Multiscale threats shape the occurrence dynamics of a threatened aquatic salamander and reveal a possible extinction debt

Freshwater ecosystems are impacted by anthropogenic stressors, resulting in roughly one-third of freshwater fauna being threatened with extinction. The Neuse River Waterdog (Necturus lewisi) is a large aquatic salamander endemic to the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico River basins of eastern North Carolina, USA, and it was listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2021. Habitat degradation has been identified as the dominant threat driving N. lewisi occurrence, and its effect may be delayed. The USFWS Draft Recovery Plan classified investigation into the species’ occurrence dynamics (colonization/extinction) as a high-priority action. We hypothesized that extinction probabilities would decrease in high-quality local instream habitats, increase with high proportions of disturbed land cover in the contributing watershed, and increase in years with intense droughts. We evaluated these hypotheses within a dynamic occupancy modeling framework using five consecutive years of detec..., , # Data from: Multiscale threats shape the occurrence dynamics of a threatened aquatic salamander and reveal a possible extinction debt

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.63xsj3vgg](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.63xsj3vgg)

## Description of the data and file structure

This folder contains four files in addition to this metadata text file:

1\) Data.csv

2\) YearlySiteCovs.csv

3\) model_script.R

4\) turnover_equilibrium_script.R

**Data.csv**

This .csv file contains the detection history, site-specific covariates, and visit-specific covariates of interest that are associated with each of the 176 sites in the study.

* Column A: Site #
* Columns B-U: Detection history (1= detected, 0= not detected, [BLANK]= not surveyed) of up to four consecutive visits in five consecutive years (20 total visits)
* Columns V-X: Site-specific local covariates (Bottom Substrate, Cover Score, Total). Scores taken from field-collected rabid habitat assessments.
* Columns Y-AC: Site-specific landscape covariates..., ,