Temporal Non-stationarity of Path-Selection Movement Models and Connectivity: An Example of African Elephants in Kruger National Park
Effective conservation and land management require robust understanding of how landscape features spatially and temporally affect population distribution, abundance and connectivity. This is especially important for keystone species known to shape ecosystems, such as the African elephant (Loxodonta...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.553263/full |
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| author | Żaneta Kaszta Samuel A. Cushman Samuel A. Cushman Rob Slotow |
| author_facet | Żaneta Kaszta Samuel A. Cushman Samuel A. Cushman Rob Slotow |
| author_sort | Żaneta Kaszta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Effective conservation and land management require robust understanding of how landscape features spatially and temporally affect population distribution, abundance and connectivity. This is especially important for keystone species known to shape ecosystems, such as the African elephant (Loxodonta africana). This work investigates monthly patterns of elephant movement and connectivity in Kruger National Park (KNP; South Africa), and their temporal relationship with landscape features over a 12-month period associated with the occurrence of a severe drought. Based on elephant locations from GPS collars with a short acquisition interval, we explored the monthly patterns of spatial-autocorrelation of elephant movement using Mantel correlograms, and we developed scale-optimized monthly path-selection movement and resistant kernel connectivity models. Our results showed high variability in patterns of autocorrelation in elephant movements across individuals and months, with a preponderance of directional movement, which we believe is related to drought induced range shifts. We also found high non-stationarity of monthly movement and connectivity models; most models exhibited qualitative similarity in the general nature of the predicted ecological relationships, but large quantitative differences in predicted landscape resistance and connectivity across the year. This suggests high variation in space-utilization and temporal shifts of core habitat areas for elephants in KNP. Even during extreme drought, rainfall itself was not a strong driver of elephant movement; elephant movements, instead, were strongly driven by selection for green vegetation and areas near waterholes and small rivers. Our findings highlight a potentially serious problem in using movement models from a particular temporal snapshot to infer general landscape effects on movement. Conservation and management strategies focusing only on certain areas identified by temporarily idiosyncratic models might not be appropriate or efficient as a guide for allocating scarce resources for management or for understanding general ecological relationships. |
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| issn | 2296-701X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T19:13:18Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-9d2dc73b166a4bc589bd1dd4afb275dd2022-12-21T21:35:49ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution2296-701X2021-04-01910.3389/fevo.2021.553263553263Temporal Non-stationarity of Path-Selection Movement Models and Connectivity: An Example of African Elephants in Kruger National ParkŻaneta Kaszta0Samuel A. Cushman1Samuel A. Cushman2Rob Slotow3Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), Department of Zoology, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomWildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), Department of Zoology, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomUSDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Flagstaff, AZ, United StatesSchool of Life Sciences, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South AfricaEffective conservation and land management require robust understanding of how landscape features spatially and temporally affect population distribution, abundance and connectivity. This is especially important for keystone species known to shape ecosystems, such as the African elephant (Loxodonta africana). This work investigates monthly patterns of elephant movement and connectivity in Kruger National Park (KNP; South Africa), and their temporal relationship with landscape features over a 12-month period associated with the occurrence of a severe drought. Based on elephant locations from GPS collars with a short acquisition interval, we explored the monthly patterns of spatial-autocorrelation of elephant movement using Mantel correlograms, and we developed scale-optimized monthly path-selection movement and resistant kernel connectivity models. Our results showed high variability in patterns of autocorrelation in elephant movements across individuals and months, with a preponderance of directional movement, which we believe is related to drought induced range shifts. We also found high non-stationarity of monthly movement and connectivity models; most models exhibited qualitative similarity in the general nature of the predicted ecological relationships, but large quantitative differences in predicted landscape resistance and connectivity across the year. This suggests high variation in space-utilization and temporal shifts of core habitat areas for elephants in KNP. Even during extreme drought, rainfall itself was not a strong driver of elephant movement; elephant movements, instead, were strongly driven by selection for green vegetation and areas near waterholes and small rivers. Our findings highlight a potentially serious problem in using movement models from a particular temporal snapshot to infer general landscape effects on movement. Conservation and management strategies focusing only on certain areas identified by temporarily idiosyncratic models might not be appropriate or efficient as a guide for allocating scarce resources for management or for understanding general ecological relationships.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.553263/fullnon-stationaritymovement modelspath-selection functionconnectivityresistance surface modelinglimiting factors |
| spellingShingle | Żaneta Kaszta Samuel A. Cushman Samuel A. Cushman Rob Slotow Temporal Non-stationarity of Path-Selection Movement Models and Connectivity: An Example of African Elephants in Kruger National Park Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution non-stationarity movement models path-selection function connectivity resistance surface modeling limiting factors |
| title | Temporal Non-stationarity of Path-Selection Movement Models and Connectivity: An Example of African Elephants in Kruger National Park |
| title_full | Temporal Non-stationarity of Path-Selection Movement Models and Connectivity: An Example of African Elephants in Kruger National Park |
| title_fullStr | Temporal Non-stationarity of Path-Selection Movement Models and Connectivity: An Example of African Elephants in Kruger National Park |
| title_full_unstemmed | Temporal Non-stationarity of Path-Selection Movement Models and Connectivity: An Example of African Elephants in Kruger National Park |
| title_short | Temporal Non-stationarity of Path-Selection Movement Models and Connectivity: An Example of African Elephants in Kruger National Park |
| title_sort | temporal non stationarity of path selection movement models and connectivity an example of african elephants in kruger national park |
| topic | non-stationarity movement models path-selection function connectivity resistance surface modeling limiting factors |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.553263/full |
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