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Conclusions: In fragmented watersheds, macrohabitat attributes measured at the patch scale were far more effective in predicting trout translocation success than measurements taken at the landscape scale Thresholds/Learnings: As a course filter indicator of cutthroat trout translocation success, the study found that translocations have a greater than 50% chance of fruitful establishment in watersheds >14.7km2 in area. Synopsis: This study aimed to identify stream-scale and basin-scale macrohabitat attributes limiting successful translocation and persistence of native cutthroat trout populations in fragmented landscapes along the Rio Grande. The study developed models of habitat attributes measured at two scales...
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This dataset is a component of a complete package of products from the Connect the Connecticut project. Connect the Connecticut is a collaborative effort to identify shared priorities for conserving the Connecticut River Watershed for future generations, considering the value of fish and wildlife species and the natural ecosystems they inhabit. Click here to download the full data package, including all documentation.This dataset represents the regional vulnerability of conductance index, which reflects the likelihood of development occurring in places that confer connectivity between terrestrial cores. Specifically, regional vulnerability is the product of the regional conductance index (i.e., total amount of ecological...
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Conclusions: Report presents a framework for assessing the condition of Southern Alberta’s natural assets and their ability to provide ecosystem goods and services. Measurable indicators of ecosystem services, including broad and fine scale landscape indicators, were also distilled from a literature review. Thresholds/Learnings: Wetland cover should be maintained at >15% for watersheds with high potential for phosphorus loading & eutrophication. Impervious cover should be maintained at or below 25% in heavily urbanizing watersheds. Synopsis: This report develops a framework for assessing the condition of Southern Alberta’s natural assets and their resulting ability to provide ecosystem goods and services. The...
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Synopsis: Reviews information on grassland bird habitat requirements including a focus on the importance of grassland cover, size of contiguous patches, and other landscape factors. Some species require large blocks of unbroken grassland habitat for nesting. In general, where large blocks of undisturbed grassland occur, grassland birds are able to fulfill most of their requirements during the nesting season. For many bird species, these habitats provide winter and migration cover as well. The more grassland available in an area, particularly in large unbroken blocks, the greater the number of area-sensitive grassland birds the area is able to support. Pastures and crop fields also often provide attractive cover...
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Conclusions: Caribou subpopulation persistence and landscape occupancy depends highly on the degree of forest cover, cover type, and distance from human presence. Thresholds/Learnings: Synopsis: This study evaluates factors influencing the persistence and landscape occupancy of caribou subpopulations in southern British Columbia. Data from 235 radio-collared caribou across 13 subpopulations were used to derive a landscape occupancy index. The index was analyzed against 33 landscape variables including, land cover, terrain, climate, and human influence. At the metapopulation level, the persistence of subpopulations correlated with the extent of wet climate conditions and the distribution of old forests and alpine...
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Synopsis: Recensuses of 54 Wisconsin prairie remnants showed that 8 to 60 percent of the original plant species were lost from individual remnants over a 32- to 52-year period. The pattern of species loss was consistent with the proposed effects of fire suppression caused by landscape fragmentation. Short, small-seeded, or nitrogen-fixing plants showed the heaviest losses, as did species growing in the wettest, most productive environments. The interruption of landscape-scale processes (such as wildfire) by fragmentation is an often overlooked mechanism that may be eroding biodiversity in many habitats around the world. Conclusions: Fragmentation may interrupt landscape-scale processes, such as fire, that are key...
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Conclusions: Elevation, slope and the percentages of bogs and fens in a landscape influence the degree to which mid-boreal lakes are sensitive to acidic deposition orignating from nearby mining operations. Thresholds/Learnings: Synopsis: This study evaluates the acid sensitivity of lakes in Saskatchewan within ~300km of Fort McMurray. The study area is downwind of atmospheric emissions sources from regional oil sands mining operations and there is concern that the lakes may be threatened by acidification. A helicopter sampling program was implemented in late September 2007 and 2008 to measure 16 chemical variables (e.g., Ca, Mg, Na, pH) and 15 environmental variables (e.g., latitude, elevation, slope, percent bog,...
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Synopsis: Recognizing that natural and human disturbances cause significant changes to landscape composition and ecosystem function, this report aims to identify and describe key indicators of environmental sustainability, categorized by vegetation, biodiversity, and watershed characteristics. Measurable indicators of environmental sustainability, including landscape indicators summarized in the vegetation indicators category, were distilled from a wide-ranging literature review. These indicators are intended to serve as metrics of environmental quality that assist land use planners in determining if management goals have been reached. As such, the report provides an overview, assessment, and recommended uses for...
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Synopsis: The goal of this study was to examine contaminant loadings associated with stormwater runoff from recently burned areas in urban fringe areas of southern California, to derive regional patterns of runoff and contaminant loadings in this context. Postfire stormwater runoff was sampled from five wildfires that each burned between 115 and 658 km2 of natural open space between 2003 and 2009. The area is characterized by classic Mediterranean climate conditions of relatively mild to cool wet winter and warm to hot dry summers. Between two and five storm events were sampled per site over the first one to two years following the fires for basic constituents, metals, nutrients, total suspended solids, and polycyclic...
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Conclusions: Despite the fact that valuable grizzly habitat tends to coincide with the location of roads, grizzlies strongly avoided roads regardless of traffic volume, suggesting that even a few vehicles can displace bears from adjacent habitats. Thresholds/Learnings: Grizzlies strongly avoided areas within 100m of all roads Synopsis: This study aimed to determine whether grizzly bears were displaced by roads associated with resource extraction industries in the Rocky Mountains. Since many habitats close to roads contained important bear foods, researchers expected bears to frequent these roads, despite the presence of human activity. However, study results indicated that grizzlies strongly avoided roads regardless...
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Synopsis: This paper summarizes significant findings from literature related to the effect of noise on wildlife, emphasizing the effects of road traffic noise on birds. Many studies from the United States and the Netherlands indicate that road noise has a negative effect on bird populations, particularly during breeding season in a variety of species. In this paper, ‘effect distances’—distances at which bird density decreases—are reported at a range of two to three thousand meters from the road. Effect distances tend to increase with traffic density, being the greatest near large, multilane highways. In a study of woodland species, 26 of 43 (60%) were found to show a decrease in population densities with effect...
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Synopsis: This study examines the influence of landscape fragmentation on trophic cascades in southern California. Results indicate that, as habitat fragmentation negatively affects the persistence of coyote populations, the abundance of smaller meso-predators increase, resulting in higher mortality rates in scrub-breeding birds. Fragment size was a strong indicator of coyote abundance, and coyote abundance was a strong indicator of bird diversity, as coyotes kept down the number of meso-predators that prey on birds. The positive effect of fragment area and the negative effect of fragment age were the strongest determinants of bird diversity in this system. Conclusions: Fragment size correlates with coyote abundance,...
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Conclusions: There was a significant reduction in ovenbird pairing success at compressor sites (77%) compared with noiseless wellpads (92%). These differences were apparent regardless of territory quality or individual male quality. Noise interferes with a male's song, such that females may not hear the male's song at greater distances and/or females may perceive males to be of lower quality because of distortion of song characteristics Thresholds/Learnings: Synopsis: Anthropogenic noise is rapidly increasing in wilderness areas as a result of industrial expansion. This study assessed pairing success and age distribution of male ovenbirds, Seiurus aurocapilla, in the boreal forest of Alberta, Canada, in areas around...
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Conclusions: The goal of the report is to set forth guidelines for increasing greater sage-grouse abundance by at least 33% by 2015, and overall distribution of greater sage-grouse by at least 20% by 2030. In summary, the guidelines presented include steps for improving vegetation management to 1) restore degraded habitat, followed by 2) steps to reduce habitat fragmentation. Thresholds/Learnings: Sage-grouse numbers on leks within 1600m of coal bed methane (CBM) compressor stations were lower than on leks unaffected b this disturbance. All drilling activities for gas and oil development should be prohibited within 5500m of active leks and their associated nesting areas. Leks are frequently abandoned once road use...
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Synopsis: This document details the Milk River Basin project, designed to produce innovative approaches to multi-species management in Southern Alberta. The Milk River basin contains a variety of ‘sensitive’, ‘at risk’, and ‘may be at risk’ species. The process of prioritizing the landscape for conservation and stewardship was driven by species inventories to identify known locations, and Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) models to delimit suitable key habitat for the 17 selected species. The construction of the models was limited to the available variables and resolution of the databases. For MULTISAR: the Milk River Basin Project area this was the quarter section, the resolution of the Native Prairie Vegetation...
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Synopsis: Beneficial arthropods, including native bees, predators, and parasitoids, provide valuable ecosystem services worth $8 billion to US agriculture each year. These arthropod-mediated ecosystem services (AMES) include crop pollination and pest control, which help to maintain agricultural productivity and reduce the need for pesticide inputs. Maximizing survival and reproduction of beneficial arthropods requires provision of pollen and nectar resources that are often scarce in modern agricultural landscapes. Increasingly, native plants are being evaluated for this purpose. Native plants can outperform recommended non-natives and also provide local adaptation, habitat permanency, and support of native biodiversity....
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Synopsis: Agronomic intensification has transformed many agricultural landscapes into expansive monocultures with little natural habitat. A pervasive concern is that such landscape simplification results in an increase in insect pest pressure, and thus an increased need for insecticides. We tested this hypothesis across a range of cropping systems in the Midwestern United States, using remotely sensed land cover data, data from a national census of farm management practices, and data from a regional crop pest monitoring network. We found that, independent of several other factors, the proportion of harvested cropland treated with insecticides increased with the proportion and patch size of cropland and decreased...
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Synopsis: This study investigated the magnitude of change in landscape structure resulting from road and logging since the onset of timber harvesting in 1950. Overall, roads were found to have had a greater impact on landscape structure than logging. A three-fold increase in road density between 1950 and 1993 accounted for most of the changes in landscape configuration including mean patch size, edge density, and core area. Change in landscape structure varied as a function of landscape extent. At a large scale of 228,000 ha, change in landscape change over time was trivial, suggesting that the landscape is capable of incorporating disturbances with minimal impact. At intermediate scales of 1000-10,000 ha, change...
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This dataset is a component of a complete package of products from the Connect the Connecticut project. Connect the Connecticut is a collaborative effort to identify shared priorities for conserving the Connecticut River Watershed for future generations, considering the value of fish and wildlife species and the natural ecosystems they inhabit. Click here to download the full data package, including all documentation. This dataset represents the regional conductance index, which is a measure of the total potential amount of movement of plants and animals (ecological flow) through a cell from nearby terrestrial core areas at the scale of a few to ten kilometers. Regional conductance increases with the size and proximity...
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Conclusions: Increasing seismic line density from 0 to 8 km/km2 resulted in a 38% decline and an 82% decline in bird abundance when individuals used lines as territory boundaries or avoided edges by 50 m, respectively. When tested with ovenbirds, male ovenbirds showed a distinct use of one side of the seismic line, suggesting lines acted as territory boundaries. Ovenbirds declined with seismic line density when a threshold seismic line density of 8.5 km/km2 was reached. Above the threshold, Ovenbirds declined 19% for each 1 km/km2 increase in seismic line density. Thresholds/Learnings: Synopsis: In the boreal plains of Alberta, Canada, energy sector exploration has resulted in extensive dissection of the landscape...
map background search result map search result map Chemical characteristics and acid sensitivity of boreal headwater lakes in northwest Saskatchewan. Modeling and field-testing of Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus) responses to boreal forest dissection by energy sector development at multiple spatial scales. Chronic industrial noise affects pairing success and age structure of ovenbirds Seiurus aurocapilla. Factors influencing the dispersion and fragmentation of endangered mountain caribou populations Minimum habitat requirements for establishing translocated cutthroat trout populations. Ecosystem Goods and Services Southern Alberta Assessment of Natural Asset Condition Synthesis of noise effects on wildlife populations. Grassland Birds A blueprint for sage-grouse conservation and recovery Grizzly bears and resource extraction industries: effects of road on behavior, habitat use, and demography. Landscape, Biodiversity, and Indicator Review and Assessment Comparative evaluation of experimental approaches to the study of habitat fragmentation effects Agricultural landscape simplification and insecticide use in the Midwestern United States. Ecological determinants of species loss in remnant prairies. Maximizing arthropod-mediated ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes: the role of native plants. Stormwater contaminant loading following southern California wildfires Mesopredator release and avifaunal extinctions in a fragmented system. The Milk River Basin Project; Habitat Suitability Models for Selected Wildlife Management Species No. 86. Alberta Species At Risk Report, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, 2004 Regional Conductance, CT River Watershed Regional Vulnerability of Conductance, CT River Watershed Grizzly bears and resource extraction industries: effects of road on behavior, habitat use, and demography. Regional Conductance, CT River Watershed Regional Vulnerability of Conductance, CT River Watershed Minimum habitat requirements for establishing translocated cutthroat trout populations. Chemical characteristics and acid sensitivity of boreal headwater lakes in northwest Saskatchewan. Ecological determinants of species loss in remnant prairies. A blueprint for sage-grouse conservation and recovery Comparative evaluation of experimental approaches to the study of habitat fragmentation effects Factors influencing the dispersion and fragmentation of endangered mountain caribou populations Ecosystem Goods and Services Southern Alberta Assessment of Natural Asset Condition Landscape, Biodiversity, and Indicator Review and Assessment Maximizing arthropod-mediated ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes: the role of native plants. Stormwater contaminant loading following southern California wildfires Mesopredator release and avifaunal extinctions in a fragmented system. Modeling and field-testing of Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus) responses to boreal forest dissection by energy sector development at multiple spatial scales. Chronic industrial noise affects pairing success and age structure of ovenbirds Seiurus aurocapilla. Agricultural landscape simplification and insecticide use in the Midwestern United States. Synthesis of noise effects on wildlife populations. Grassland Birds