in shaping future availability of habitat for tropical plant species. Location: Brazil's Atlantic Forest domain. Time period: Plant occurrences recorded between 1960 and 2014. Baseline climate from 1960-2000 and land use from 2015. Projected scenarios of climate for 2041-2060 and land use for 2050. Major taxa studied: Angiosperms. Results: Our results suggest that climate change alone will, surprisingly, have only a modest negative impact on the mean habitat suitability, decreasing it by 2% (median = -5% to -7%, variation associated with scenarios). Land use change alone had a more consistent negative impact on habitat suitability, causing mean and median reductions of 4% to 6%. When the effects of climate and land use are combined, the mean habitat suitability was reduced by 4% (median = -9% to -11%). Main conclusions: The combined impacts of climate and land use changes were substantial, although smaller than expected. Habitat suitability decreased for most species, but it increased substantially for some species, suggesting that the distribution of impacts across species is markedly right skewed. The impacts were typically detrimental to small-ranged species and neutral or beneficial to widespread species. Land use change rather than climate change will likely cause more losses to the habitat of Atlantic Forest plant species within the next several decades.

opencc-zeroMar 2023View details →

Ungulate occurrence in forest harvest blocks is influenced by forage availability, surrounding habitat, and silviculture practices

Forest harvesting causes habitat loss and alteration and can change predator-prey dynamics. In Canada, forest harvesting has shifted the distribution and abundance of ungulates (deer, elk, and moose) that prefer early seral forest, resulting in unsustainable caribou predation by shared predators (bears, cougars, and wolves). Long-term solutions for caribou recovery require management to reduce ungulate prey species within caribou ranges. Silviculture practices applied after forest harvesting directly affect the amount of forage available in harvested areas, and therefore influence ungulate distribution, but few studies have completed detailed assessments on how specific treatments of site preparation, planting, and stand tending influence ungulate use of harvest blocks. We used camera traps, silviculture data, GIS-derived habitat and disturbance data, and detailed vegetation data collected at field sites to investigate ungulate occurrence in harvest blocks in west-central Alberta, Canada. We compared seasonal ungulate occurrence and investigated how site-specific characteristics, the surrounding habitat and disturbance density, and fine-scale silviculture treatments influenced ungulate occurrence in blocks. Deer, elk, and moose occurrence was higher in summer compared to winter. Elk, moose, and white-tailed deer occurrence were higher in blocks with greater availability of specific forage species. Moose occurrence was higher in blocks with a lower road density in the surrounding area, and white-tailed deer occurrence was higher in blocks further from seismic lines and with a lower proportion of harvest blocks in the surrounding area. Deer, elk, and moose occurrence were higher in younger harvest blocks. Mule deer and white-tailed deer occurrence were lower in blocks with higher planting densities of lodgepole pine, and mule deer occurrence was also lower in blocks that had been stand-tended. Our study provides detailed information on ungulate response to fine-scale silviculture methods used in Alberta, directly linking wildlife occurrence to forestry practices, and providing practical scientific information to inform sustainable forestry. Translating this research into practical landscape management decisions could benefit boreal biodiversity, including threatened species like caribou, and culturally and economically important species like deer, elk, and moose.

Figure 5 in Medium and large sized mammals and the effect of habitat heterogeneity from a Caatinga shrubby forest at Serra de Santa Catarina, Paraíba, Brazil

Figure 5. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling of medium-large mammal community structure according to different phytophysiognomies (a) and presence of water bodies (b), recorded in the Serra de Santa Catarina, Northeast Brazil, between August 2012 and November 2014. The ANOSIM (one-way) analysis showed no difference between phytophysiognomies (R = 0.1124, p> 0.05) and a significant difference between the presence of water bodies (R = 0.3907, p <0.05).

Figure 4 in Medium and large sized mammals and the effect of habitat heterogeneity from a Caatinga shrubby forest at Serra de Santa Catarina, Paraíba, Brazil

Figure 4. Average of abundance of medium-large mammal species according to different phytophysiognomies (a) and presence of water bodies (b), recorded in the Serra de Santa Catarina, Northeast Brazil, between August 2012 and November 2014. The Mann-Whitney analysis showed no difference between both phytophysiognomies (U = 29.5, p> 0.05) and presence of water bodies (U = 48.5, p> 0.05).

Figure 2 in Medium and large sized mammals and the effect of habitat heterogeneity from a Caatinga shrubby forest at Serra de Santa Catarina, Paraíba, Brazil

Figure 2. Different habitats analyzed in Serra de Santa Catarina, Paraíba, Brazil. A = Arboreal; B = Shrub; C = Arboreal-shrub; D = Water spot with a capuchin monkey in the foreground.

Figure 1 in Medium and large sized mammals and the effect of habitat heterogeneity from a Caatinga shrubby forest at Serra de Santa Catarina, Paraíba, Brazil

Figure 1. Study area, the Serra de Santa Catarina, extreme West of Paraíba state, northeastern Brazil. In light gray Caatinga biome and in dark gray Atlantic Forest Biome; in green, Serra de Santa Catarina limits.

Figure 3 in Medium and large sized mammals and the effect of habitat heterogeneity from a Caatinga shrubby forest at Serra de Santa Catarina, Paraíba, Brazil

Figure 3. Rarefaction curve for camera-trap sampling to medium-large mammal species of the Serra de Santa Catarina, Paraíba, northeastern Brazil, sampled between August 2012 and November 2014. Observed richness (S = 10 ± 1.76) has no significant difference to estimated richness (S = 12.97 ± 1.7) through the non-parametric Jackknife 1. Sample unit were defined as days with effective records in different camera-traps.