Increased Flight Initiation Distance (FID) in Golden Marmots (Marmota caudata aurea) Responding to Domestic Dogs in A Landscape of Human Disturbance
Abstract
:Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Area
2.2. Live Capture and Marking of Marmots
2.3. Field Identification of Unmarked Individuals
2.4. Assessment of Flight Initiation Distance (FID)
2.5. Data Analyses
2.6. Ethical Approval.
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable Name | Description | Factor Levels |
---|---|---|
Treatment | Focal marmot approach by humans/dog | Pedestrian only |
Pedestrian and dog | ||
Human presence | Presence of additional pedestrians within view (e.g., tourist hikers, livestock farmers) | Binary—humans present (1) |
Humans absent (0) | ||
Agesex * | Combined age and sex class of focal marmot | Adult female |
Adult male | ||
Juvenile * | ||
Yearling female Yearling male | ||
Distance to road | Distance (m) from center of colony to nearest road measured using Arc GIS (10.2) near analysis tool | Continuous |
Group size | Number of conspecifics within 10 m of focal marmot | Continuous |
Distance to refuge | Distance (m) from focal marmot’s initial position to the nearest burrow | Continuous |
Burrow type | Comprised of earthen or rocky type burrows | Earthen |
Rocky | ||
Vegetation height | Grass/shrub height estimated by eye | Tall (>30 cm) |
Short (0–30 cm) | ||
Viewshed | A measure of visibility on a TIN from the center of each colony to several observation points. Higher values represent greater visibility (i.e., of colony to predators). | Continuous |
Slope | Slope of colony derived from a DEM (50 m) within the 3D Analyst extension of Arc GIS (10.2) | Continuous |
Elevation (m.a.s.l) | Elevation in meters above sea level | Continuous |
Year | Year of study | 2015 |
(4-month study period per year) | 2016 | |
2017 | ||
Starting Distance (SD) | Distance (m) between experimenter and focal marmot when the former begins approach | Continuous |
Variable | Mean (± SE) | Minimum Value | Maximum Value |
---|---|---|---|
Elevation (m.a.s.l) | 2858.10 ± 29.99 | 2207 | 4792 |
Viewshed (°) | 29.32 ± 14.82 | 20.12 | 50.88 |
Distance to refuge (m) | 1.03 ± 4.54 | 0 | 221 |
Distance to roads (m) | 811.63 ± 44.4 | 23.3 | 7987.5 |
GLM | GLMM | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Variance Component | Variance | % of Total Variance | |||
Colony ID | 0.162 | 0.02 | |||
Residual | 3.731 | 0.04 | |||
Explanatory variable (post hoc pairwise comparisons) | Estimate | Std. Error | % deviance explained * | t | P |
Treatment (Dog versus pedestrian) | 0.527 | 0.186 | 4.380 | 2.823 | * |
Vegetation height (Long versus short) | 0.660 | 0.100 | 6.360 | −6.563 | ** |
Burrow type (Earthen versus rocky) | 0.386 | 0.120 | 16.040 | 3.269 | ** |
Age/sex class | 35.470 | ||||
AF vs. J | −0.014 | 0.338 | Na | −4.110 | *** |
AM vs. J | −0.917 | 0.241 | Na | 3.807 | *** |
AF vs. YM | −2.273 | 0.578 | Na | −4.725 | ** |
AM vs. YF | 2.729 | 0.578 | Na | 4.725 | *** |
AM vs. YM | −1.481 | 0.578 | Na | −4.725 | *** |
Year | 8.500 | ||||
2015 vs. 2016 | −0.409 | 0.151 | Na | −2.703 | ** |
2017 vs. 2016 | −0.622 | 0.203 | Na | −3.060 | ** |
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Zaman, M.; Tolhurst, B.A.; Zhu, M.; Jiang, G. Increased Flight Initiation Distance (FID) in Golden Marmots (Marmota caudata aurea) Responding to Domestic Dogs in A Landscape of Human Disturbance. Animals 2019, 9, 605. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9090605
Zaman M, Tolhurst BA, Zhu M, Jiang G. Increased Flight Initiation Distance (FID) in Golden Marmots (Marmota caudata aurea) Responding to Domestic Dogs in A Landscape of Human Disturbance. Animals. 2019; 9(9):605. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9090605
Chicago/Turabian StyleZaman, Muhammad, Bryony A. Tolhurst, Mengyan Zhu, and Guangshun Jiang. 2019. "Increased Flight Initiation Distance (FID) in Golden Marmots (Marmota caudata aurea) Responding to Domestic Dogs in A Landscape of Human Disturbance" Animals 9, no. 9: 605. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9090605