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What wild dogs want: habitat selection differs across life stages and orders of selection in a wide-ranging carnivore

O'Neill, Helen M. K., Durant, Sarah M., Woodroffe, Rosie (2020) What wild dogs want: habitat selection differs across life stages and orders of selection in a wide-ranging carnivore. BMC Zoology, . E-ISSN 2056-3132. (doi:10.1186/s40850-019-0050-0) (KAR id:80956)

Abstract

Habitat loss is a key threat to the survival of many species. Habitat selection studies provide key information for conservation initiatives by identifying important habitat and anthropogenic characteristics influencing the distribution of threatened species in changing landscapes. However, assumptions about the homogeneity of individual choices on habitat, regardless of life stage, are likely to result in inaccurate assessment of conservation priorities. This study addresses a knowledge gap in how animals at different life stages diverge in how they select habitat and anthropogenic features, using a free-ranging population of African wild dogs living in a human-dominated landscape in Kenya as a case study. Using GPS collar data to develop resource selection function and step selection function models, this study investigated differences between second order (selection of home range across a landscape) and third order (selection of habitat within the home range) habitat selection across four life history stages when resource requirements may vary: resident-non-denning, resident-heavily-pregnant, resident-denning and dispersing.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1186/s40850-019-0050-0
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history > QH541 Ecology
Q Science > QH Natural history > QH75 Conservation (Biology)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation > DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
Depositing User: Helen O'Neill
Date Deposited: 22 Apr 2020 13:03 UTC
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2024 19:33 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/80956 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

O'Neill, Helen M. K..

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9458-4494
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