ECHINOCOCCUS MULTILOCULARIS IN NEW YORK WILDLIFE: DISTRIBUTION AND GENETIC DIVERSITY OF AN EMERGING PATHOGEN.

Echinococcus is a genus of cestode parasites of paramount veterinary and medical importance globally. Two species, Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato and Echinococcus multilocularis, are endemic to North America and are the etiologic agents of cystic echinococcosis and alveolar echinococcosis, respectively. North America is currently experiencing an epidemiological shift in the state of transmission, distribution, and prevalence of E.

The natural history and ecology of melanism in red wolf and coyote populations of the southeastern United States - evidence for Gloger's rule.

Background: Gloger's rule postulates that animals should be darker colored in warm and humid regions where dense vegetation and dark environments are common. Although rare in Canis populations, melanism in wolves is more common in North America than other regions globally and is believed to follow Gloger's rule. In the temperate forests of the southeastern United States, historical records of red wolf (Canis rufus) and coyote (Canis latrans) populations document a consistent presence of melanism.

A model-based estimate of winter distribution and abundance of white-tailed deer in the Adirondack Park.

In the Adirondack Park region of northern New York, USA, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and moose (Alces alces) co-occur along a temperate-boreal forest ecotone. In this region, moose exist as a small and vulnerable low-density population and over-browsing by white-tailed deer is known to reduce regeneration, sustainability, and health of forests. Here, we assess the distribution and abundance of white-tailed deer at a broad spatial scale relevant for deer and moose management in northern New York.

Migration triggers in a large herbivore: Galápagos giant tortoises navigating resource gradients on volcanoes.

To understand how migratory behavior evolved and to predict how migratory species will respond to global environmental change it is important to quantify the fitness consequences of intra- and inter-individual variation in migratory behavior. Intra-individual variation includes behavioral responses to changing environmental conditions and hence behavioral plasticity in the context of novel or variable conditions. Inter-individual variation determines the degree of variation on which selection can act and the rate of evolutionary responses to changes in average and extreme environmental conditions.

Value of protected areas to avian persistence across 20 years of climate and land-use change.

Establishing protected areas, where human activities and land cover changes are restricted, is among the most widely used strategies for biodiversity conservation. This practice is based on the assumption that protected areas buffer species from processes that drive extinction. However, protected areas can maintain biodiversity in the face of climate change and subsequent shifts in distributions have been questioned.

Allometric and temporal scaling of movement characteristics in Galapagos tortoises.

Understanding how individual movement scales with body size is of fundamental importance in predicting ecological relationships for diverse species. One-dimensional movement metrics scale consistently with body size yet vary over different temporal scales. Knowing how temporal scale influences the relationship between animal body size and movement would better inform hypotheses about the efficiency of foraging behaviour, the ontogeny of energy budgets, and numerous life-history trade-offs.

Flexible characterization of animal movement pattern using net squared displacement and a latent state model.

Background: Characterizing the movement patterns of animals is an important step in understanding their ecology. Various methods have been developed for classifying animal movement at both coarse (e.g.

Isotopic investigation of niche partitioning among native carnivores and the non-native coyote (Canis latrans).

We employed stable carbon (δ(13)C) and nitrogen (δ(15)N) isotopes within a hypothetico-deductive framework to explore potential resource partitioning among terrestrial mammalian carnivores. Isotope values were acquired using guard hair samples from bobcat (Lynx rufus), coyote (Canis latrans), gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), and red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in the Adirondack Park, NY, USA. Enrichment along the δ(13)C axis was expected to reflect the use of human sources of food (reflecting a corn subsidy), and by extension tolerance for human-modified environments, whereas enrichment along the δ(15)N axis was expected to reflect a higher level of carnivory (i.

Building the bridge between animal movement and population dynamics.

While the mechanistic links between animal movement and population dynamics are ecologically obvious, it is much less clear when knowledge of animal movement is a prerequisite for understanding and predicting population dynamics. GPS and other technologies enable detailed tracking of animal location concurrently with acquisition of landscape data and information on individual physiology. These tools can be used to refine our understanding of the mechanistic links between behaviour and individual condition through 'spatially informed' movement models where time allocation to different behaviours affects individual survival and reproduction.

Building a mechanistic understanding of predation with GPS-based movement data.

Quantifying kill rates and sources of variation in kill rates remains an important challenge in linking predators to their prey. We address current approaches to using global positioning system (GPS)-based movement data for quantifying key predation components of large carnivores. We review approaches to identify kill sites from GPS movement data as a means to estimate kill rates and address advantages of using GPS-based data over past approaches.

The interpretation of habitat preference metrics under use-availability designs.

Models of habitat preference are widely used to quantify animal-habitat relationships, to describe and predict differential space use by animals, and to identify habitat that is important to an animal (i.e. that is assumed to influence fitness).

Correlation and studies of habitat selection: problem, red herring or opportunity?

With the advent of new technologies, animal locations are being collected at ever finer spatio-temporal scales. We review analytical methods for dealing with correlated data in the context of resource selection, including post hoc variance inflation techniques, 'two-stage' approaches based on models fit to each individual, generalized estimating equations and hierarchical mixed-effects models. These methods are applicable to a wide range of correlated data problems, but can be difficult to apply and remain especially challenging for use-availability sampling designs because the correlation structure for combinations of used and available points are not likely to follow common parametric forms.

Resolving issues of imprecise and habitat-biased locations in ecological analyses using GPS telemetry data.

Global positioning system (GPS) technologies collect unprecedented volumes of animal location data, providing ever greater insight into animal behaviour. Despite a certain degree of inherent imprecision and bias in GPS locations, little synthesis regarding the predominant causes of these errors, their implications for ecological analysis or solutions exists. Terrestrial deployments report 37 per cent or less non-random data loss and location precision 30 m or less on average, with canopy closure having the predominant effect, and animal behaviour interacting with local habitat conditions to affect errors in unpredictable ways.

Application of random effects to the study of resource selection by animals.

1. Resource selection estimated by logistic regression is used increasingly in studies to identify critical resources for animal populations and to predict species occurrence. 2.