Acoustic and camera surveys inform models of current and future vertebrate distributions in a changing desert ecosystem

Lindsey N Rich,Justin S Brashares,Brett J Furnas,D Scott Newton,Gwen Iacona

doi:10.1111/ddi.12952

Abstract

AbstractAimMaintaining biodiversity in the face of land use and climate change is a paramount challenge, particularly when distributions of many species remain incompletely known. Emerging technologies help address this data deficiency by facilitating the collection of spatially explicit data for multiple species from multiple taxa. In this study, we combine acoustic and visual sensor surveys to inform conservation and land use planning in an area experiencing rapid climate and land use change.LocationMojave Desert, California, United States.MethodsWe deployed camera traps and acoustic detectors at 210 sites between March and July 2016. We identified photographic detections of mammals and acoustic recordings of songbirds to the species level and used multispecies occupancy models to estimate and evaluate species' occupancy probabilities. We then extrapolated model results to the region and forecasted how projected climate and land use changes might affect species' occupancy probabilities in 50 years. Lastly, we identified areas with high conservation value (i.e., high relative species richness) now and in 50 years, and related the distributions of these areas to land use designations.ResultsWe detected 15 mammal and 68 songbird species. At the community level, occupancy decreased with increasing temperatures and distances to woodlands. We forecasted that occupancy probabilities and areas with high conservation value would decline in 50 years due to projected increases in maximum temperatures and identified that up to 43%, 24% and 27% of land designated for renewable energy development, recreation and military activities, respectively, encompassed these high value areas.Main conclusionsCooler areas close to woodlands and water are of high conservation value to mammals and songbirds in the Mojave. These areas will become increasingly limited with changing climate, however, making their protection from human disturbance imperative. We encourage continued use of visual and acoustic sensors across large spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales as tools to inform land use and wildlife conservation.

Highlights

Maintaining the world's tremendous diversity of life is a paramount and daunting challenge amid the land use and extractive activities of 7.4 billion people and a rapidly changing climate (Bellard, Bertelsmeier, Leadley, Thuiller, & Courchamp, 2012; Jetz, Wilcove, & Dobson, 2007; Walther et al, 2002)
Fine‐grain, species‐specific data collected across large spatial and temporal scales is vital to quantifying the pace of biodiversity change, to identifying large‐scale ecological stressors and to designing land use and conservation plans that effectively minimize negative im‐ pacts on vertebrate populations, (Bellard et al, 2012; Cameron, Cohen, & Morrison, 2012; Jetz, McPherson, & Guralnick, 2012; Pereira et al, 2013; Theobald et al, 2015)
We used remote camera traps and ARUs to amass spatially explicit detection–non‐detection data and generate baseline estimates of occupancy for 15 mammal and 68 songbird species across the Mojave Desert in California. Such fine‐scale multi‐taxa data have been unavailable for this region, despite being vitally needed by TA B L E 2 Mean (x) and 90% credible interval estimates for the community‐level hyper‐parameters hypothesized to influence the probability of occupancy and detection of terrestrial mammal species and songbird species in the Mojave Desert of California, 2016, and the number of significant species‐specific responses (i.e., 90% CI did not overlap 0.0; Appendix S4)

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Maintaining the world's tremendous diversity of life is a paramount and daunting challenge amid the land use and extractive activities of 7.4 billion people and a rapidly changing climate (Bellard, Bertelsmeier, Leadley, Thuiller, & Courchamp, 2012; Jetz, Wilcove, & Dobson, 2007; Walther et al, 2002). Our final objective was to demonstrate how modelled occupancies and projected climate and land use changes can be integrated to predict species' occupancy probabilities and the availability/distribution of areas with high conservation value in 50 years Through these steps, we can provide a better understanding of mammal and songbird populations in the Mojave Desert that can inform proactive land use and biodiversity man‐ agement strategies and the prioritization of conservation actions. As this is among the first studies to integrate acous‐ tic and visual sensor data, we hope this work provides a timely example of how emerging technologies can facilitate multispecies and multi‐taxa data collection

| METHODS

Findings

| DISCUSSION