Integrating animal tracking datasets at a continental scale for mapping Eurasian lynx habitat ...

• Main Authors: Oeser, Julian, Heurich, Marco, Kramer‐Schadt, Stephanie, Mattisson, Jenny, Krofel, Miha, Krojerová‐Prokešová, Jarmila, Zimmermann, Fridolin, Anders, Ole, Andrén, Henrik, Bagrade, Guna, Belotti, Elisa, Breitenmoser‐Würsten, Christine, Bufka, Luděk, Černe, Rok, Drouet‐Hoguet, Nolwenn, Duľa, Martin, Fuxjäger, Christian, Gomerčić, Tomislav, Jędrzejewski, Włodzimierz, Kont, Raido, Koubek, Petr, Kowalczyk, Rafał, Kusak, Josip, Kubala, Jakub, Kutal, Miroslav, Linnell, John D. C., Molinari‐Jobin, Anja, Männil, Peep, Middelhoff, Tomma Lilli, Odden, John, Okarma, Henryk, Oliveira, Teresa, Pagon, Nives, Persson, Jens, Remm, Jaanus, Schmidt, Krzysztof, Signer, Sven, Tám, Branislav, Vogt, Kristina, Kuemmerle, Tobias
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Technische Universität Berlin 2023
• Subjects: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik590 Tiere Zoologie599 Mammalia Säugetiere; animal tracking; Eurasian lynx; habitat suitability; large carnivore; large‐area mapping; Lynx lynx; Lynx; Lynx lynx lynx
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14279/depositonce-20283; https://depositonce.tu-berlin.de/handle/11303/21483

Aim: The increasing availability of animal tracking datasets collected across many sites provides new opportunities to move beyond local assessments to enable detailed and consistent habitat mapping at biogeographical scales. However, integrating wildlife datasets across large areas and study sites is challenging, as species' varying responses to different environmental contexts must be reconciled. Here, we compare approaches for large-area habitat mapping and assess available habitat for a recolonizing large carnivore, the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). Location: Europe. Methods: We use a continental-scale animal tracking database (450 individuals from 14 study sites) to systematically assess modelling approaches, comparing (1) global strategies that pool all data for training versus building local, site-specific models and combining them, (2) different approaches for incorporating regional variation in habitat selection and (3) different modelling algorithms, testing nonlinear mixed effects models as well as ...