Differential impact of landscape transformation on pumas (Puma concolor) and jaguars (Panthera onca) in the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest

Aim Jaguars and pumas, being similar in size and behaviour, are the largest felids of the Neotropics. However, pumas appear to be more resistant to human impacts. Our objective was to compare the response of both species with human impacts at a regional scale in a highly modified region where both species had continuous distribution in the past. Location The Upper Parana Atlantic Forest (UPAF). Methods Pumas and jaguars presence‐only data were used in an Ecological Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA). From the total number of records, we resampled 95 records of each species 10 times to characterize and compare their habitat requirements, built habitat‐suitability maps and examined interspecific differences in niche parameters related to present landscape characteristics. Results Both species showed high dependence on native forest and habitat protection, and low tolerance to anthropogenic environments. However, jaguars showed higher differences between their optimal habitat and the available landscape (mean ± SD; marginality M = 2.290 ± 0.072) and lower tolerance to deviations from their optimal habitat (tolerance T = 0.596 ± 0.013) than pumas (M = 1.358 ± 0.067, P < 0.001; T = 0.742 ± 0.022, P < 0.001). Although their niches highly overlapped (Pianka’s O = 0.746 ± 0.069), pumas’ higher tolerance resulted in a larger area covered by suitable patches of habitat with higher connectivity. All jaguar‐suitable areas were also suitable for pumas; however, 44 ± 8% of puma‐suitable areas were unsuitable or marginal for jaguars. Main conclusions Pumas showed more tolerance than jaguars to human impacts at a regional scale in the UPAF, a pattern also observed at local and continental scales. Although the proximate factors responsible for the differential response of pumas to human‐altered environments seem to be similar at all spatial scales (e.g. broader trophic niche than jaguars), the resultant spatial configuration of suitable habitat at a regional scale might be another important factor determining puma persistence and higher jaguar demands on conservation efforts.     

Co‐occurrence of bobcats,coyotes, and ocelots in Texas

Interspecific competition among carnivores has been linked to differences in behavior, morphology, and resource use. Insights into these interactions can enhance understanding of local ecological processes that can have impacts on the recovery of endangered species, such as the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). Ocelots, bobcats (Lynx rufus), and coyotes (Canis latrans) share a small geographic range overlap from South Texas to south‐central Mexico but relationships among the three are poorly understood. From May 2011 to March 2018, we conducted a camera trap study to examine co‐occurrence patterns among ocelots, bobcats, and coyotes on the East Foundation's El Sauz Ranch in South Texas. We used a novel multiseason extension to multispecies occupancy models with ≥2 interacting species to conduct an exploratory analysis to examine interspecific interactions and examine the potential effects of patch‐level and landscape‐level metrics relative to the occurrence of these carnivores. We found strong evidence of seasonal mutual coexistence among all three species and observed a species‐specific seasonal trend in detection. Seasonal coexistence patterns were also explained by increasing distance from a high‐speed roadway. However, these results have important ecological implications for planning ocelot recovery in the rangelands of South Texas. This study suggests a coexistence among ocelots, bobcats, and coyotes under the environmental conditions on the El Sauz Ranch. Further research would provide a better understanding of the ecological mechanisms that facilitate coexistence within this community. As road networks in the region expand over the next few decades, large private working ranches will be needed to provide important habitat for ocelots and other carnivore species.     

Puma and Human Spatial and Temporal Use of a Popular California State Park

Abstract: Because of increasing concerns about puma (Puma concolor) attacks on people and the desire to minimize dangerous puma-human encounters while conserving puma populations, we examined spatial and temporal relationships between pumas and people that used Cuyamaca Rancho State Park (CRSP), California, USA. From 2001 to 2003, we studied 10 adult pumas outfitted with Global Positioning System collars. Although number of visitors to CRSP was increasing, no dangerous puma-human encounters were reported during our study. Male and female pumas typically moved short distances during the day (mean of means of individual hourly movements = 168 m and 131 m each hr, respectively) and moved the most at night (mean of means = 690 m and 390 m each hr, respectively). Of 10 pumas, 9 were least active during the day and most active during the evening or at night. In contrast, most visitor use of trails (x̄ = 85%) occurred during the day. Based on puma and human activity patterns, risk of a puma-human encounter was greatest during the evening. Puma prey caches were randomly distributed in relation to trails and park facilities; however, 8 of 33 caches were still within 100 m of a trail and 2 were within 300 m of a facility. Individual puma behavior relative to human activity areas was variable. Some pumas appeared to temporally avoid human activity areas; others used the park randomly in relation to human activity areas; none appeared to be attracted to human activity areas. Pumas that did not show detectable responses to human activity may have been exhibiting some level of habituation; if so, this level of habituation did not result in puma-human conflicts. When human activity peaked during the day, adult male and female pumas were within 100 m of a trail an average of 9% and 19% of the time they were located in the park, respectively. Thus, there were opportunities for puma-human encounters. Management personnel can take a proactive approach to deal with puma-human interactions through education and protocols that help to minimize probability of conflicts; this may provide the best chance for a continued puma presence in habitat used by pumas and people.     

Competition and coexistence in sympatric bobcats and pumas

Space use and diets of sympatric bobcats Lynx rufus and pumas Puma concolor were compared using sign surveys and scat analysis during 1997–2002 in south-eastern Arizona, USA. Bobcats appeared to use grassland, scrub, riparian and woodland habitats equally, but pumas had higher activity in riparian and woodland habitats. There was little evidence that bobcats avoided pumas in space use. Bobcats ate primarily rodents (33% of items in scats), lagomorphs (32%) and ungulates (16%), whereas pumas ate primarily ungulates (69%) and carnivores (21%). Pumas had a narrower dietary niche breadth than bobcats, and puma diet overlapped bobcat diet by 56%, suggesting that pumas may be more vulnerable to changes in prey density than bobcats. Pumas also killed and consumed bobcats, indicating that interference competition may be manifesting through intraguild predation.     

Occurrence of Three Felids across a Network of Protected Areas in Thailand: Prey,Intraguild, and Habitat Associations

Clouded Leopard, Leopard, and Tiger are threatened felids in Southeast Asia, but little is known about the factors influencing their distributions. Using logistic regression, we assessed how habitat variables, prey detection patterns, and presence of intraguild predators affect the occurrence of these felids across 13 protected areas within Thailand. Our analysis is based on data from 1108 camera‐trap locations (47,613 trap‐nights). Clouded Leopard and Leopard are associated with habitat where Red Muntjac and Eurasian Wild Pig were most likely to be present. Tiger are associated with habitat with a higher likelihood for the presence of Gaur, Eurasian Wild Pig, and Sambar. Clouded Leopard and Tiger were both weakly associated with areas with mature evergreen forest. Besides availability of prey, associations with potential competitors also appear to influence the distribution of these felids, although the strength of these effects requires further investigation. Occurrence rates for Clouded Leopard were no different in protected areas with Leopard versus without Leopards. Leopard had similar occurrence rates regardless of the presence of Tiger, but Leopards were less likely to be detected at the same camera‐trap points with the larger felid. Our results suggest that the two most commonly photographed prey species in the study areas serve as key prey species, Eurasian Wild Pig for all three carnivores and Red Muntjac for Leopard and Clouded Leopard.     

Multiple anthropogenic interventions drive puma survival following wolf recovery in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Humans are primary drivers of declining abundances and extirpation of large carnivores worldwide. Management interventions to restore biodiversity patterns, however, include carnivore reintroductions, despite the many unresolved ecological consequences associated with such efforts. Using multistate capture–mark–recapture models, we explored age‐specific survival and cause‐specific mortality rates for 134 pumas (Puma concolor) monitored in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem during gray wolf (Canis lupus) recovery. We identified two top models explaining differences in puma survivorship, and our results suggested three management interventions (unsustainable puma hunting, reduction in a primary prey, and reintroduction of a dominant competitor) have unintentionally impacted puma survival. Specifically, puma survival across age classes was lower in the 6‐month hunting season than the 6‐month nonhunting season; human‐caused mortality rates for juveniles and adults, and predation rates on puma kittens, were higher in the hunting season. Predation on puma kittens, and starvation rates for all pumas, also increased as managers reduced elk (Cervus elaphus) abundance in the system, highlighting direct and indirect effects of competition between recovering wolves and pumas over prey. Our results emphasize the importance of understanding the synergistic effects of existing management strategies and the recovery of large, dominant carnivores to effectively conserve subordinate, hunted carnivores in human‐dominated landscapes.     

In the absence of a “landscape of fear”: How lions,hyenas, and cheetahs coexist

Aggression by top predators can create a “landscape of fear” in which subordinate predators restrict their activity to low‐risk areas or times of day. At large spatial or temporal scales, this can result in the costly loss of access to resources. However, fine‐scale reactive avoidance may minimize the risk of aggressive encounters for subordinate predators while maintaining access to resources, thereby providing a mechanism for coexistence. We investigated fine‐scale spatiotemporal avoidance in a guild of African predators characterized by intense interference competition. Vulnerable to food stealing and direct killing, cheetahs are expected to avoid both larger predators; hyenas are expected to avoid lions. We deployed a grid of 225 camera traps across 1,125 km² in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, to evaluate concurrent patterns of habitat use by lions, hyenas, cheetahs, and their primary prey. We used hurdle models to evaluate whether smaller species avoided areas preferred by larger species, and we used time‐to‐event models to evaluate fine‐scale temporal avoidance in the hours immediately surrounding top predator activity. We found no evidence of long‐term displacement of subordinate species, even at fine spatial scales. Instead, hyenas and cheetahs were positively associated with lions except in areas with exceptionally high lion use. Hyenas and lions appeared to actively track each, while cheetahs appear to maintain long‐term access to sites with high lion use by actively avoiding those areas just in the hours immediately following lion activity. Our results suggest that cheetahs are able to use patches of preferred habitat by avoiding lions on a moment‐to‐moment basis. Such fine‐scale temporal avoidance is likely to be less costly than long‐term avoidance of preferred areas: This may help explain why cheetahs are able to coexist with lions despite high rates of lion‐inflicted mortality, and highlights reactive avoidance as a general mechanism for predator coexistence.     

Jaguar and Puma Activity Patterns and Predator‐Prey Interactions in Four Brazilian Biomes

Jaguars (Panthera onca) and pumas (Puma concolor) coexist throughout the Neotropics. Using camera trapping in four Brazilian biomes, we compare the daily activity patterns of the jaguar and puma, and their relationships with their main prey species. We used a kernel density method to quantify daily activity patterns and to investigate overlap between these predators and their main prey. Both cats showed intensive nocturnal and crepuscular activity (0.69 and 0.14 kernel density, respectively, for jaguars; 0.68 and 0.19 kernel density, respectively, for pumas). Only in the Pantanal did we observe a pattern of concentrated diurnal activity for both species. We found little temporal segregation between jaguars and pumas, as they showed similar activity patterns with high coefficients of overlapping (average ?₁ = 0.86; SE = 0.15). We also observed a significant overlap between the activity patterns of the predators and their main prey species, suggesting that both predators adjust their activity to reduce their foraging energy expenditure. Our findings suggest that temporal partitioning is probably not a generalized mechanism of coexistence between jaguars and pumas; instead, the partitioning of habitat/space use and food resources may play a larger role in mediating top predator coexistence. Knowledge about these behavior aspects is crucial to elucidating the factors that enable coexistence of jaguars and pumas. Furthermore, an understanding of their respective activity periods is relevant to management and associated research efforts.     

Human activity reduces niche partitioning among three widespread mesocarnivores

Anthropogenic disturbances can constrain the realized niche space of wildlife by inducing avoidance behaviors and altering community dynamics. Human activity might contribute to reduced partitioning of niche space by carnivores that consume similar resources, both by promoting tolerant species while also altering behavior of species (e.g. activity patterns). We investigated the influence of anthropogenic disturbance on habitat and dietary niche breadth and overlap among competing carnivores, and explored if altered resource partitioning could be explained by human‐induced activity shifts. To describe the diets of coyotes, bobcat, and gray foxes, we designed a citizen science program to collect carnivore scat samples in low‐ (‘wildland’) and high‐ (‘interface’) human‐use open space preserves, and obtained diet estimates using a DNA metabarcoding approach. Habitat use was determined at scat locations. We found that coyotes expanded habitat and dietary niche breadth in interface preserves, whereas bobcats and foxes narrowed both niche breadth measures. High human use was related to increased dietary niche overlap among all mesocarnivore pairs, increased coyote habitat overlap with bobcats and foxes, and a small reduction in habitat overlap between bobcats and foxes. The strongest increase in diet overlap was among coyotes and foxes, which was smaller in magnitude than their habitat overlap increase. Finally, coyote scats were more likely to contain nocturnal prey in interface preserves, whereas foxes appeared to reduce consumption of nocturnal prey. Our results suggest that dominant and generalist mesocarnivores may encroach on the niche space of subordinate mesocarnivores in areas with high human activity, and that patterns in resource use may be related to human‐induced activity shifts.     

Modeling connectivity to identify current and future anthropogenic barriers to movement of large carnivores: A case study in the American Southwest

This study sought to identify critical areas for puma (Puma concolor) movement across the state of Arizona in the American Southwest and to identify those most likely to be impacted by current and future human land uses, particularly expanding urban development and associated increases in traffic volume. Human populations in this region are expanding rapidly, with the potential for urban centers and busy roads to increasingly act as barriers to demographic and genetic connectivity of large‐bodied, wide‐ranging carnivores such as pumas, whose long‐distance movements are likely to bring them into contact with human land uses and whose low tolerance both for and from humans may put them at risk unless opportunities for safe passage through or around human‐modified landscapes are present. Brownian bridge movement models based on global positioning system collar data collected during bouts of active movement and linear mixed models were used to model habitat quality for puma movement; then, a wall‐to‐wall application of circuit theory models was used to produce a continuous statewide estimate of connectivity for puma movement and to identify pinch points, or bottlenecks, that may be most at risk of impacts from current and future traffic volume and expanding development. Rugged, shrub‐ and scrub‐dominated regions were highlighted as those offering high quality movement habitat for pumas, and pinch points with the greatest potential impacts from expanding development and traffic, although widely distributed, were particularly prominent to the north and east of the city of Phoenix and along interstate highways in the western portion of the state. These pinch points likely constitute important conservation opportunities, where barriers to movement may cause disproportionate loss of connectivity, but also where actions such as placement of wildlife crossing structures or conservation easements could enhance connectivity and prevent detrimental impacts before they occur.     

Competitive interactions between felid species may limit the southern distribution of bobcats Lynx rufus

Bobcats are opportunistic felids occurring in a diverse range of habitats and with a widespread distribution from southern Canada to southern Mexico. To explore why the bobcat's distribution stops at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, we modelled the ecological niches, projected as potential distributions, of the felid community (bobcat Lynx rufus, puma Puma concolor, jaguar Panthera onca, margay Leopardus wiedii, jaguarundi Herpailurus yagouaroundi, and ocelot Leopardus pardalis) in southern Mexico, using occurrence data, environmental maps, the computer algorithm GARP, and a GIS platform. The resulting geographical projection of the ecological niche of bobcats extends south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, suggesting that ecological conditions exist for the establishment of populations. The overlap of the modelled distribution of the bobcat was large with that of the puma (97%), but low with that of the ocelot (44%), margay (46%), jaguar (49%), and jaguarundi (52%), the latter three having relatively similar size and feeding habits to bobcats. Moreover, an independent analysis computing a geographic co‐occurrence index showed a similar trend of geographic avoidance (values 0.15), while all felids, except bobcats, showed a geographic co‐occurrence in southern Mexico (values ranging from ?1.91 to 4.71). The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a lowland region with subtropical habitat, is unlikely to serve as a geographic and ecological barrier to bobcats. As mammal inventories have been conducted for over a century in this region with no records of bobcats, it is unlikely that bobcats are present but have just not been seen. Fossil records also provide no support for the presence of bobcats in that region in the past. Thus, competitive interactions with other felid species appear important in limiting the southern distribution of bobcats, preventing dispersal to a suitable but geographically reduced area south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.     

Urbanization impacts apex predator gene flow but not genetic diversity across an urban‐rural divide

Apex predators are important indicators of intact natural ecosystems. They are also sensitive to urbanization because they require broad home ranges and extensive contiguous habitat to support their prey base. Pumas (Puma concolor) can persist near human developed areas, but urbanization may be detrimental to their movement ecology, population structure, and genetic diversity. To investigate potential effects of urbanization in population connectivity of pumas, we performed a landscape genomics study of 130 pumas on the rural Western Slope and more urbanized Front Range of Colorado, USA. Over 12,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped using double‐digest, restriction site‐associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq). We investigated patterns of gene flow and genetic diversity, and tested for correlations between key landscape variables and genetic distance to assess the effects of urbanization and other landscape factors on gene flow. Levels of genetic diversity were similar for the Western Slope and Front Range, but effective population sizes were smaller, genetic distances were higher, and there was more admixture in the more urbanized Front Range. Forest cover was strongly positively associated with puma gene flow on the Western Slope, while impervious surfaces restricted gene flow and more open, natural habitats enhanced gene flow on the Front Range. Landscape genomic analyses revealed differences in puma movement and gene flow patterns in rural versus urban settings. Our results highlight the utility of dense, genome‐scale markers to document subtle impacts of urbanization on a wide‐ranging carnivore living near a large urban center.     

Predator–prey interactions in a ladybeetle–aphid system depend on spatial scale

The outcome of species interactions may manifest differently at different spatial scales; therefore, our interpretation of observed interactions will depend on the scale at which observations are made. For example, in ladybeetle–aphid systems, the results from small‐scale cage experiments usually cannot be extrapolated to landscape‐scale field observations. To understand how ladybeetle–aphid interactions change across spatial scales, we evaluated predator–prey interactions in an experimental system. The experimental habitat consisted of 81 potted plants and was manipulated to facilitate analysis across four spatial scales. We also simulated a spatially explicit metacommunity model parallel to the experiment. In the experiment, we found that the negative effect of ladybeetles on aphids decreased with increasing spatial scales. This pattern can be explained by ladybeetles strongly suppressing aphids at small scales, but not colonizing distant patches fast enough to suppress aphids at larger scales. In the experiment, the positive effects of aphids on ladybeetles were strongest at three‐plant scale. In a model scenario where predators did not have demographic dynamics, we found, consistent with the experiment, that both the effects of ladybeetles on aphids and the effects of aphids on ladybeetles decreased with increasing spatial scales. These patterns suggest that dispersal was the primary cause of ladybeetle population dynamics in our experiment: aphids increased ladybeetle numbers at smaller scales because ladybeetles stayed in a patch longer and performed area‐restricted searches after encountering aphids; these behaviors did not affect ladybeetle numbers at larger spatial scales. The parallel experimental and model results illustrate how predator–prey interactions can change across spatial scales, suggesting that our interpretation of observed predator–prey dynamics would differ if observations were made at different scales. This study demonstrates how studying ecological interactions at a range of scales can help link the results of small‐scale ecological experiments to landscape‐scale ecological problems.     

Three pathogens in sympatric populations of pumas, bobcats, and domestic cats: implications for infectious disease transmission

Anthropogenic landscape change can lead to increased opportunities for pathogen transmission between domestic and non-domestic animals. Pumas, bobcats, and domestic cats are sympatric in many areas of North America and share many of the same pathogens, some of which are zoonotic. We analyzed bobcat, puma, and feral domestic cat samples collected from targeted geographic areas. We examined exposure to three pathogens that are taxonomically diverse (bacterial, protozoal, viral), that incorporate multiple transmission strategies (vector-borne, environmental exposure/ingestion, and direct contact), and that vary in species-specificity. Bartonella spp., Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), and Toxoplasma gondii IgG were detected in all three species with mean respective prevalence as follows: puma 16%, 41% and 75%; bobcat 31%, 22% and 43%; domestic cat 45%, 10% and 1%. Bartonella spp. were highly prevalent among domestic cats in Southern California compared to other cohort groups. Feline Immunodeficiency Virus exposure was primarily associated with species and age, and was not influenced by geographic location. Pumas were more likely to be infected with FIV than bobcats, with domestic cats having the lowest infection rate. Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence was high in both pumas and bobcats across all sites; in contrast, few domestic cats were seropositive, despite the fact that feral, free ranging domestic cats were targeted in this study. Interestingly, a directly transmitted species-specific disease (FIV) was not associated with geographic location, while exposure to indirectly transmitted diseases--vector-borne for Bartonella spp. and ingestion of oocysts via infected prey or environmental exposure for T. gondii--varied significantly by site. Pathogens transmitted by direct contact may be more dependent upon individual behaviors and intra-specific encounters. Future studies will integrate host density, as well as landscape features, to better understand the mechanisms driving disease exposure and to predict zones of cross-species pathogen transmission among wild and domestic felids.     

Human–Cougar interactions in the wildland–urban interface of Colorado's front range

As human populations continue to expand across the world, the need to understand and manage wildlife populations within the wildland – urban interface is becoming commonplace. This is especially true for large carnivores as these species are not always tolerated by the public and can pose a risk to human safety. Unfortunately, information on wildlife species within the wildland – urban interface is sparse, and knowledge from wildland ecosystems does not always translate well to human‐dominated systems. Across western North America, cougars (Puma concolor) are routinely utilizing wildland – urban habitats while human use of these areas for homes and recreation is increasing. From 2007 to 2015, we studied cougar resource selection, human–cougar interaction, and cougar conflict management within the wildland – urban landscape of the northern Front Range in Colorado, USA. Resource selection of cougars within this landscape was typical of cougars in more remote settings but cougar interactions with humans tended to occur in locations cougars typically selected against, especially those in proximity to human structures. Within higher housing density areas, 83% of cougar use occurred at night, suggesting cougars generally avoided human activity by partitioning time. Only 24% of monitored cougars were reported for some type of conflict behavior but 39% of cougars sampled during feeding site investigations of GPS collar data were found to consume domestic prey items. Aversive conditioning was difficult to implement and generally ineffective for altering cougar behaviors but was thought to potentially have long‐term benefits of reinforcing fear of humans in cougars within human‐dominated areas experiencing little cougar hunting pressure. Cougars are able to exploit wildland – urban landscapes effectively, and conflict is relatively uncommon compared with the proportion of cougar use. Individual characteristics and behaviors of cougars within these areas are highly varied; therefore, conflict management is unique to each situation and should target individual behaviors. The ability of individual cougars to learn to exploit these environments with minimal human–cougar interactions suggests that maintaining older age structures, especially females, and providing a matrix of habitats, including large connected open‐space areas, would be beneficial to cougars and effectively reduce the potential for conflict.     

Seasonal occupancy of sympatric larger carnivores in the southern San Andres Mountains,south-central New Mexico,USA

We investigated factors facilitating coexistence of pumas (Puma concolor), coyotes (Canis latrans), and bobcats (Lynx rufus) in the arid San Andres Mountains of south-central New Mexico, during the season (winter and spring, prior to the annual monsoon) of greatest resource stress. We established a camera-trapping grid in the San Andres, 2007–2011, and modeled occupancy of the three carnivores as a function of habitat, prey, and presence of the other carnivore species. Species interaction factors were >1.3 for each pair of carnivores, and the presence of the other carnivore species never significantly influenced occupancy of any other carnivore. Similarly, occupancy of the San Andres landscape was positively correlated among all carnivores. Occupancy of pumas was most influenced by proximity of water; coyote occupancy was influenced by terrain ruggedness and presence of medium (primarily lagomorph) prey, and bobcat occupancy was influence primarily small prey and proximity to water. The three carnivores also did not show temporal partitioning in use of habitats. Rather than segregation driven by competition, predation, or despotism, our results appeared to reflect preferences for differing habitat characteristics between ambush and cursorial predators and preferred habitats for travel.     

Spatially explicit models of seasonal habitat for greater sage‐grouse at broad spatial scales: Informing areas for management in Nevada and northeastern California

Defining boundaries of species' habitat across broad spatial scales is often necessary for management decisions, and yet challenging for species that demonstrate differential variation in seasonal habitat use. Spatially explicit indices that incorporate temporal shifts in selection can help overcome such challenges, especially for species of high conservation concern. Greater sage‐grouse Centrocercus urophasianus (hereafter, sage‐grouse), a sagebrush obligate species inhabiting the American West, represents an important case study because sage‐grouse exhibit seasonal habitat patterns, populations are declining in most portions of their range and are central to contemporary national land use policies. Here, we modeled spatiotemporal selection patterns for telemetered sage‐grouse across multiple study sites (1,084 sage‐grouse; 30,690 locations) in the Great Basin. We developed broad‐scale spatially explicit habitat indices that elucidated space use patterns (spring, summer/fall, and winter) and accounted for regional climatic variation using previously published hydrographic boundaries. We then evaluated differences in selection/avoidance of each habitat characteristic between seasons and hydrographic regions. Most notably, sage‐grouse consistently selected areas dominated by sagebrush with few or no conifers but varied in type of sagebrush selected by season and region. Spatiotemporal variation was most apparent based on availability of water resources and herbaceous cover, where sage‐grouse strongly selected upland natural springs in xeric regions but selected larger wet meadows in mesic regions. Additionally, during the breeding period in spring, herbaceous cover was selected strongly in the mesic regions. Lastly, we expanded upon an existing joint–index framework by combining seasonal habitat indices with a probabilistic index of sage‐grouse abundance and space use to produce habitat maps useful for sage‐grouse management. These products can serve as conservation planning tools that help predict expected benefits of restoration activities, while highlighting areas most critical to sustaining sage‐grouse populations. Our joint–index framework can be applied to other species that exhibit seasonal shifts in habitat requirements to help better guide conservation actions.     

Behaviour‐driven micro‐scale niche differentiation in carabid beetles

Carabid beetles form rich and abundant communities in arable landscapes. Their generalist feeding behaviour and similar environmental requirements raise questions about the mechanisms allowing the coexistence of such species‐rich assemblages. We hypothesized that subtle niche partitioning comes into play on spatial, temporal, or trophic basis. To test this, we performed experiments and made observations on the behaviour of two sympatric carabid species of similar size and life cycle, Bembidion quadrimaculatum L. and Phyla obtusa Audinet‐Serville (both Coleoptera: Carabidae: Bembidiini). We compared plant climbing behaviour, daily activity patterns, and trophic preferences between the two carabid species under laboratory conditions. Whereas no clear difference in trophic preference was observed, our results suggest temporal niche differentiation at the nychthemeron scale (a period of 24 consecutive hours), with one of the species being more diurnal and the other more nocturnal, and spatial differentiation in their habitat use at the plant stratum scale. Intra‐specific variation suggests that micro‐scale spatio‐temporal niche differentiation could be mediated by behavioural plasticity in these two carabid species. We speculate that such behavioural plasticity may provide carabid beetles with a high adaptive potential in intensively managed agricultural areas.     

Fine‐scale spatial distribution of murundus structures in the semi‐arid region of Brazil

Murundus are earth mounds widespread in most landscapes in the semi‐arid region of Brazil. Evidence obtained from predictive modelling has suggested a termite origin for these structures, opening up new opportunities for further research. Distribution of densely packed murundus at larger spatial scales is most related to climatic regime and soil nutrient availability. However, factors and processes underlying their distribution and density at smaller spatial scales are not yet fully understood. In this study, we adopted an approach based on mapping point data using high‐resolution satellite imagery, multi‐scale second‐order analysis and general linear models to examine the fine‐scale spatial distribution and density of murundus. Our results suggest that the distribution of those structures within densely packed areas is regulated by more than one process acting or interacting across multiple spatial scales. All densely packed murundus showed a significant regular distribution at the distance scale of up to 50 m radially and a completely random distribution across all other upper distance scales. We interpret the regular pattern as a result of competition for foraging territories between different termite colonies during the process formation of densely packed murundus. The random pattern at larger distance scales (above 50 m radially) can be attributed to habitat selection preferences by termite species builders of murundus mediated by local environmental resources and conditions (i.e. availability of food resources and nesting and open habitat), which would be randomly distributed in space. Thus, at finer spatial scales murundus distributions are associated with biotic interactions acting on an abiotic template. On the basis of significant linear correlations, we suggest that the density of murundus is strongly related to local temperature regime with soil‐type influencing its effect on the murundus densities. Our findings provide novel evidences that mound‐building termites are involved in the formation of murundus in the semi‐arid region of Brazil.