背景:有效的运动和能量消耗对于动物的生存至关重要。由于资源可用性和威胁的变化,人为干扰可以改变动物的运动。一些动物可以利用人为干扰来更有效地运动,而其他人则由于高资源栖息地的分散而面临活动受限或低效,以及与受干扰的栖息地相关的风险。采矿,一个重大的人为干扰,去除自然栖息地,引入新的景观特征,并改变景观中的资源分配。这项研究调查了采矿对濒临灭绝的中型捕食者运动的影响,北岛(Dasyurushallucatus)。使用GPS项圈和加速度计,我们调查了他们在活跃的采矿景观中的栖息地选择和能量消耗,来确定这种干扰对北方的影响。
方法:我们在西澳大利亚皮尔巴拉地区的一个活跃矿山的繁殖和非繁殖季节,为北部的松树安装了GPS项圈和加速度计。我们通过使用95%等值线的利用率分布来计算quolls的运动范围,研究了广泛的运动,并将观察到的移动范围内的栖息地类型和环境特征与可用景观进行了比较。我们通过集成的步长选择功能通过quolls研究了精细尺度的运动,评估每个栖息地协变量的相对选择强度。最后,我们使用分段结构方程模型来分析每个栖息地协变量对北部quoll能量消耗的影响。
结果:在广泛的范围内,北部的quolls主要使用坚固的,岩石栖息地,并根据其可用性按比例使用采矿栖息地。然而,在精细的尺度上,栖息地的使用在繁殖和非繁殖季节之间有所不同。在繁殖季节,quolls特别避免了采矿栖息地,而在非繁殖季节,他们经常光顾采矿栖息地和岩石和河岸栖息地,尽管精力成本更高。
结论:采矿通过分割有利的岩石栖息地来影响北部的松树,增加能源消耗,并可能影响繁殖传播。虽然采矿栖息地在非繁殖季节可能提供有限的资源机会,积极采矿期间的保护工作,包括建立运动走廊和逐步恢复栖息地可能会很有用。然而,优先保护采矿景观中的天然岩石和河岸栖息地对于北部的保护至关重要。
BACKGROUND: Efficient movement and energy expenditure are vital for animal survival. Human disturbance can alter animal movement due to changes in resource availability and threats. Some animals can exploit anthropogenic disturbances for more efficient movement, while others face restricted or inefficient movement due to fragmentation of high-resource habitats, and risks associated with disturbed habitats. Mining, a major anthropogenic disturbance, removes natural habitats, introduces new landscape features, and alters resource distribution in the landscape. This study investigates the effect of mining on the movement of an endangered mesopredator, the northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus). Using GPS collars and accelerometers, we investigate their habitat selection and energy expenditure in an active mining landscape, to determine the effects of this disturbance on northern quolls.
METHODS: We fit northern quolls with GPS collars and accelerometers during breeding and non-breeding season at an active mine site in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. We investigated broad-scale movement by calculating the movement ranges of quolls using utilisation distributions at the 95% isopleth, and compared habitat types and environmental characteristics within observed movement ranges to the available landscape. We investigated fine-scale movement by quolls with integrated step selection functions, assessing the relative selection strength for each habitat covariate. Finally, we used piecewise structural equation modelling to analyse the influence of each habitat covariate on northern quoll energy expenditure.
RESULTS: At the broad scale, northern quolls predominantly used rugged, rocky habitats, and used mining habitats in proportion to their availability. However, at the fine scale, habitat use varied between breeding and non-breeding seasons. During the breeding season, quolls notably avoided mining habitats, whereas in the non-breeding season, they frequented mining habitats equally to rocky and riparian habitats, albeit at a higher energetic cost.
CONCLUSIONS: Mining impacts northern quolls by fragmenting favoured rocky habitats, increasing energy expenditure, and potentially impacting breeding dispersal. While mining habitats might offer limited resource opportunities in the non-breeding season, conservation efforts during active mining, including the creation of movement corridors and progressive habitat restoration would likely be useful. However, prioritising the preservation of natural rocky and riparian habitats in mining landscapes is vital for northern quoll conservation.