Physiology on a landscape scale: plant-animal interactions

Area of Science:

• Ecological modeling
• Biophysics
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Background:

• Environmental factors like climate, topography, and vegetation significantly influence animal physiology and behavior.
• Existing models often lack the spatial resolution to capture fine-scale ecological interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply spatially explicit models integrating engineering, physiological, and behavioral principles to predict animal responses to environmental variation.
• To test hypotheses regarding the impact of microclimate, landscape heterogeneity, and climate change on animal energetics, distribution, and behavior.

Main Methods:

• Utilized state-of-the-art, spatially explicit models incorporating heat/mass transfer, physiology, morphology, and behavior.
• Integrated Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for spatial data analysis and hypothesis generation.
• Conducted sensitivity analyses on energetic models to assess impacts of climate and vegetation changes.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated how microclimate variations due to topography and vegetation alter animal energetics and behavior.
• Applied models to case studies including elk winter survival, chuckwalla distribution, and predator-prey interactions.
• Highlighted how landscape heterogeneity and scale of data influence ecological interpretations.

Conclusions:

• Spatially explicit modeling provides crucial insights into animal responses to environmental drivers.
• Model predictions have significant implications for hypothesis testing in ecology across various scales.
• Understanding fine-scale environmental effects is essential for predicting species' future distributions and survival.