How many wolves (Canis lupus) fit into Germany? The role of assumptions in predictive rule-based habitat models for habitat generalists.
Due to legislative protection, many species, including large carnivores, are currently recolonizing Europe. To address the impending human-wildlife conflicts in advance, predictive habitat models can be used to determine potentially suitable habitat and areas likely to be recolonized. As field data...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:be8e756e7f334a8fbd20dd474cc6ad7b 2023-05-15T15:50:06+02:00 How many wolves (Canis lupus) fit into Germany? The role of assumptions in predictive rule-based habitat models for habitat generalists. Dominik Fechter Ilse Storch 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0101798 https://doaj.org/article/be8e756e7f334a8fbd20dd474cc6ad7b EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4100756?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0101798 https://doaj.org/article/be8e756e7f334a8fbd20dd474cc6ad7b PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 7, p e101798 (2014) Medicine R Science Q article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0101798 2022-12-31T03:47:22Z Due to legislative protection, many species, including large carnivores, are currently recolonizing Europe. To address the impending human-wildlife conflicts in advance, predictive habitat models can be used to determine potentially suitable habitat and areas likely to be recolonized. As field data are often limited, quantitative rule based models or the extrapolation of results from other studies are often the techniques of choice. Using the wolf (Canis lupus) in Germany as a model for habitat generalists, we developed a habitat model based on the location and extent of twelve existing wolf home ranges in Eastern Germany, current knowledge on wolf biology, different habitat modeling techniques and various input data to analyze ten different input parameter sets and address the following questions: (1) How do a priori assumptions and different input data or habitat modeling techniques affect the abundance and distribution of potentially suitable wolf habitat and the number of wolf packs in Germany? (2) In a synthesis across input parameter sets, what areas are predicted to be most suitable? (3) Are existing wolf pack home ranges in Eastern Germany consistent with current knowledge on wolf biology and habitat relationships? Our results indicate that depending on which assumptions on habitat relationships are applied in the model and which modeling techniques are chosen, the amount of potentially suitable habitat estimated varies greatly. Depending on a priori assumptions, Germany could accommodate between 154 and 1769 wolf packs. The locations of the existing wolf pack home ranges in Eastern Germany indicate that wolves are able to adapt to areas densely populated by humans, but are limited to areas with low road densities. Our analysis suggests that predictive habitat maps in general, should be interpreted with caution and illustrates the risk for habitat modelers to concentrate on only one selection of habitat factors or modeling technique. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLoS ONE 9 7 e101798 |
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language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q Dominik Fechter Ilse Storch How many wolves (Canis lupus) fit into Germany? The role of assumptions in predictive rule-based habitat models for habitat generalists. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Due to legislative protection, many species, including large carnivores, are currently recolonizing Europe. To address the impending human-wildlife conflicts in advance, predictive habitat models can be used to determine potentially suitable habitat and areas likely to be recolonized. As field data are often limited, quantitative rule based models or the extrapolation of results from other studies are often the techniques of choice. Using the wolf (Canis lupus) in Germany as a model for habitat generalists, we developed a habitat model based on the location and extent of twelve existing wolf home ranges in Eastern Germany, current knowledge on wolf biology, different habitat modeling techniques and various input data to analyze ten different input parameter sets and address the following questions: (1) How do a priori assumptions and different input data or habitat modeling techniques affect the abundance and distribution of potentially suitable wolf habitat and the number of wolf packs in Germany? (2) In a synthesis across input parameter sets, what areas are predicted to be most suitable? (3) Are existing wolf pack home ranges in Eastern Germany consistent with current knowledge on wolf biology and habitat relationships? Our results indicate that depending on which assumptions on habitat relationships are applied in the model and which modeling techniques are chosen, the amount of potentially suitable habitat estimated varies greatly. Depending on a priori assumptions, Germany could accommodate between 154 and 1769 wolf packs. The locations of the existing wolf pack home ranges in Eastern Germany indicate that wolves are able to adapt to areas densely populated by humans, but are limited to areas with low road densities. Our analysis suggests that predictive habitat maps in general, should be interpreted with caution and illustrates the risk for habitat modelers to concentrate on only one selection of habitat factors or modeling technique. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dominik Fechter Ilse Storch |
author_facet |
Dominik Fechter Ilse Storch |
author_sort |
Dominik Fechter |
title |
How many wolves (Canis lupus) fit into Germany? The role of assumptions in predictive rule-based habitat models for habitat generalists. |
title_short |
How many wolves (Canis lupus) fit into Germany? The role of assumptions in predictive rule-based habitat models for habitat generalists. |
title_full |
How many wolves (Canis lupus) fit into Germany? The role of assumptions in predictive rule-based habitat models for habitat generalists. |
title_fullStr |
How many wolves (Canis lupus) fit into Germany? The role of assumptions in predictive rule-based habitat models for habitat generalists. |
title_full_unstemmed |
How many wolves (Canis lupus) fit into Germany? The role of assumptions in predictive rule-based habitat models for habitat generalists. |
title_sort |
how many wolves (canis lupus) fit into germany? the role of assumptions in predictive rule-based habitat models for habitat generalists. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0101798 https://doaj.org/article/be8e756e7f334a8fbd20dd474cc6ad7b |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 7, p e101798 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4100756?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0101798 https://doaj.org/article/be8e756e7f334a8fbd20dd474cc6ad7b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0101798 |
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PLoS ONE |
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9 |
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7 |
container_start_page |
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