Biddlecombe Brooke A, Bayne Erin M, Lunn Nicholas J, McGeachy David, Derocher Andrew E
Department of Biological Sciences University of Alberta Edmonton Alberta Canada.
Wildlife Research Division, Science and Technology Branch Environment and Climate Change Canada Edmonton AB Canada.
Ecol Evol. 2020 Apr 12;10(11):4791-4800. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6233. eCollection 2020 Jun.
Habitat fragmentation occurs when continuous habitat gets broken up as a result of ecosystem change. While commonly studied in terrestrial ecosystems, Arctic sea ice ecosystems also experience fragmentation, but are rarely studied in this context. Most fragmentation analyses are conducted using patch-based metrics, which are potentially less suitable for sea ice that has gradual changes between sea ice cover, than distinct "long-term" patches. Using an integrated step selection analysis, we compared the descriptive power of a patch-based metric to a more novel metric, the variation in local spatial autocorrelation over time. We used satellite telemetry data from 39 adult female polar bears () in Hudson Bay to examine their sea ice habitat using Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 data during sea ice breakup in May through July from 2013-2018. Spatial autocorrelation resulted in better model fits across 64% of individuals, although both metrics were more effective in describing movement patterns than habitat selection. Variation in local spatial autocorrelation allows for the visualization of sea ice habitat at complex spatial and temporal scales, condensing a targeted time period of habitat that would otherwise have to be analyzed daily.
当连续的栖息地因生态系统变化而破碎时，就会发生栖息地破碎化。虽然通常在陆地生态系统中进行研究，但北极海冰生态系统也会经历破碎化，不过在这种背景下很少被研究。大多数破碎化分析是使用基于斑块的指标进行的，这些指标可能不太适合海冰，因为海冰覆盖之间的变化是渐进的，而不是明显的“长期”斑块。通过综合步长选择分析，我们将基于斑块的指标与一个更新颖的指标——局部空间自相关随时间的变化——的描述能力进行了比较。我们使用了哈德逊湾39只成年雌性北极熊（）的卫星遥测数据，利用2013年至2018年5月至7月海冰融化期间的先进微波扫描辐射计2数据，来研究它们的海冰栖息地。空间自相关在64%的个体中产生了更好的模型拟合，尽管这两个指标在描述运动模式方面都比栖息地选择更有效。局部空间自相关的变化能够在复杂的空间和时间尺度上可视化海冰栖息地，浓缩了原本需要每天分析的目标时间段的栖息地情况。
