How linear features alter predator movement and the functional response Royal Society Interface Focus

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Hannah W. McKenzie
  • Evelyn H. Merrill
  • Raymond J. Spiteri
  • Mark A. Lewis1

• In areas of oil and gas exploration, seismic lines have been reported to alter the movement patterns of wolves (Canis lupus). We developed a mechanistic first passage time model, based on
  an anisotropic elliptic partial differential equation, and used this to explore how wolf movement
  responses to seismic lines influence the encounter rate of the wolves with their prey. The model
  was parametrized using 5 min GPS location data. These data showed that wolves travelled
  faster on seismic lines and had a higher probability of staying on a seismic line once they
  were on it. We simulated wolf movement on a range of seismic line densities and drew implications for the rate of predator–prey interactions as described by the functional response.
  The functional response exhibited a more than linear increase with respect to prey density
  (type III) as well as interactions with seismic line density. Encounter rates were significantly
  higher in landscapes with high seismic line density and were most pronounced at low prey densities. This suggests that prey at low population densities are at higher risk in environments
  with a high seismic line density unless they learn to avoid them

• Date created

  2012-01-18

• Subjects / Keywords

  • mean first
  • encounter rate
  • seismic lines
  • passage time
  • wolf movement
  • spatial heterogeneity

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-e0tq-ab68

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International