BRN 9-3 - Flipbook - Page 16
Maximizing other beneÞts (enhancing
biodiversity and ecosystem
functioning, creating wildÞre refugia,
mitigating habitat degradation,
reducing the negative effects of high
water events, and spreading
pollutants over a broader area among other things) requires a more
thoughtful perspective.
The authorsÕ efforts are a major step in
enabling Òmore thoughtful
perspectivesÓ. Their use of ÒRemote
sensing imagery (to) provide an
efÞcient and scalable method for
identifying beaver wetland
complexesÓ was well conceived and
executed (see right) but that was only
the Þrst step. Once the end product,
beaver wetlands, was determined, the
geographic and biological attributes
of the area were assessed. Impoundment areas are determined by more
than just dam length.
Such studies will enable the
successful reintroduction of beaver
populations across an array of
assessment indices.
The Travel Habits of
Cats and Dogs
Bottom Line: Cats and dogs do not
travel across the landscape in the
same manner. Canids tend to have
established routes which they follow
while felids are more free roaming.
For those who are inclined to manage
the resource this has some signiÞcant
implications, since models which
assume the same basic travel patterns
for large mammals are incorrect.
These are the Þndings of William
Fagan et al. in ÒWild candids and
felids differ in their reliance on reused
travel routewaysÓ, Proceedings of the
National Academy of Science U.S.A.
122 (40) e2401042122, September
29, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1073/
pnas.2401042122. To quote the
authors, ÒSuch marked variation in the
heterogeneity of speciesÕ space-use
patterns is important because it
provides a strong empirical contrast
to long-standing assumptions of
mathematical models of predatorprey dynamics and, more broadly,
highlights key issues of space use that
are relevant for the conservation and
management of at-risk mammalian
carnivores globally.Ó
Images (above) and captions (below) from the study.
a. Manually identiÞed beaver dams (red) overlaid on the NAIP mosaic.
b. Water and non-water masks created using an NDWI threshold of zero.
c. Beaver ponds (blue) generated by intersecting water polygons with mapped
dams. The black outline represents a 100-meter buffer applied to a beaver pond
cluster identiÞed using the DBSCAN clustering algorithm, referred to as a beaver
pond complex.
Above: Caption for the graphic at the top of the next page, from the study.
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