Incorporating habitat suitability, landscape distance, and resistant kernels to estimate conservation units for an imperiled terrestrial snake

dc.contributor.authorBauder, Javan M.en
dc.contributor.authorChandler, Houston C.en
dc.contributor.authorElmore, Michele L.en
dc.contributor.authorJenkins, Christopher L.en
dc.date.accessioned2023-06-12T15:02:31Zen
dc.date.available2023-06-12T15:02:31Zen
dc.date.issued2022-10en
dc.description.abstractContext Wildlife distributions are often subdivided into discrete conservation units to aid in implementing management and conservation objectives. Habitat suitability models, resistance surfaces, and resistant kernels provide tools for delineating spatially explicit conservation units but guidelines for parameterizing resistant kernels are generally lacking. Objectives We used the federally threatened eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon couperi) as a case study for calibrating resistant kernels using observed movement data and resistance surfaces to help delineate habitat-based conservation units. Methods We simulated eastern indigo snake movements under different resistance surface and resistant kernel parameterizations and selected the scenario that produced simulated movement distances that best approximated the maximum observed annual movement distance. We used our calibrated resistant kernel to model range-wide connectivity and compared delineated conservation units to Euclidean distance-based population units from the recent eastern indigo snake species status assessment (SSA). Results We identified a total of 255 eastern indigo snake conservation units, with numerous large (2500-5000 ha of suitable habitat) conservation units across the eastern indigo snake distribution. There was substantial variation in the degree of overlap with the SSA population units likely reflecting the spatial heterogeneity in habitat suitability and landscape resistance. Conclusion Our calibration approach is widely applicable to other systems for parameterizing biologically meaningful resistant kernels. Our conservation units can be used to prioritize future eastern indigo snake conservation efforts, identify areas where more survey work is needed, or identify small, isolated populations with high extinction risks.en
dc.description.adminPublic domain – authored by a U.S. government employeeen
dc.description.notesThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (grant-F19AC00824) and Moody Air Force Base provided funding.en
dc.description.sponsorshipU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [F19AC00824]; Moody Air Force Baseen
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01510-zen
dc.identifier.eissn1572-9761en
dc.identifier.issn0921-2973en
dc.identifier.issue10en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/115402en
dc.identifier.volume37en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherSpringeren
dc.rightsPublic Domain (U.S.)en
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/en
dc.subjectConnectivity modelingen
dc.subjectConservation unitsen
dc.subjectDrymarchon couperien
dc.subjectEastern indigo snakeen
dc.subjectModel calibrationen
dc.subjectPattern-oriented modelingen
dc.subjectResistant kernelen
dc.subjectResistance surfaceen
dc.titleIncorporating habitat suitability, landscape distance, and resistant kernels to estimate conservation units for an imperiled terrestrial snakeen
dc.title.serialLandscape Ecologyen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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