Sampling effort for snow-tracking of snowshoe hare (<i>Lepus americanus</i>), fox (<i>Vulpes vulpes</i>), lynx (<i>Lynx canadensis</i>) and marten (<i>Martes americana</i>) in the Montmorency Forest, southern Quebec (Canada), 2004–2014.

<p>Sampling effort for snow-tracking of snowshoe hare (<i>Lepus americanus</i>), fox (<i>Vulpes vulpes</i>), lynx (<i>Lynx canadensis</i>) and marten (<i>Martes americana</i>) in the Montmorency Forest, southern Quebec (Canada), 2004–2014.</p

Estimated population index of snowshoe hare over 11 years from 2004 to 2014.

<p>The index was developed from year effect coefficients estimated from Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE). Vertical bars indicate standard errors.</p

Estimated effects of current and lag density (previous winter) and predation risk on habitat selection of snowshoe hares in the Montmorency Forest, Quebec, 2004–2014 (<i>n</i> = 10).

<p>Estimated effects of current and lag density (previous winter) and predation risk on habitat selection of snowshoe hares in the Montmorency Forest, Quebec, 2004–2014 (<i>n</i> = 10).</p

Association of snowshoe hares with the high-density habitat explained by time-lag effects of the density index.

<p>High-density habitat indicates the 20- to 40-y-old habitat. Points with standard error bars indicate model coefficients. Dashed lines indicate 95% confidence bands of the fitted regression line values.</p

Summary of the random effects meta-analysis of roost selection by North American bats, with heterogeneity indices and publication biases for each characteristic.

<p>K = number of datasets and SMD = standardized mean difference; τ² and I² indices indicate the severity of between-studies heterogeneity; t-tests are for funnel-plot asymmetry, with associated degrees-of-freedom and P-values. All values are rounded upward to two decimal places.</p><p>* Estimated by maximum likelihood</p><p>Summary of the random effects meta-analysis of roost selection by North American bats, with heterogeneity indices and publication biases for each characteristic.</p

Flow diagram for identification and selection of studies of roost selection by North American bats for meta-analysis.

<p>Flow diagram for identification and selection of studies of roost selection by North American bats for meta-analysis.</p

Meta-regression model number, number of estimated parameters (K), pseudo-R² (ps-R²) estimating the amount of heterogeneity (%) accounted for by each model, differences between model AICc and those of the best model (<i>∆</i>_<i>i</i>), and Akaike weights (<i>ω</i>_<i>i</i>), for 17 meta-regression models.

<p>All values are rounded upward to two decimal places.</p><p>Meta-regression model number, number of estimated parameters (K), pseudo-R² (ps-R²) estimating the amount of heterogeneity (%) accounted for by each model, differences between model AICc and those of the best model (<i>∆</i>_<i>i</i>), and Akaike weights (<i>ω</i>_<i>i</i>), for 17 meta-regression models.</p

L’Abbé plots of the tree characteristics selected by bats (experimental groups) against the random tree characteristics (control group) with the 95% CI (black dashed lines) for each dataset, and for each characteristic (tree diameter, tree height, snag density, bark remaining on trunks, distance to water, canopy closure, elevation, slope, and stand density).

<p>The size of the circle varies according to the assigned random weight (inverse variance of the standardized mean differences) of each dataset. The diagonal (x = y) grey dotted line is the equality line (1:1) between both means (<i>i</i>.<i>e</i>., the zero effect line, for which the mean difference = 0). Above the x = y line, the experimental group mean is higher than the control group mean. Below the x = y line, the experimental group mean is lower than the control group mean. Tau-squared (<i>τ</i>²) and Higgins’ I² heterogeneity indices are shown in each plot. Higgins' I² index is expressed in percentage and is used to interpret the severity of heterogeneity.</p

Food Provisioning and Parental Status in Songbirds: Can Occupancy Models Be Used to Estimate Nesting Performance?

<div><p>Indirect methods to estimate parental status, such as the observation of parental provisioning, have been problematic due to potential biases associated with imperfect detection. We developed a method to evaluate parental status based on a novel combination of parental provisioning observations and hierarchical modeling. In the summers of 2009 to 2011, we surveyed 393 sites, each on three to four consecutive days at Forêt Montmorency, Québec, Canada. We assessed parental status of 2331 adult songbirds based on parental food provisioning. To account for imperfect detection of parental status, we applied MacKenzie et al.'s (2002) two-state hierarchical model to obtain unbiased estimates of the proportion of sites with successfully nesting birds, and the proportion of adults with offspring. To obtain an independent evaluation of detection probability, we monitored 16 active nests in 2010 and conducted parental provisioning observations away from them. The probability of detecting food provisioning was 0.31 when using nest monitoring, a value within the 0.11 to 0.38 range that was estimated by two-state models. The proportion of adults or sites with broods approached 0.90 and varied depending on date during the sampling season and year, exemplifying the role of eastern boreal forests as highly productive nesting grounds for songbirds. This study offers a simple and effective sampling design for studying avian reproductive performance that could be implemented in national surveys such as breeding bird atlases.</p></div

Locations of the 34 studies (66 datasets) that were included in meta-analysis of roost selection by North American bats.

<p>Map source: North American Environmental Atlas (INEGI, NR-Can, USGS, 2010).</p