Animals interact with their habitat in a manner which involves both negative and positive feedback mechanisms. We apply a specific modeling approach, “multi-scaled random walk”, for the scenario where a spatially explicit positive feedback process emerges from a combination of a spatial memory-dependent tendency to return to familiar patches and a consequently objective or subjective improvement of the quality of these patches (habitat auto-facilitation). In addition to the potential for local resource improvement from physically altering a patch, primarily known from the ecology of grazing ungulates, auto-facilitation from site fidelity may also embed more subtle subjective, individual-specific advantages from patch familiarity. Under the condition of resource superabundance, fitness gain from intra-home range patch fidelity creates a self-reinforcing use of the preferred patches on expense of a broader foraging in a priori equally favorable patches. Through this process, our simulations show that a spatially fractal dispersion of accumulated locations of the individual will emerge under the given model assumptions. Based on a conjecture that intra-home range patch fidelity depends on spatial memory we apply the multi-scaled random walk model to construct a spatially explicit habitat suitability parameter Hij, which quantifies the dispersion of the generally most constraining resource from the individual's perspective. An intra-home range set of observed H-scores, Hobs, can then be estimated from a simple 2-scale calculation that is derived from the local dispersion of fixes. We show how the spatially explicit habitat utilization index Hobs not necessarily correlates positively with the local density fluctuations of fixes. The H-index solves some well-known problems from using the pattern of local densities of telemetry fixes - the classic utilization distribution - as a proxy variable for relative intra-home range habitat quality and resource selection. A pilot study on a set of telemetry fixes collected from a herd of free-ranging domestic sheep with overlapping summer home ranges illustrates how the H-index may be estimated and interpreted as a first-level approach towards a more extensive analysis of intra-home range habitat resource availability and patch preferences. Spatial memory in combination with site fidelity requires a modeling framework that explicitly describes the property of positive feedback mechanism under auto-facilitation in a spatio-temporally explicit manner. 相似文献
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) often occur in oil-contaminated soil, coke wastewater and domestic sludge; however, associated PAH degraders in these environments are not clear. Here we evaluated phenanthrene degradation potential in the mixed samples of above environments, and obtained a methanogenic community with different microbial profile compared to those from sediments. Phenanthrene was efficiently degraded (1.26 mg/L/d) and nonstoichiometric amount of methane was produced simultaneously. 16S rRNA gene sequencing demonstrated that bacterial populations were mainly associated with Comamonadaceae Nocardiaceae and Thermodesulfobiaceae, and that methanogenic archaea groups were dominated by Methanobacterium and Methanothermobacter. Substances such as hexane, hexadecane, benzene and glucose showed the most positive effects on phenanthrene degradation. Substrate utilization tests indicated that this culture could not utilize other PAHs. These analyses could offer us some suggestions on the putative phenanthrene-degrading microbes in such environments, and might help us develop strategies for the removal of PAHs from contaminated soil and sludge.
Effective population size, a central concept in conservation biology, is now routinely estimated from genetic surveys and can also be theoretically predicted from demographic, life‐history, and mating‐system data. By evaluating the consistency of theoretical predictions with empirically estimated effective size, insights can be gained regarding life‐history characteristics and the relative impact of different life‐history traits on genetic drift. These insights can be used to design and inform management strategies aimed at increasing effective population size. We demonstrated this approach by addressing the conservation of a reintroduced population of Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus). We estimated the variance effective size (Nev) from genetic data () and formulated predictions for the impacts on Nev of demography, polygyny, female variance in lifetime reproductive success (RS), and heritability of female RS. By contrasting the genetic estimation with theoretical predictions, we found that polygyny was the strongest factor affecting genetic drift because only when accounting for polygyny were predictions consistent with the genetically measured Nev. The comparison of effective‐size estimation and predictions indicated that 10.6% of the males mated per generation when heritability of female RS was unaccounted for (polygyny responsible for 81% decrease in Nev) and 19.5% mated when female RS was accounted for (polygyny responsible for 67% decrease in Nev). Heritability of female RS also affected Nev; (heritability responsible for 41% decrease in Nev). The low effective size is of concern, and we suggest that management actions focus on factors identified as strongly affecting , namely, increasing the availability of artificial water sources to increase number of dominant males contributing to the gene pool. This approach, evaluating life‐history hypotheses in light of their impact on effective population size, and contrasting predictions with genetic measurements, is a general, applicable strategy that can be used to inform conservation practice. 相似文献
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