Behavioral modifications by a large-northern herbivore to mitigate warming conditions

Background: Temperatures in arctic-boreal regions are increasing rapidly and pose significant challenges to moose (Alces alces), a heat-sensitive large-bodied mammal. Moose act as ecosystem engineers, by regulating forest carbon and structure, below ground nitrogen cycling processes, and predator-prey dynamics. Previous studies showed that during hotter periods, moose displayed stronger selection for wetland habitats, taller and denser forest canopies, and minimized exposure to solar radiation. However, previous studies regarding moose behavioral thermoregulation occurred in Europe or southern moose range in North America. Understanding whether ambient temperature elicits a behavioral response in high-northern latitude moose populations in North America may be increasingly important as these arctic-boreal systems have been warming at a rate two to three times the global mean. Methods: We assessed how Alaska moose habitat selection changed as a function of ambient temperature using a step-selection function approach to identify habitat features important for behavioral thermoregulation in summer (June–August). We used Global Positioning System telemetry locations from four populations of Alaska moose (n = 169) from 2008 to 2016. We assessed model fit using the quasi-likelihood under independence criterion and conduction a leave-one-out cross validation. Results: Both male and female moose in all populations increasingly, and nonlinearly, selected for denser canopy cover as ambient temperature increased during summer, where initial increases in the conditional probability of selection were initially sharper then leveled out as canopy density increased above ~ 50%. However, the magnitude of selection response varied by population and sex. In two of the three populations containing both sexes, females demonstrated a stronger selection response for denser canopy at higher temperatures than males. We also observed a stronger selection response in the most southerly and northerly populations compared to populations in the west and central Alaska. Conclusions: The impacts of climate change in arctic-boreal regions increase landscape heterogeneity through processes such as increased wildfire intensity and annual area burned, which may significantly alter the thermal environment available to an animal. Understanding habitat selection related to behavioral thermoregulation is a first step toward identifying areas capable of providing thermal relief for moose and other species impacted by climate change in arctic-boreal regions.publishedVersio

On the Functional Relationship Between Fluorescence and Photochemical Yields in Complex Evergreen Needleleaf Canopies

Recent advancements in understanding remotely sensed solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence often suggest a linear relationship with gross primary productivity at large spatial scales. However, the quantum yields of fluorescence and photochemistry are not linearly related, and this relationship is largely driven by irradiance. This raises questions about the mechanistic basis of observed linearity from complex canopies that experience heterogeneous irradiance regimes at subcanopy scales. We present empirical data from two evergreen forest sites that demonstrate a nonlinear relationship between needle‐scale observations of steady‐state fluorescence yield and photochemical yield under ambient irradiance. We show that accounting for subcanopy and diurnal patterns of irradiance can help identify the physiological constraints on needle‐scale fluorescence at 70–80% accuracy. Our findings are placed in the context of how solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence observations from spaceborne sensors relate to diurnal variation in canopy‐scale physiology

Behavioral modifications by a large-northern herbivore to mitigate warming conditions

Background Temperatures in arctic-boreal regions are increasing rapidly and pose significant challenges to moose (Alces alces), a heat-sensitive large-bodied mammal. Moose act as ecosystem engineers, by regulating forest carbon and structure, below ground nitrogen cycling processes, and predator-prey dynamics. Previous studies showed that during hotter periods, moose displayed stronger selection for wetland habitats, taller and denser forest canopies, and minimized exposure to solar radiation. However, previous studies regarding moose behavioral thermoregulation occurred in Europe or southern moose range in North America. Understanding whether ambient temperature elicits a behavioral response in high-northern latitude moose populations in North America may be increasingly important as these arctic-boreal systems have been warming at a rate two to three times the global mean. Methods We assessed how Alaska moose habitat selection changed as a function of ambient temperature using a step-selection function approach to identify habitat features important for behavioral thermoregulation in summer (June–August). We used Global Positioning System telemetry locations from four populations of Alaska moose (n = 169) from 2008 to 2016. We assessed model fit using the quasi-likelihood under independence criterion and conduction a leave-one-out cross validation. Results Both male and female moose in all populations increasingly, and nonlinearly, selected for denser canopy cover as ambient temperature increased during summer, where initial increases in the conditional probability of selection were initially sharper then leveled out as canopy density increased above ~ 50%. However, the magnitude of selection response varied by population and sex. In two of the three populations containing both sexes, females demonstrated a stronger selection response for denser canopy at higher temperatures than males. We also observed a stronger selection response in the most southerly and northerly populations compared to populations in the west and central Alaska. Conclusions The impacts of climate change in arctic-boreal regions increase landscape heterogeneity through processes such as increased wildfire intensity and annual area burned, which may significantly alter the thermal environment available to an animal. Understanding habitat selection related to behavioral thermoregulation is a first step toward identifying areas capable of providing thermal relief for moose and other species impacted by climate change in arctic-boreal regions

Using Remote Sensing Data to Model Habitat Selection and Forage Quality for Herbivores in High Northern Latitudes in a Changing Climate

Landscapes located in high northern latitudes (≥ 60°N) are changing at a rate two to three times the global mean. Research is needed to assess the current state of northern latitude regions to best identify the impacts of climate change, which can inform the advancement of policies and management strategies. In response to warming induced landscape changes, management agencies are identifying practical “adaptive strategies” that may mitigate the negative effects of climate change. One such strategy in wildlife management is to evaluate and enhance monitoring programs, and to consider incorporating new tools to augment monitoring efforts. Geospatial tools are one set of technologies that may enhance evaluation and monitoring for wildlife management. These tools enable spatial data to be collected, analyzed, and visualized in ways that assist in planning and management activities. Two common geospatial tools used in wildlife management are (1) mobile Global Positioning Systems (GPS) that can be housed in collars worn by a variety of species, and (2) remote sensing, which collects noncontact information regarding the physical and biological characteristics from a given target using reflected or emitted radiation. The second chapter of this dissertation incorporates remotely sensed products in conjunction with GPS-telemetry from four Alaska moose populations to assess how habitat selection changes in response to increased temperatures. Both male and female moose in all populations increasingly, and nonlinearly, selected for denser canopy cover as ambient temperature increased during summer, where initial increases in the conditional probability of selection were initially sharper then leveled out as canopy density increased above ~50%. However, the magnitude of selection response varied by population and sex. In two of the three populations containing both sexes, females demonstrated a stronger selection response for denser canopy at higher temperatures than males. We also observed a stronger selection response in the most southerly and northerly populations compared to populations in the west and central Alaska. The third and fourth chapters of this dissertation explore the development of remote sensing approaches to characterize, monitor, and map forage quality in high latitude regions of Alaska. I used hyperspectral data in conjunction with plant structural metrics derived from digital photographs and unmanned aerial vehicle structure from motion photogrammetry. My results suggested that spectral vegetation indices calculated from hyperspectral remote sensing are an appropriate method for estimating important forage quality metrics such as dietary fibers (Chapter 3) – hemicellulose, cellulose, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, and silica – as well as integrated forage metrics (Chapter 4) – digestible protein and dry matter digestibility. My results also indicated that incorporating shrub structure is an important, and often unconsidered, aspect of remotely sensed forage quality metrics.doctoral, Ph.D., Natural Resources -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2020-1

Examining ""Willingness to Participate"" in Community-Based Water Resources Management in a Transboundary Conservation Area in Central America

Community-based management (CBM) continues to expand as the amount of global natural resources diminishes. Often, researchers find that creating CBM institutions does not lead to equitable access or sustainable resource use. Instead, addressing underlying factors that motivate participation in such programs should be viewed as fundamental in developing effective and fair management practices. This study's primary objective was to investigate the drivers that motivate willingness to participate (WTP) in community-based water resource management (CBWRM) in the Trifinio region, a transboundary watershed in Central America. Literature on participatory management suggests five overarching constructs influence WTP (1) sense of community (SOC), (2) dependence on water resources, (3) perceptions of current water management, (4) locus of authority, and (5) socio-economic variables (i.e., gender, education, and wealth). Multivariate regression models using these predictors explain 30% to 55% of the variance in WTP (p<.05). First, SOC was the most robust predictor of WTP (beta=.455, p<.01). Second, qualitative results indicate that small-scale development programs should focus first on addressing water scarcity, a primary concern among respondents. Finally, enhancing social connections in local communities and nesting CBM programmatic design into municipal level governance may enhance continued efforts to establish CBWRM institutions within Trifinio.Thesis (M.S., Natural Resources) -- University of Idaho, 201

Toward Mapping Dietary Fibers in Northern Ecosystems Using Hyperspectral and Multispectral Data

Shrub proliferation across the Arctic from climate warming is expanding herbivore habitat but may also alter forage quality. Dietary fibers&mdash;an important component of forage quality&mdash;influence shrub palatability, and changes in dietary fiber concentrations may have broad ecological implications. While airborne hyperspectral instruments may effectively estimate dietary fibers, such data captures a limited portion of landscapes. Satellite data such as the multispectral WorldView-3 (WV-3) instrument may enable dietary fiber estimation to be extrapolated across larger areas. We assessed how variation in dietary fibers of Salix alaxensis (Andersson), a palatable northern shrub, could be estimated using hyperspectral and multispectral WV-3 spectral vegetation indices (SVIs) in a greenhouse setting, and whether including structural information (i.e., leaf area) would improve predictions. We collected canopy-level hyperspectral reflectance readings, which we convolved to the band equivalent reflectance of WV-3. We calculated every possible SVI combination using hyperspectral and convolved WV-3 bands. We identified the best performing SVIs for both sensors using the coefficient of determination (adjusted R2) and the root mean square error (RMSE) using simple linear regression. Next, we assessed the importance of plant structure by adding shade leaf area, sun leaf area, and total leaf area to models individually. We evaluated model fits using Akaike&rsquo;s information criterion for small sample sizes and conducted leave-one-out cross validation. We compared cross validation slopes and predictive power (Spearman rank coefficients &rho;) between models. Hyperspectral SVIs (R2 = 0.48&ndash;0.68; RMSE = 0.04&ndash;0.91%) outperformed WV-3 SVIs (R2 = 0.13&ndash;0.35; RMSE = 0.05&ndash;1.18%) for estimating dietary fibers, suggesting hyperspectral remote sensing is best suited for estimating dietary fibers in a palatable northern shrub. Three dietary fibers showed improved predictive power when leaf area metrics were included (cross validation &rho; = +2&ndash;8%), suggesting plant structure and the light environment may augment our ability to estimate some dietary fibers in northern landscapes. Monitoring dietary fibers in northern ecosystems may benefit from upcoming hyperspectral satellites such as the environmental mapping and analysis program (EnMAP)

Integration of Satellite-Based Optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery to Estimate Winter Cover Crop Performance in Cereal Grasses

The magnitude of ecosystem services provided by winter cover crops is linked to their performance (i.e., biomass and associated nitrogen content, forage quality, and fractional ground cover), although few studies quantify these characteristics across the landscape. Remote sensing can produce landscape-level assessments of cover crop performance. However, commonly employed optical vegetation indices (VI) saturate, limiting their ability to measure high-biomass cover crops. Contemporary VIs that employ red-edge bands have been shown to be more robust to saturation issues. Additionally, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data have been effective at estimating crop biophysical characteristics, although this has not been demonstrated on winter cover crops. We assessed the integration of optical (Sentinel-2) and SAR (Sentinel-1) imagery to estimate winter cover crops biomass across 27 fields over three winter–spring seasons (2018–2021) in Maryland. We used log-linear models to predict cover crop biomass as a function of 27 VIs and eight SAR metrics. Our results suggest that the integration of the normalized difference red-edge vegetation index (NDVI_RE1; employing Sentinel-2 bands 5 and 8A), combined with SAR interferometric (InSAR) coherence, best estimated the biomass of cereal grass cover crops. However, these results were season- and species-specific (R2 = 0.74, 0.81, and 0.34; RMSE = 1227, 793, and 776 kg ha−1, for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), triticale (Triticale hexaploide L.), and cereal rye (Secale cereale), respectively, in spring (March–May)). Compared to the optical-only model, InSAR coherence improved biomass estimations by 4% in wheat, 5% in triticale, and by 11% in cereal rye. Both optical-only and optical-SAR biomass prediction models exhibited saturation occurring at ~1900 kg ha−1; thus, more work is needed to enable accurate biomass estimations past the point of saturation. To address this continued concern, future work could consider the use of weather and climate variables, machine learning models, the integration of proximal sensing and satellite observations, and/or the integration of process-based crop-soil simulation models and remote sensing observations

Integration of Satellite-Based Optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery to Estimate Winter Cover Crop Performance in Cereal Grasses

The magnitude of ecosystem services provided by winter cover crops is linked to their performance (i.e., biomass and associated nitrogen content, forage quality, and fractional ground cover), although few studies quantify these characteristics across the landscape. Remote sensing can produce landscape-level assessments of cover crop performance. However, commonly employed optical vegetation indices (VI) saturate, limiting their ability to measure high-biomass cover crops. Contemporary VIs that employ red-edge bands have been shown to be more robust to saturation issues. Additionally, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data have been effective at estimating crop biophysical characteristics, although this has not been demonstrated on winter cover crops. We assessed the integration of optical (Sentinel-2) and SAR (Sentinel-1) imagery to estimate winter cover crops biomass across 27 fields over three winter&ndash;spring seasons (2018&ndash;2021) in Maryland. We used log-linear models to predict cover crop biomass as a function of 27 VIs and eight SAR metrics. Our results suggest that the integration of the normalized difference red-edge vegetation index (NDVI_RE1; employing Sentinel-2 bands 5 and 8A), combined with SAR interferometric (InSAR) coherence, best estimated the biomass of cereal grass cover crops. However, these results were season- and species-specific (R2 = 0.74, 0.81, and 0.34; RMSE = 1227, 793, and 776 kg ha&minus;1, for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), triticale (Triticale hexaploide L.), and cereal rye (Secale cereale), respectively, in spring (March&ndash;May)). Compared to the optical-only model, InSAR coherence improved biomass estimations by 4% in wheat, 5% in triticale, and by 11% in cereal rye. Both optical-only and optical-SAR biomass prediction models exhibited saturation occurring at ~1900 kg ha&minus;1; thus, more work is needed to enable accurate biomass estimations past the point of saturation. To address this continued concern, future work could consider the use of weather and climate variables, machine learning models, the integration of proximal sensing and satellite observations, and/or the integration of process-based crop-soil simulation models and remote sensing observations