Boreal predator co-occurrences reveal shared use of seismic lines in a working landscape

AbstractInterspecific interactions are an integral aspect of ecosystem functioning that may be disrupted in an increasingly anthropocentric world. Industrial landscape change creates a novel playing field on which these interactions take place, and a key question for wildlife managers is whether and how species are able to coexist in such working landscapes. Using camera traps deployed in northern Alberta, we surveyed boreal predators to determine whether interspecific interactions affected occurrences of black bears (Ursus americanus), coyotes (Canis latrans), and lynx (Lynx canadensis) within a landscape disturbed by networks of seismic lines (corridors cut for seismic exploration of oil and gas reserves). We tested hypotheses of species interactions across one spatial-only and two spatiotemporal (daily and weekly) scales. Specifically, we hypothesized that 1) predators avoid competition with the apex predator, grey wolf (Canis lupus), 2) they avoid competition with each other as intraguild competitors, and 3) they overlap with their prey. All three predators overlapped with wolves on at least one scale, although models at the daily and weekly scale had substantial unexplained variance. None of the predators showed avoidance of intraguild competitors or overlap with prey. These results show patterns in predator space use that are consistent with both facilitative interactions or shared responses to unmeasured ecological cues. Our study provides insight into how industrial linear features affect the use of boreal landscapes by multiple predator species, and highlights that predator management may indirectly influence multiple species through interactions., MethodsMethods can be found in Tattersall, E. R., Burgar, J. M., Fisher, J. T., Burton, A. C. (2020), Boreal predator co-occurrences reveal shared use of seismic lines in a working landscape. Ecology and Evolution, Usage notesThe data consists of mammal detection data collected from 60 camera trap stations on the east side of the Athabasca River, southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Between November 2015 - April 2018, we recorded detections for wolves (Canis lupus), black bears (Ursus americanus), coyotes (Canis latrans), Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), moose (Alces alces), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus). We formatted these data as species detections at each station, as well as species occurrences at the weekly and daily temporal scale. We also used snow presence data from the camera traps, habitat data from the Alberta Vegetation  (Alberta Vegetation Interpretation Standards, 2005), and anthropogenic feature data from Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (abmi.ca). Tattersall et al. (2020) used these data to test hypotheses of species interactions while accounting for effects of snow, habitat, and anthropogenic disturbance.

摘要 种间相互作用是生态系统功能的核心组成部分，在日益人类主导的世界中，这类相互作用可能遭到破坏。工业景观变化为这些相互作用营造了全新的场景，而野生动物管理者面临的核心问题是：物种能否以及如何在这类生产性景观中共存。本研究依托部署在阿尔伯塔省北部的相机陷阱（camera trap），对北方针叶林捕食者开展调查，以探明在被地震勘探线网络（为油气储量地震勘探开挖的通道）干扰的景观中，种间相互作用是否会影响美洲黑熊（Ursus americanus）、郊狼（Canis latrans）和加拿大猞猁（Lynx canadensis）的物种出现率。我们在1个纯空间尺度与2个时空尺度（日尺度、周尺度）下检验了物种相互作用相关假说。具体而言，我们提出三项假说：1）捕食者会规避与顶级捕食者灰狼（Canis lupus）的竞争；2）作为集团内竞争者，捕食者之间会彼此规避竞争；3）捕食者会与它们的猎物存在空间重叠。尽管日尺度与周尺度的模型存在大量未解释的变异，但三种捕食者均至少在1个尺度上与灰狼存在空间重叠。但所有捕食者均未表现出对集团内竞争者的规避行为，也未与猎物存在空间重叠。本研究结果显示的捕食者空间利用模式，既可能对应促进性种间相互作用，也可能对应捕食者对未被观测到的生态线索的共同响应。本研究揭示了工业线性景观要素如何影响多种捕食者对北方针叶林景观的利用，并指出捕食者管理可能通过种间相互作用间接影响多个物种种群。
方法 详细方法可参见Tattersall ER、Burgar JM、Fisher JT、Burton AC于2020年发表于《Ecology and Evolution》的论文《北方针叶林捕食者共现模式揭示生产性景观中地震勘探线的共享利用》。
使用说明 本数据集包含加拿大阿尔伯塔省麦克默里堡西南阿萨巴斯卡河东侧60个相机陷阱监测站采集的哺乳动物检测数据。2015年11月至2018年4月期间，我们记录了以下物种的检测结果：灰狼（Canis lupus）、美洲黑熊（Ursus americanus）、郊狼（Canis latrans）、加拿大猞猁（Lynx canadensis）、雪兔（Lepus americanus）、红松鼠（Tamiasciurus hudsonicus）、驼鹿（Alces alces）、白尾鹿（Odocoileus virginianus）以及林地驯鹿（Rangifer tarandus）。我们将数据整理为各监测站的物种检测数据，以及日、周时间尺度下的物种出现率数据。本研究同时使用了来自相机陷阱的积雪覆盖数据、基于《阿尔伯塔省植被解译标准（2005）》的生境数据，以及来自阿尔伯塔生物多样性监测研究所（Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute，abmi.ca）的人为景观要素数据。Tattersall等人（2020）曾利用该数据集检验物种相互作用相关假说，并同时纳入积雪、生境与人为干扰的影响效应。