Modeling amphibian energetics, habitat suitability, and movements of western toads, Anaxyrus (=Bufo) boreas, across present and future landscapes

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Effective conservation of amphibian populations requires predicting how amphibians use and move through a landscape. Amphibians are closely coupled to their physical environment. Thus, an approach that uses the physiological attributes of amphibians, together with knowledge of their natural history, should be helpful. The authors used Niche Mapper™ to model the known movements and habitat use patterns of a population of western toads (Anaxyrus [=Bufo] boreas) occupying forested habitats in southeastern Idaho. Niche Mapper uses first principles of environmental biophysics to combine features of topography, climate, land cover, and animal features to model microclimates and animal physiology and behavior across landscapes. Niche Mapper reproduced core body temperatures (Tc) and evaporation rates of live toads, with average errors of 1.6 ± 0.4 °C and 0.8 ± 0.2 g/h, respectively. For four different habitat types, it reproduced similar mid-summer daily temperature patterns as those measured in the field and calculated evaporation rates (g/h) with an average error rate of 7.2 ± 5.5%. Sensitivity analyses indicate these errors do not significantly affect estimates of food consumption or activity. Using Niche Mapper the authors predicted the daily habitats used by free-ranging toads; accuracy for female toads was greater than for male toads (74.2 ± 6.8% and 53.6 ± 15.8%, respectively), reflecting the stronger patterns of habitat selection among females. Using these [analyses], changing to construct a [physiological?] cost surface, the authors also reconstructed movement paths that were consistent with field observations. The effect of climate warming on toads depends on the interaction of temperature and atmospheric moisture. If climate change occurs as predicted, results from Niche Mapper suggest that climate warming will increase the physiological cost of landscapes, thereby limiting the activity for toads in different habitats.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology

SWAP (2/19/2016) citation:
Bartelt PE, Klaver RW, Porter WP. 2010. Modeling amphibian energetics, habitat suitability, and movements of western toads, Anaxyrus (=Bufo) boreas, across present and future landscapes. [accessed 2016 Jan 28]; Ecological Modelling. 221(22):2675–2686. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380010003492. [italicized species name]