Department of Biology, The King's University, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
PLoS One. 2018 Jun 26;13(6):e0199671. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199671. eCollection 2018.
Animal behaviour is increasingly seen as an important component in maintaining functional connectivity between patches in fragmented landscapes. However, models that explicitly incorporate behavioural trade-offs are rarely applied to landscape planning problems like connectivity. The aim of this study was to explore how state-dependent behaviour influenced functional connectivity between patches from a theoretical perspective. We investigated how inter-patch distances influenced functional connectivity using a dynamic state variable model framework. The decision making process of an individual ruminant facing fitness trade-offs in staying in its patch of origin or moving to another patch at various distances were explicitly modelled. We incorporated energetic costs and predation costs of feeding, ruminating, and resting while in the patch and for transit between patches based on inter-patch distance. Functional connectivity was maintained with isolated patches when they offered high intake and the inactivity of rumination associated with rapid gut fill resulted in reduced predation risk. Nevertheless, individuals in high energetic state often would forgo moving to another patch, whereas individuals in poor energetic states were forced to accept the cost of movement to best meet their requirements in the distant patch. The inclusion of state-dependent behavioural models provides important insights into functional connectivity in fragmented landscapes and helps integrate animal behaviour into landscape planning. We discuss the consequences of our findings for landscape planning to show how the approach provides a heuristic tool to assess alternative scenarios for restoring landscape functional connectivity.
动物行为正日益被视为维持破碎景观斑块间功能连通性的一个重要组成部分。然而，很少有模型将明确纳入行为权衡的模型应用于连通性等景观规划问题。本研究旨在从理论角度探讨状态依赖行为如何影响斑块间的功能连通性。我们使用动态状态变量模型框架研究了斑块间距离如何影响功能连通性。明确模拟了个体反刍动物在其起源斑块内停留或移动到不同距离的其他斑块时面临的适应权衡的决策过程。我们根据斑块间的距离，将在斑块内进食、反刍和休息以及在斑块间转移时的能量成本和捕食成本纳入其中。当孤立斑块提供高摄入量且与快速肠道填充相关的反刍不活跃导致捕食风险降低时，孤立斑块可保持功能连通性。然而，处于高能量状态的个体通常会避免移动到另一个斑块，而处于低能量状态的个体则被迫接受移动的成本，以在遥远的斑块中最好地满足其需求。纳入状态依赖行为模型为破碎景观中的功能连通性提供了重要的见解，并有助于将动物行为纳入景观规划。我们讨论了我们的研究结果对景观规划的影响，以展示该方法如何为评估恢复景观功能连通性的替代方案提供启发式工具。
