Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, United States of America.
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2018 Mar 28;13(3):e0194243. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194243. eCollection 2018.
Landscape connectivity is integral to the persistence of metapopulations of wide ranging carnivores and other terrestrial species. The objectives of this research were to investigate the landscape characteristics essential to use of areas by lynx and bobcats in northern New England, map a habitat availability model for each species, and explore connectivity across areas of the region likely to experience future development pressure. A Mahalanobis distance analysis was conducted on location data collected between 2005 and 2010 from 16 bobcats in western Vermont and 31 lynx in northern Maine to determine which variables were most consistent across all locations for each species using three scales based on average 1) local (15 minute) movement, 2) linear distance between daily locations, and 3) female home range size. The bobcat model providing the widest separation between used locations and random study area locations suggests that they cue into landscape features such as edge, availability of cover, and development density at different scales. The lynx model with the widest separation between random and used locations contained five variables including natural habitat, cover, and elevation-all at different scales. Shrub scrub habitat-where lynx's preferred prey is most abundant-was represented at the daily distance moved scale. Cross validation indicated that outliers had little effect on models for either species. A habitat suitability value was calculated for each 30 m2 pixel across Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine for each species and used to map connectivity between conserved lands within selected areas across the region. Projections of future landscape change illustrated potential impacts of anthropogenic development on areas lynx and bobcat may use, and indicated where connectivity for bobcats and lynx may be lost. These projections provided a guide for conservation of landscape permeability for lynx, bobcat, and species relying on similar habitats in the region.
景观连通性对于广泛分布的食肉动物和其他陆地物种的复合种群的持续存在至关重要。本研究的目的是调查对新英格兰北部的猞猁和短尾猫使用区域至关重要的景观特征，为每个物种绘制栖息地可用模型，并探索该地区可能面临未来发展压力的区域之间的连通性。对 2005 年至 2010 年间在佛蒙特州西部的 16 只短尾猫和缅因州北部的 31 只猞猁收集的位置数据进行了马氏距离分析，以确定每个物种在三个尺度上所有位置最一致的变量：1）平均局部（15 分钟）运动，2）每日位置之间的线性距离，3）雌性家域大小。为短尾猫建立的模型能够在使用区域和随机研究区域位置之间提供最大的分离，这表明它们能够根据不同的尺度感知景观特征，如边缘、可用遮蔽物和发展密度。为猞猁建立的模型在随机和使用位置之间提供了最大的分离，其中包含五个变量，包括自然栖息地、遮蔽物和海拔——所有这些都在不同的尺度上。灌木灌丛栖息地——猞猁最丰富的猎物栖息地——在每日移动距离尺度上有所体现。交叉验证表明，模型的异常值对两种物种的影响都很小。为佛蒙特州、新罕布什尔州和缅因州的每个 30 m2 像素计算了每个物种的栖息地适宜性值，并用于绘制该地区选定区域内保护地之间的连通性。未来景观变化的预测说明了人为发展对猞猁和短尾猫可能使用的区域的潜在影响，并指出了短尾猫和猞猁的连通性可能丧失的地方。这些预测为保护该地区依赖类似栖息地的猞猁、短尾猫和物种的景观渗透性提供了指导。
