Background
Background:Recreation is the second most widespread cause of species endangerment on federal land in the United States (Losos et al., 1995). Hiking has the potential to seriously impact habitat used by wildlife through disruption of normal activities. Disruption of daily maintenance routines increases energy expenditures and lessens the amount of time wildlife can spend foraging. Avoidance of potentially suitable habitat further impacts wildlife populations (Papouchis, 2001). The ways in which wildlife uses or has the ability to use an area influences the carrying capacity for that species.
Past research has investigated physiological impacts of recreation on individual animals but there is limited research on how recreation affects habitat use by a group of species. This research will investigate how different levels of hiking and biking impact habitat used by a suite of species. Camera traps will be used to calculate habitat use for medium and large mammal species in the San Francisco Bay ecoregion. Camera traps are a reliable and noninvasive method for estimating habitat use by wildlife and can concurrently be used to track human recreation in an area. This research will use repeated presence-absence data to model habitat use by applying Bayesian methods. By using Bayesian hierarchical models, we will be able to model habitat use as a function of measured covariates.
The impacts of recreation on habitat use may also be affected by the landscape setting. This research will be novel in its inclusion of several different land cover types as covariates. This will enable us to determine if the level of human recreation that impacts habitat use changes depending on the type of land cover. Some species may be more affected by recreation than others and determining the level that causes an impact for each species in various land cover types will allow managers to take this data into account in future trail location and land management activities.
Contact: Michelle Reilly
Past research has investigated physiological impacts of recreation on individual animals but there is limited research on how recreation affects habitat use by a group of species. This research will investigate how different levels of hiking and biking impact habitat used by a suite of species. Camera traps will be used to calculate habitat use for medium and large mammal species in the San Francisco Bay ecoregion. Camera traps are a reliable and noninvasive method for estimating habitat use by wildlife and can concurrently be used to track human recreation in an area. This research will use repeated presence-absence data to model habitat use by applying Bayesian methods. By using Bayesian hierarchical models, we will be able to model habitat use as a function of measured covariates.
The impacts of recreation on habitat use may also be affected by the landscape setting. This research will be novel in its inclusion of several different land cover types as covariates. This will enable us to determine if the level of human recreation that impacts habitat use changes depending on the type of land cover. Some species may be more affected by recreation than others and determining the level that causes an impact for each species in various land cover types will allow managers to take this data into account in future trail location and land management activities.
Contact: Michelle Reilly