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Movement patterns of an arboreal marsupial at the edge of its range: a case study of the koala.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Conservation strategies derived from research carried out in one part of the range of a widely distributed species and then uniformly applied over multiple regions risk being ineffective due to regional variations in species-habitat relationships. This is particularly true at the edge of the range where information on animal movements and resource selection is often limited. Here, we investigate home range size, movement patterns and resource selection of koalas Phascolarctos cinereus in the semi-arid and arid landscapes of southwest Queensland, Australia. We placed collars with GPS units on 21 koalas in three biogeographic regions. Home range sizes, resource selection and movement patterns were examined across the three regions. RESULTS:Habitat selectivity was highest at the more arid, western edge of the koala's range with their occupancy restricted to riparian/drainage line habitats, while the more easterly koalas displayed more variability in habitat use. There was no significant difference between home range sizes of koalas at the western edge of the range compared to the more easterly koalas. Instead, variability in home range size was attributed to spatial variations in habitat quality or the availability of a key resource, with a strong influence of rainfall and the presence of freestanding water on the home range size of koalas. Within a 580 m spatial range, movement patterns of male and female paths showed a tortuous trend, consistent with foraging behavior. Beyond this spatial range, male paths showed a trend to more linear patterns, representing a transition of movement behavior from foraging to breeding and dispersal. CONCLUSIONS:The difference in home range movement patterns and resource use among the different koala populations shows that behavior changes with proximity to the arid edge of the koala's range. Changes in home range size and resource use near the range edge highlight the importance of further range-edge studies for informing effective koala conservation and management actions, especially when developing species-specific adaptation responses to climate change.

SUBMITTER: Davies N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4337771 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Movement patterns of an arboreal marsupial at the edge of its range: a case study of the koala.

Davies Nicole N Gramotnev Galina G Seabrook Leonie L Bradley Adrian A Baxter Greg G Rhodes Jonathan J Lunney Daniel D McAlpine Clive C

Movement ecology 20130912 1

<h4>Background</h4>Conservation strategies derived from research carried out in one part of the range of a widely distributed species and then uniformly applied over multiple regions risk being ineffective due to regional variations in species-habitat relationships. This is particularly true at the edge of the range where information on animal movements and resource selection is often limited. Here, we investigate home range size, movement patterns and resource selection of koalas Phascolarctos ...[more]

PMID: 25709822

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Project description:Capturing movement of animals in mathematical models has long been a keenly pursued direction of research1. Any good model of animal movement is built upon information about the animal's environment and the available resources including whether prey is in abundance or scarce, densely distributed or sparse2. Such an approach could enable the identification of certain quantities or measures from the model that are species-specific characteristics. We propose here a mechanistic model to describe the movement of two species of Asian hornbills in a resource-abundant heterogenous landscape which includes degraded forests and human settlements. Hornbill telemetry data was used to this end. The birds show a bias both towards features of attraction such as nesting and roosting sites as well as possible bias away from points of repulsion such as human presence. These biases are accounted for with suitable potentials. The spatial patterns of movement are analyzed using the Fokker-Planck equation, which helps explain the variation in movement of different individuals. Search times to target locations were calculated using first passage time equations dual to the Fokker-Planck equations. We also find that the diffusion coefficients are larger for breeding birds than for non-breeding ones-a manifestation of repeated switching of directions to move back to the nest from foraging sites. The degree of directedness towards nests and roosts is captured by the drift coefficients. Non-breeding hornbills show similar values of the ratio of the two coefficients irrespective of the fact that their movement data is available from different seasons. Therefore, the ratio of drift to diffusion coefficients is indicative of an individual's breeding status, as seen from available data. It could possibly also characterize different species. For all individuals, first passage times increase with proximity to human settlements, in agreement with the premise that anthropogenic activities close to nesting/roosting sites are not desirable.

Dataset Information

Movement patterns of an arboreal marsupial at the edge of its range: a case study of the koala.

Publications

Movement patterns of an arboreal marsupial at the edge of its range: a case study of the koala.

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