Seasonality in functional connectivity: A case study with the American marten in Forillon National Park

Protected areas are essential tools for reducing global biodiversity loss. To fulfill their ecological functions, protected areas must be connected to their surroundings, a requirement that is difficult to meet in landscapes intensively disturbed by anthropogenic activities. Therefore, protecting movement corridors at the edges of protected areas is crucial, especially for species with broad habitat needs, such as the American marten (Martes americana). However, habitat selection and space use patterns are dynamic processes, so we could expect that functional connectivity would vary temporally in response to changing environmental conditions and levels of human activities. In this study, we aimed to predict the location of movement corridors for the American marten in Forillon National Park and its periphery during two contrasted periods (snow-free: May–November; snow-covered: December–April). We used “seasonal” resource selection functions to identify core areas (interpreted as circuit..., We captured American martens from September to December 2020 and from October to December 2021 using certified live traps (Tomahawk model 202, Wisconsin, USA, and Havahart model 1078, Pennsylvania, USA). Captured martens were physically restrained using a handling cone and anesthetized with an intramuscular injection (rear thigh) of BAM (combination of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine; Wildlife Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Windsor, Colorado, USA). Martens weighing ≥ 650 g were fitted with a Litetrack 20 (Lotek Engineering Inc, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, 21 g) GPS collar programmed to acquire location fixes every 6 h for nearly 10 months. From January 2021 to May 2022, we collected GPS locations from collared martens through remote data download, recaptures, or trapped individuals.
We used digital maps to obtain habitat covariates that could potentially influence the habitat selection and space use patterns of martens.  We also used 1: 20,000 digital terrain models, and digital maps o..., , # Seasonality in functional connectivity: A case study with the American marten in Forillon National Park

Note: This README file is the same for the two datasets that represent different seasonal periods (summer and winter).

Description of column names:

* presence: Dummy variable indicating it is a GPS relocation (1) or a random point (0)
* ID: Animal identifier (GPS collar #)
* DATE: GPS location date (randomly attributed to random points)
* HABITAT: Land cover type under the GPS relocation or the random point
* CONIFER: Dummy variable for the > 60-year-old coniferous stands
* MIX: Dummy variable for the > 60-year-old mixed and deciduous stands
* YOUNG: Dummy variable for the 21–60-year-old regenerating stands
* OPEN: Dummy variable for the open habitats
* LAT: Latitude (in decimal degrees)
* LONG: Longitude (in decimal degrees)
* ELEV: Elevation (in m)
* ROAD1_eucldist: Euclidian distance to a primary road (in m)
* ROAD1_decay50: Decay distance to a ...