Javier Naves

Finding the Missing Link between Landscape Structure and Population Dynamics: A Spatially Explicit Perspective

We construct and explore a general modeling framework that allows for a systematic investigation of the impact of changes in landscape structure on population dynamics. The essential parts of the framework are a landscape generator with independent control over landscape composition and physiognomy, an individual‐based spatially explicit population model that simulates population dynamics within heterogeneous landscapes, and scale‐dependent landscape indices that depict the essential aspects of landscape that interact with dispersal and demographic processes. Landscape maps are represented by a grid of \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcommand\cyr{ \renewcommand\rmdefault{wncyr} \renewcommand\sfdefault{wncyss} \renewcommand\encodingdefault{OT2} \normalfont \selectfont} \DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcyr}{\cyr} \pagestyle{empty} \DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{6} \begin{document} \landscape

ANIMAL HABITAT QUALITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING : EXPLORING SEASONAL PATTERNS USING NDVI

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BROWN BEAR FOOD HABITS AT THE BORDER OF ITS RANGE: A LONG-TERM STUDY

\end{document} cells and consist of good‐quality, poor‐quality, or uninhabitable matrix habitat cells. The population model was shaped in accordance to the biology of European brown bears (Ursus arctos), and demographic parameters were adjusted to yield a source‐sink configuration. Results obtained with the spatially explicit model do not confirm results of earlier nonspatial source‐sink models where addition of sink habitat resulted in a decrease of total population size because of dilution of high‐quality habitat. Our landscape indices, which describe scale‐dependent correlation between and within habitat types, were able to explain variations in variables of population dynamics (mean number of females with sink home ranges, mean number of females with source home ranges, and mean dispersal distance) caused by different landscape structure. When landscape structure changed, changes in these variables generally followed the corresponding change of an appropriate landscape index in a linear way. Our general approach incorporates source‐sink dynamics as well as metapopulation dynamics, and the population model can easily be modified for other species groups.

TrkA is necessary for the normal development of the murine thymus.

The status of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) in Spain has suffered a dramatic decline during the last centuries, both in area and numbers. Current relict populations are suspected to be under immediate risk of extinction. The aim of our model is to attain an understanding of the main processes and mechanisms determining population dynamics in the Cordillera Cantabrica. We compile the knowledge available about brown bears in the Cordillera Cantabrica, northern Spain, and perform a population viability analysis (PVA) to diagnose the current state of the population and to support current management. The specially constructed simulation model, based on long-term field investigations on the western brown bear population in the Cordillera Cantabrica, includes detailed life history data and information on environmental variations in food abundance. The method of individual-based modeling is employed to simulate the fate of individual bears. Reproduction, family breakup, and mortalities are modeled in annual time ...

Human behaviour can trigger large carnivore attacks in developed countries

Many animal species have developed specific evolutionary adaptations to survive prolonged periods of low energy availability that characterize seasonal environments. The seasonal course of primary production, a major aspect of ecosystem functioning, should therefore be an important factor determining the habitat quality of such species. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing the relationship between habitat quality and ecosystem functioning for brown bears (Ursus arctos), a species showing hyperphagia and hibernation as evolutionary adaptation to seasonal peaks and bottlenecks in ecosystem productivity, respectively. Our unique long-term data set comprised data from two brown bear populations in northern Spain on historical presence, current presence, and reproduction. The data were classified on a grid of 5 3 5 km pixels into five classes: frequent reproduction, sporadic reproduction, frequent presence, sporadic presence, and recent extinction. We used the long- term average of the seasonal course of NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) as a proxy for ecosystem functioning and investigated the relationship between habitat quality and ecosystem functioning with methods borrowed from statistical point-pattern analysis. We found that brown bears indeed selected habitat with specific ecosystem functioning (i.e., the variance in all habitat classes was smaller than in the landscape overall) and the relationship between habitat quality and ecosystem functioning was ordered. First, the average distance in ecosystem functioning between two habitat classes was larger if the difference in habitat quality was larger. Second, habitat for which there was the greatest need (i.e., breeding habitat) occupied the narrowest niche regarding ecosystem functioning and showed the most pronounced seasonality. Progressively poorer classes occupied wider niches that partly overlapped those of better classes. This indicated that nonbreeding animals are less selective. Our methodology provided new insight into the relationship between ecosystem functioning and habitat quality and could be widely applied to animal species living in seasonal environments. Because NDVI data are continuously collected, our methodology allows for continuous monitoring of changes in habitat quality due to global change.

Long-term trends in food habits of a relict brown bear population in northern Spain: the influence of climate and local factors

We present a spatially explicit population model for analysing the expansion of brown bears (Ursus arctos) after the reintroduction program in central Austria. The model is based on field investigations into brown bears in Austria and Slovenia and on current knowledge of brown bears. The landscape of the eastern Alps is represented by a GIS-derived raster map defining local habitat suitability and five major spatial barriers to dispersal. The population model follows the fate of individual bears and simulates reproduction, dispersal, home range establishment, and mortality in annual time steps. We indirectly adjust unknown or uncertain model parameters with 10-year data on the number of females with cubs in central Austria and determine key variables of population dynamics, such as population sizes and growth rates within different population nuclei, dispersal distances, or mortality rates, for model parameterisations that reproduce the data on females with cubs. We estimated a current (1996–2000) growth rate of the population in Austria and adjacent parts of Italy of some 14%; a high proportion of this growth was due toimmigration from Slovenia. Consequently, the growth rate of the subpopulation in central Austria, which probably is isolated functionally (i.e., no exchange of females) from the nuclei along the Austrian–Slovenian border, yielded some 7%. This subpopulation may comprise seven residents, and we estimated for females a 33% risk of extinction during the 1992–2000 period. Validation and confirmation of our model results with data on bear densities that were not used for model construction and parameterisation supported our findings. The high female mortality rates, together with the vulnerability of the small population to chance events (i.e., demographic stochasticity), are the most pressing threat for the population in the eastern Alps. Our approach could be widely applied for analysing dynamics of rare and endangered species in which the paucity of data precludes an appraisal of the state of the population using standard methods.

Distance-based Criteria to Identify Minimum Number of Brown Bear Females with Cubs in Europe

Abstract Brown bear (Ursus arctos) food habits were examined from 1,500 fecal samples collected between 1974 and 2004 in the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain. The most important food items were graminoids and forbs in the spring, fleshy fruits (especially bilberries) in the summer, and hard mast in the autumn and winter (especially acorns). Animal matter also was consumed throughout the year. We found differences between 3 brown bear population nuclei within the Cantabrian population, which could be of enormous interest for habitat management. We also investigated how much interannual variation in different food items influenced our diet estimates. High fluctuations among years rather than values around a mean were inherent to some food items. However, for other items, the mean seems to be a reliable descriptor. We found that the additional years of data increased the coefficient of variation associated with some of our diet estimates and suggest the existence of directional changes in brown bear food habits that have been largely neglected. Although some studies suggest that diet is fixed and not changeable, our results show that long-term diet studies may reveal changes in habitat use patterns or habitat composition for brown bears and other wildlife species. Thus, incorporating diet studies into monitoring protocols can be helpful for designing and evaluating both current and future management actions.

Courtship of brown bears Ursus arctos in northern Spain: phenology, weather, habitat and durable mating areas

Nerve growth factor (NGF) and its signal-transducing receptor TrkA are expressed in the thymus. However, their possible role during thymic organogenesis is unknown. Here we analyze the thymus of trkA-kinase deficient 2-week-old mice. trkA-kinase +/+ and +/- mice had a normal thymus, whereas the thymus of trkA-kinase -/- mice showed lack of delimitation between the cortex and medulla, lower thymocyte density, and the presence of epithelial cell islands and numerous cysts lined with endodermal epithelium. The present results indicate that TrkA is necessary for the normal development of the thymus, and that its absence causes an arrest in the differentiation of endodermal epithelial cells. Whether this lack of differentiation has functional implication has yet to be determined.