Data from: Assessing cumulative impacts of forest development on the distribution of furbearers using expert-based habitat modeling

Cumulative impacts of anthropogenic landscape change must be considered when managing and conserving wildlife habitat. Across the central-interior of British Columbia, Canada, industrial activities are altering the habitat of furbearer species. This region has witnessed unprecedented levels of anthropogenic landscape change following rapid development in a number of resource sectors, particularly forestry. Our objective was to create expert-based habitat models for three furbearer species: fisher (Pekania pennanti), Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), and American marten (Martes americana) and quantify habitat change for those species. We recruited 10 biologist and 10 trapper experts and then used the analytical hierarchy process to elicit expert knowledge of habitat variables important to each species. We applied the models to reference landscapes (i.e., registered traplines) in two distinct study areas and then quantified the change in habitat availability from 1990 to 2013. There was strong agreement between expert groups in the choice of habitat variables and associated scores. Where anthropogenic impacts had increased considerably over the study period, the habitat models showed substantial declines in habitat availability for each focal species (78% decline in optimal fisher habitat, 83% decline in optimal lynx habitat, and 79% decline in optimal marten habitat). For those traplines with relatively little forest harvesting, the habitat models showed no substantial change in the availability of habitat over time. The results suggest that habitat for these three furbearer species declined significantly as a result of the cumulative impacts of forest harvesting. Results of this study illustrate the utility of expert knowledge for understanding large-scale patterns of habitat change over long time periods.

在野生动物栖息地的管理与保护工作中，必须考量人为景观变化带来的累积影响。在加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省（British Columbia）中部内陆区域，各类工业活动正在改变毛皮动物物种的栖息环境。该区域在多个资源产业（尤其是林业）快速发展后，出现了史无前例规模的人为景观变化。本研究的目标是为3种毛皮动物物种——渔貂（Pekania pennanti）、加拿大猞猁（Lynx canadensis）以及美洲貂（Martes americana）——构建基于专家经验的栖息地模型，并量化这些物种的栖息地变化情况。我们招募了10名生物学家与10名猎捕者专家，并采用层次分析法（analytical hierarchy process）来获取各物种关键栖息地变量的专家知识。我们将模型应用于两个独立研究区域内的参照景观（即已登记的猎捕路线），并量化了1990年至2013年间栖息地可用量的变化情况。两组专家在栖息地变量选择及其对应权重分值上达成了高度一致。在研究期间人为影响显著加剧的区域，栖息地模型显示各目标物种的栖息地可用量均出现大幅下降：最优渔貂栖息地减少78%，最优加拿大猞猁栖息地减少83%，最优美洲貂栖息地减少79%。而在森林采伐量相对较少的猎捕路线区域，模型显示栖息地可用量随时间未出现显著变化。研究结果表明，这3种毛皮动物的栖息地因森林采伐带来的累积影响而出现了显著退化。本研究结果证实了利用专家知识来解析长期、大尺度栖息地变化格局的可行性与效用。