Evaluating functional connectivity with matrix behavior uncertainty for an endangered butterfly
Authored by Eliot J B McIntire, Paul M Severns, Cheryl B Schultz
Date Published: 2013
DOI: 10.1007/s10980-013-9860-6
Sponsors:
National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Canada Research Chairs Program
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP)
Platforms:
No platforms listed
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
Understanding animal responses to landscape elements helps forecast
population reactions to changing landscape conditions. The challenge is
that some behaviors are poorly known and difficult to estimate. We
assessed how uncertainty in behavioral responses to dense woods, an
avoided landscape structure, impacts functional connectivity among
reproductive habitat patches for Fender's blue butterfly, an endangered
prairie species of western Oregon, USA. We designed a factorial
simulation experiment using a spatially explicit individual-based model
to project functional connectivity for female butterflies across current
and alternative landscapes. We varied the probability of dense woods
entry and turning angle standard deviation for movements within the
dense woods over a range of biologically reasonable and observed values.
Butterflies in the current landscape (46 \% dense woods) and one with
prairie encroached by forest (60 \% dense woods) showed reductions in
functional connectivity estimates consistent with the expectations of
habitat fragmentation. Although dense woods entrance uncertainty
impacted functional connectivity projections, uncertainty in the dense
woods turning angle standard deviation had comparatively little impact
on connectivity estimates. Reduction and reconfiguration of the current
dense woods to 27 \% cover (restored landscape) appeared to facilitate a
corridor behavior in dispersing individuals, likely providing a
functional connectivity estimate comparable to the historic landscape (<
5 \% dense woods). Our simulations suggest that additional study of
butterfly movement within the dense woods is unnecessary and that a
partial reduction in dense woods would be sufficient to achieve historic
levels of functional connectivity for Fender's blue across the study
landscape.
Tags
Habitat fragmentation
Landscape connectivity
fragmented landscapes
Willamette valley
Animal
dispersal
Dispersal behavior
Icaricia-icarioides-fenderi
Sulphureus ssp kincaidii
Oregon native
prairies
Movement behavior