Dataset Information

Circadian rhythms enable efficient resource selection in a human-modified landscape.

ABSTRACT: Animals access resources such as food and shelter, and acquiring these resources has varying risks and benefits, depending on the suitability of the landscape. Some animals change their patterns of resource selection in space and time to optimize the trade-off between risks and benefits. We examine the circadian variation in resource selection of swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) within a human-modified landscape, an environment of varying suitability. We used GPS data from 48 swamp wallabies to compare the use of landscape features such as woodland and scrub, housing estates, farmland, coastal areas, wetlands, waterbodies, and roads to their availability using generalized linear mixed models. We investigated which features were selected by wallabies and determined whether the distance to different landscape features changed, depending on the time of the day. During the day, wallabies were more likely to be found within or near natural landscape features such as woodlands and scrub, wetlands, and coastal vegetation, while avoiding landscape features that may be perceived as more risky (roads, housing, waterbodies, and farmland), but those features were selected more at night. Finally, we mapped our results to predict habitat suitability for swamp wallabies in human-modified landscapes. We showed that wallabies living in a human-modified landscape selected different landscape features during day or night. Changing circadian patterns of resource selection might enhance the persistence of species in landscapes where resources are fragmented and disturbed.

SUBMITTER: Fischer M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6635946 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:To conserve wide-ranging species in degraded landscapes, it is essential to understand how the behavior of animals changes in relation to the degree and composition of modification. Evidence suggests that large inter-individual variation exists in the propensity for use of degraded areas and may be driven by both behavioral and landscape factors. The use of cultivated lands by wildlife is of particular interest, given the importance of reducing human-wildlife conflicts and understanding how such areas can function as biodiversity buffers. African elephant space use can be highly influenced by human activity and the degree to which individuals crop-raid. We analyzed GPS data from 56 free-ranging elephants in the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem using resource selection functions (RSFs) to assess how crop use may drive patterns of resource selection and space use within a population. We quantified drivers of similarity in resource selection across individuals using proximity analysis of individual RSF coefficients derived from random forest models. We found wide variation in RSF coefficient values between individuals indicating strongly differentiated resource selection strategies. Proximity assessment indicated the degree of crop use in the dry season, individual repeatability, and time spent in unprotected areas drove similarity in resource selection patterns. Crop selection was also spatially structured in relation to agricultural fragmentation. In areas with low fragmentation, elephants spent less time in crops and selected most strongly for crops further from protected area boundaries, but in areas of high fragmentation, elephants spent twice as much time in crops and selected most strongly for crops closer to the protected area boundary. Our results highlight how individual differences and landscape structure can shape use of agricultural landscapes. We discuss our findings in respect to the conservation challenges of human-elephant conflict and incorporating behavioral variation into human-wildlife coexistence efforts.

Dataset Information

Circadian rhythms enable efficient resource selection in a human-modified landscape.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets