Faculty of Natural Sciences

TY - JOUR

T1 - The r package ENERSCAPE

T2 - A general energy landscape framework for terrestrial movement ecology

AU - Berti, Emilio

AU - Davoli, Marco

AU - Buitenwerf, Robert

AU - Dyer, Alexander

AU - Hansen, Oskar L.P.

AU - Hirt, Myriam

AU - Svenning, Jens Christian

AU - Terlau, Jördis F.

AU - Brose, Ulrich

AU - Vollrath, Fritz

N1 - Funding Information: E.B., U.B., A.D., M.H. and J.F.T. acknowledge the support of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig funded by the German Research Foundation (FZT 118) and funding by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the framework of the research unit FOR 2716 (BR 2315/21‐1). J.‐C.S. considers this work a contribution to his VILLUM Investigator project ‘Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World’ funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant 16549) and his Independent Research Fund Denmark|Natural Sciences project MegaComplexity (grant 0135‐00225B). We thank Mario Cipollone for useful discussions about the Marsican bear and the Sirente‐Velino Regional Park. Open access funding enabled and organized by ProjektDEAL. Publisher Copyright: Methods in Ecology and Evolution© 2021 The Authors. Methods in Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

PY - 2022/1

Y1 - 2022/1

N2 - Ecological processes and biodiversity patterns are strongly affected by how animals move through the landscape. However, it remains challenging to predict animal movement and space use. Here we present our new r package enerscape to quantify and predict animal movement in real landscapes based on energy expenditure. enerscape integrates a general locomotory model for terrestrial animals with GIS tools in order to map energy costs of movement in a given environment, resulting in energy landscapes that reflect how energy expenditures may shape habitat use. enerscape only requires topographic data (elevation) and the body mass of the studied animal. To illustrate the potential of enerscape, we analyse the energy landscape for the Marsican bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus) in a protected area in central Italy in order to identify least-cost paths and high-connectivity areas with low energy costs of travel. enerscape allowed us to identify travel routes for the bear that minimize energy costs of movement and regions that have high landscape connectivity based on movement efficiency, highlighting potential corridors. It also identifies areas where high energy costs may prevent movement and dispersal, potentially exacerbating human–wildlife conflicts in the park. A major strength of enerscape is that it requires only widely available topographic and body size data. As such, enerscape permits a first cost-effective way to estimate landscape use and movement corridors even when telemetry data are not readily available, such as for the example with the bear. enerscape is built in a modular way and other movement modes and ecosystem types can be implemented when appropriate locomotory models are available. In summary, enerscape is a new general tool that quantifies, using minimal and widely available data, the energy costs of moving through a landscape. This can clarify how and why animals move in real landscapes and inform practical conservation and restoration decisions.

AB - Ecological processes and biodiversity patterns are strongly affected by how animals move through the landscape. However, it remains challenging to predict animal movement and space use. Here we present our new r package enerscape to quantify and predict animal movement in real landscapes based on energy expenditure. enerscape integrates a general locomotory model for terrestrial animals with GIS tools in order to map energy costs of movement in a given environment, resulting in energy landscapes that reflect how energy expenditures may shape habitat use. enerscape only requires topographic data (elevation) and the body mass of the studied animal. To illustrate the potential of enerscape, we analyse the energy landscape for the Marsican bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus) in a protected area in central Italy in order to identify least-cost paths and high-connectivity areas with low energy costs of travel. enerscape allowed us to identify travel routes for the bear that minimize energy costs of movement and regions that have high landscape connectivity based on movement efficiency, highlighting potential corridors. It also identifies areas where high energy costs may prevent movement and dispersal, potentially exacerbating human–wildlife conflicts in the park. A major strength of enerscape is that it requires only widely available topographic and body size data. As such, enerscape permits a first cost-effective way to estimate landscape use and movement corridors even when telemetry data are not readily available, such as for the example with the bear. enerscape is built in a modular way and other movement modes and ecosystem types can be implemented when appropriate locomotory models are available. In summary, enerscape is a new general tool that quantifies, using minimal and widely available data, the energy costs of moving through a landscape. This can clarify how and why animals move in real landscapes and inform practical conservation and restoration decisions.

KW - animal dispersal

KW - animal movement

KW - energy landscape

KW - enerscape

KW - locomotory costs

KW - Marsican bear

KW - movement ecology

KW - ENERGETICS

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118436056&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/2041-210X.13734

DO - 10.1111/2041-210X.13734

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85118436056

VL - 13

SP - 60

EP - 67

JO - Methods in Ecology and Evolution

JF - Methods in Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2041-210X

IS - 1

ER -