Digital Commons Network^™

Management Applications Of Discontinuity Theory, David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen, Chris Barichievy, Tarsha Eason, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Nicholas A.J. Graham, Dean Granholm, Lance H. Gunderson, Melinda Knutson, Kristy L. Nash, R. John Nelson, Magnus Nystrom, Trisha L. Spanbauer, Craig A. Stow, Shana M. Sundstrom

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

1. Human impacts on the environment are multifaceted and can occur across distinct spatiotemporal scales. Ecological responses to environmental change are therefore difficult to predict, and entail large degrees of uncertainty. Such uncertainty requires robust tools for management to sustain ecosystem goods and services and maintain resilient ecosystems.

2. We propose an approach based on discontinuity theory that accounts for patterns and processes at distinct spatial and temporal scales, an inherent property of ecological systems. Discontinuity theory has not been applied in natural resource management and could therefore improve ecosystem management because it explicitly accounts for ecological complexity.

3. Synthesis …

Adaptive Management For Soil Ecosystem Services, Hannah E. Birge, Rebecca A. Bevans, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Sara G. Baer, Diana H. Wall Colorado State University

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Quantifying Spatial Scaling Patterns And Their Local And Regional Correlates In Headwater Streams: Implications For Resilience, Emma Göthe, Leonard Sandin, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The distribution of functional traits within and across spatiotemporal scales has been used to quantify and infer the relative resilience across ecosystems. We use explicit spatial modeling to evaluate within- and cross-scale redundancy in headwater streams, an ecosystem type with a hierarchical and dendritic network structure. We assessed the cross-scale distribution of functional feeding groups of benthic invertebrates in Swedish headwater streams during two seasons. We evaluated functional metrics, i.e., Shannon diversity, richness, and evenness, and the degree of redundancy within and across modeled spatial scales for individual feeding groups. We also estimated the correlates of environmental versus spatial factors …

Assessing State-Wide Biodiversity In The Florida Gap Analysis Project, L. G. Pearlstine, S. E. Smith, L. A. Brandt, C. R. Allen, W. M. Kitchens, J. Stenberg

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The Florida Gap (FI-Gap) project provides an assessment of the degree to which native animal species and natural communities are or are not represented in existing conservation lands. Those species and communities not adequately represented in areas being managed for native species constitute 'gaps' in the existing network of conservation lands. The United States Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program is a national effort and so, eventually, all 50 states will have completed it. The objective of FI-Gap was to provide broad geographic information on the status of terrestrial vertebrates, butterflies, skippers and ants and their respective habitats to address the …

Modeling Viable Mammal Populations In Gap Analyses, Craig R. Allen, L. G. Pearlstine

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Gap analysis is an approach to conserving biological diversity that maps species richness and identifies sites that ought to be protected but are not in conservation networks. Gap analyses based on species richness may have high error rates when species models are based solely on species-habitat association, because patches too small to support populations are still considered to be potential habitat. We incorporated information on the home range and dispersal distances of the mammals of Florida to estimate minimum critical areas (MCA) to support minimum viable populations for each mammal species. Incorporating MCA decreases the area occupied by the highest …

The Spatial Distribution Of Diversity Between Disparate Taxa: Spatial Correspondence Between Mammals And Ants Across South Florida, Usa, Craig R. Allen, L. G. Pearlstine, D.P. Wojcik, W.M. Kitchens

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Gap Analysis takes a proactive landscape-level approach to conserving native species by identifying nodes of high biological diversity. It uses vertebrate species richness as an index of overall biological diversity. However, it remains unknownwhether or not the spatial distribution of vertebrate diversity correspondswith the diversity of other taxa. We tested whether landscape-level diversity patterns corresponded between a vertebrate and an invertebrate taxon, mammals and ants, across the southern half of the Florida peninsula, USA. Composite digital maps with a 30-m spatial resolution were produced for each taxon. Spatial correspondence between the taxa was determined by normalizing and then subtracting the …