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Morales-Navarrete D, Bevilacqua M, Caamaño-Carrillo C, Castro LM. Modelling Point Referenced Spatial Count Data: A Poisson Process Approach. J Am Stat Assoc 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/01621459.2022.2140053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Diego Morales-Navarrete
- Departamento de Estadística, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Millennium Nucleus Center for the Discovery of Structures in Complex Data, Chile
| | - Moreno Bevilacqua
- Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Viña del Mar, Chile
- Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Informatica e Statistica, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
| | | | - Luis M. Castro
- Departamento de Estadística, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Millennium Nucleus Center for the Discovery of Structures in Complex Data, Chile
- Centro de Riesgos y Seguros UC, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
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Mols B, Churchill JE, Cromsigt JPGM, Kuijper DPJ, Smit C. Recreation reduces tick density through fine-scale risk effects on deer space-use. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 839:156222. [PMID: 35623530 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2022] [Revised: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 05/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Altered interactions between pathogens, their hosts and vectors have potential consequences for human disease risk. Notably, tick-borne pathogens, many of which are associated with growing deer abundance, show global increasing prevalence and pose increasing challenges for disease prevention. Human activities can largely affect the patterns of deer space-use and can therefore be potential management tools to alleviate human-wildlife conflicts. Here, we tested how deer space-use patterns are influenced by human recreational activities, and how this in turn affects the spatial distribution of the sheep tick (Ixodes ricinus), a relevant disease vector of zoonoses such as Lyme borrelioses. We compared deer dropping and questing tick density on transects near (20 m) and further away from (100 m) forest trails that were either frequently used (open for recreation) or infrequently used (closed for recreation, but used by park managers). In contrast to infrequently used trails, deer dropping density was 31% lower near (20 m) than further away from (100 m) frequently used trails. Similarly, ticks were 62% less abundant near (20 m) frequently used trails compared to further away from (100 m) these trails, while this decline in tick numbers was only 14% near infrequently used trails. The avoidance by deer of areas close to human-used trails was thus associated with a similar reduction in questing tick density near these trails. As tick abundance generally correlates to pathogen prevalence, the use of trails for recreation may reduce tick-borne disease risk for humans on and near these trails. Our study reveals an unexplored effect of human activities on ecosystems and how this knowledge could be potentially used to mitigate zoonotic disease risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Mols
- Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - J E Churchill
- Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - J P G M Cromsigt
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden; Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela University, 6031 Gqeberha, South Africa
| | - D P J Kuijper
- Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Ul. Stoczek 1, 17-230 Białowieża, Poland
| | - C Smit
- Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
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Mols B, Lambers E, Cromsigt JPGM, Kuijper DPJ, Smit C. Recreation and hunting differentially affect deer behaviour and sapling performance. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bjorn Mols
- Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Inst. for Evolutionary Life Sciences, Univ. of Groningen Groningen the Netherlands
| | - Evert Lambers
- Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Inst. for Evolutionary Life Sciences, Univ. of Groningen Groningen the Netherlands
| | - Joris P. G. M. Cromsigt
- Dept of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences Umeå Sweden
- Dept of Zoology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Univ. Port Elizabeth South Africa
| | | | - Christian Smit
- Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Inst. for Evolutionary Life Sciences, Univ. of Groningen Groningen the Netherlands
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Tyler NJC, Hanssen-Bauer I, Førland EJ, Nellemann C. The Shrinking Resource Base of Pastoralism: Saami Reindeer Husbandry in a Climate of Change. FRONTIERS IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2020.585685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The productive performance of large ungulates in extensive pastoral grazing systems is modulated simultaneously by the effects of climate change and human intervention independent of climate change. The latter includes the expansion of private, civil and military activity and infrastructure and the erosion of land rights. We used Saami reindeer husbandry in Norway as a model in which to examine trends in, and to compare the influence of, both effects on a pastoral grazing system. Downscaled projections of mean annual temperature over the principal winter pasture area (Finnmarksvidda) closely matched empirical observations across 34 years to 2018. The area, therefore, is not only warming but seems likely to continue to do so. Warming notwithstanding, 50-year (1969–2018) records of local weather (temperature, precipitation and characteristics of the snowpack) demonstrate considerable annual and decadal variation which also seems likely to continue and alternately to amplify and to counter net warming. Warming, moreover, has both positive and negative effects on ecosystem services that influence reindeer. The effects of climate change on reindeer pastoralism are evidently neither temporally nor spatially uniform, nor indeed is the role of climate change as a driver of change in pastoralism even clear. The effects of human intervention on the system, by contrast, are clear and largely negative. Gradual liberalization of grazing rights from the 18th Century has been countered by extensive loss of reindeer pasture. Access to ~50% of traditional winter pasture was lost in the 19th Century owing to the closure of international borders to the passage of herders and their reindeer. Subsequent to this the area of undisturbed pasture within Norway has decreased by 71%. Loss of pasture due to piecemeal development of infrastructure and to administrative encroachment that erodes herders' freedom of action on the land that remains to them, are the principal threats to reindeer husbandry in Norway today. These tangible effects far exceed the putative effects of current climate change on the system. The situation confronting Saami reindeer pastoralism is not unique: loss of pasture and administrative, economic, legal and social constraints bedevil extensive pastoral grazing systems across the globe.
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Wilson MW, Ridlon AD, Gaynor KM, Gaines SD, Stier AC, Halpern BS. Ecological impacts of human-induced animal behaviour change. Ecol Lett 2020; 23:1522-1536. [PMID: 32705769 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2020] [Accepted: 06/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
A growing body of literature has documented myriad effects of human activities on animal behaviour, yet the ultimate ecological consequences of these behavioural shifts remain largely uninvestigated. While it is understood that, in the absence of humans, variation in animal behaviour can have cascading effects on species interactions, community structure and ecosystem function, we know little about whether the type or magnitude of human-induced behavioural shifts translate into detectable ecological change. Here we synthesise empirical literature and theory to create a novel framework for examining the range of behaviourally mediated pathways through which human activities may affect different ecosystem functions. We highlight the few empirical studies that show the potential realisation of some of these pathways, but also identify numerous factors that can dampen or prevent ultimate ecosystem consequences. Without a deeper understanding of these pathways, we risk wasting valuable resources on mitigating behavioural effects with little ecological relevance, or conversely mismanaging situations in which behavioural effects do drive ecosystem change. The framework presented here can be used to anticipate the nature and likelihood of ecological outcomes and prioritise management among widespread human-induced behavioural shifts, while also suggesting key priorities for future research linking humans, animal behaviour and ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margaret W Wilson
- Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - April D Ridlon
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, USA
| | - Kaitlyn M Gaynor
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, USA
| | - Steven D Gaines
- Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Adrian C Stier
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Benjamin S Halpern
- Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.,National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, USA
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Rangifer within areas of human influence: understanding effects in relation to spatiotemporal scales. Polar Biol 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s00300-018-2410-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Skarin A, Sandström P, Alam M. Out of sight of wind turbines-Reindeer response to wind farms in operation. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:9906-9919. [PMID: 30386585 PMCID: PMC6202756 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2018] [Revised: 07/13/2018] [Accepted: 07/27/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
To meet the expanding land use required for wind energy development, a better understanding of the effects on terrestrial animals' responses to such development is required. Using GPS-data from 50 freely ranging female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in the Malå reindeer herding community, Sweden, we determined reindeer calving sites and estimated reindeer habitat selection using resource selection functions (RSF). RSFs were estimated at both second- (selection of home range) and third-order (selection within home range) scale in relation to environmental variables, wind farm (WF) development phase (before construction, construction, and operation), distance to the WFs and at the second-order scale whether the wind turbines were in or out of sight of the reindeer. We found that the distance between reindeer calving site and WFs increased during the operation phase, compared to before construction. At both scales of selection, we found a significant decrease in habitat selection of areas in proximity of the WFs, in the same comparison. The results also revealed a shift in home range selection away from habitats where wind turbines became visible toward habitats where the wind turbines were obscured by topography (increase in use by 79% at 5 km). We interpret the reindeer shift in home range selection as an effect of the wind turbines per se. Using topography and land cover information together with the positions of wind turbines could therefore help identify sensitive habitats for reindeer and improve the planning and placement of WFs. In addition, we found that operation phase of these WFs had a stronger adverse impact on reindeer habitat selection than the construction phase. Thus, the continuous running of the wind turbines making a sound both day and night seemed to have disturbed the reindeer more than the sudden sounds and increased human activity during construction work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Skarin
- Department of Animal Nutrition and ManagementSwedish University of Agricultural SciencesUppsalaSweden
| | - Per Sandström
- Department of Forest Resource ManagementSwedish University of Agricultural SciencesUmeåSweden
| | - Moudud Alam
- Section of StatisticsSchool of Technology and Business StudiesDalarna UniversityFalunSweden
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Skarin A, Alam M. Reindeer habitat use in relation to two small wind farms, during preconstruction, construction, and operation. Ecol Evol 2017; 7:3870-3882. [PMID: 28616184 PMCID: PMC5468140 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2016] [Revised: 02/22/2017] [Accepted: 03/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Worldwide there is a rush toward wind power development and its associated infrastructure. In Fennoscandia, large‐scale wind farms comprising several hundred windmills are currently built in important grazing ranges used for Sámi reindeer husbandry. In this study, reindeer habitat use was assessed using reindeer fecal pellet group counts in relation to two relatively small wind farms, with 8 and 10 turbines, respectively. In 2009, 1,315 15‐m2 plots were established and pellet groups were counted and cleaned from the plots. This was repeated once a year in May, during preconstruction, construction, and operation of the wind farms, covering 6 years (2009–2014) of reindeer habitat use in the area. We modeled the presence/absence of any pellets in a plot at both the local (wind farm site) and regional (reindeer calving to autumn range) scale with a hierarchical logistic regression, where spatial correlation was accounted for via random effects, using vegetation type, and the interaction between distance to wind turbine and time period as predictor variables. Our results revealed an absolute reduction in pellet groups by 66% and 86% around each wind farm, respectively, at local scale and by 61% at regional scale during the operation phase compared to the preconstruction phase. At the regional, scale habitat use declined close to the turbines in the same comparison. However, at the local scale, we observed increased habitat use close to the wind turbines at one of the wind farms during the operation phase. This may be explained by continued use of an important migration route close to the wind farm. The reduced use at the regional scale nevertheless suggests that there may be an overall avoidance of both wind farms during operation, but further studies of reindeer movement and behavior are needed to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms behind this suggested avoidance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Skarin
- Department of Animal Nutrition and Management Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
| | - Moudud Alam
- Section of Statistics School of Technology and Business Studies Dalarna University Falun Sweden
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