Madan Oli

University of Florida and University of Aberdeen

Iteroparous species may reproduce at many different ages, resulting in a reproductive dispersion that affects the damping of population perturbations, and varies among life histories. Since generation time (Tc$$ {T}_c $$) is known to capture aspects of life‐history variation, such as life‐history speed, does Tc$$ {T}_c $$ also determine reproductiv...

Optimal reproductive strategies evolve from the interplay between an individual’s intrinsic state and extrinsic environment, both factors that are rarely fixed over its lifetime. Conditional breeding tactics might be one evolutionary trajectory allowing individuals to maximize fitness. We apply multi-state capture-mark-recapture analysis to a detai...

Generation time has previously been the focus of comparative life history analyses. Here we examine three metrics: generation time T , reproductive dispersion S (the distribution of ages of reproduction), and damping time τ (time to converge to stable (st)age distribution). We use data on 633 species of animals and plants, and perform phylogenetica...

Estimates of demographic parameters based on capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods may be biased when some individuals in the population are temporarily unavailable for capture (temporary emigration). We estimated snowshoe hare abundance, apparent survival, and probability of temporary emigration in a population of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus E...

Population viability analysis; false dichotomy in PVA quality assessments.

In semi-arid environments, aperiodic rainfall pulses determine plant production and resource availability for higher trophic levels, creating strong bottom-up regulation. The influence of climatic factors on population vital rates often shapes the dynamics of small mammal populations in such resource-restricted environments. Using a 21-year biannua...

ABSTRACT Capsule: Sooty Falcon Falco concolor movement patterns were strongly dependent on the phaseof their annual cycle, and were clearly discernible in terms of the average hourly travel speeds of falcons during those phases.Aims: To better understand the movements of Sooty Falcons on migration, during the winter and as non-breeding individuals....

Understanding how demographic parameters respond to climatic variables is essential for predicting species' response to changing environmental conditions. The California pocket mouse (Chaetodipus californicus) is an inhabitant of coastal-central California oak (Quercus spp.) woodland that is undergoing a rapid anthropogenic transformation while als...

Changes in temperature and rainfall patterns can have marked impacts on small mammal populations that inhabit environments with highly fluctuating water availability. With projected increases in droughts and fewer but more intense rainfall events in the Southwestern United States, the persistence of many wildlife populations may be threatened. Our...

Obtaining accurate population counts of endangered species is central to conservation biology, with implications for gaining ecological insights, informing management strategies, and judicial use of conservation funds. Despite decades of progress in methodological developments in the realm of population ecology, reliable density estimates are unava...

In semi-arid environments, aperiodic rainfall pulses determine cycles of plant production and resource availability for higher trophic levels, creating strong bottom-up regulation. The influence of climatic factors on population vital rates often shapes the dynamics of small mammal populations in such resource-restricted environments. Using a 21-ye...

Connectivity shapes species distribution, spatial population dynamics and genetic structure, and is critical for conservation. It is imperative to reliably identify factors that limit connectivity across heterogeneous, fragmented landscapes. Viewing connectivity as the persistence of movement in space from source to destination-along potential corr...

Transient dynamics are crucial for understanding ecological and life-history dynamics. In this study, we analyze damping time, the time taken by a population to converge to a stable (st)age structure following a perturbation, for over 600 species of animals and plants. We expected damping time to be associated with both generation time T c and demo...

IPMs, Bayesian demographic models, latent states

Increases in apex predator abundance can influence the behavior of sympatric species, particularly when the available habitat and/or resources are limited. We assessed the temporal and spatiotemporal interactions between Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi) and six focal sympatric species in South Florida, where Florida panther abundance has incr...

1. Given the public health, economic, and conservation implications of zoonotic diseases, their effective surveillance is of paramount importance. The traditional approach to estimating pathogen prevalence as the proportion of infected individuals in the population is biased because it fails to account for imperfect detection. A statistically robus...

• Large carnivores face high extinction risks, often exacerbated by the absence of adequate information on their ecological requirements, and the high economic and socio‐political commitments that their conservation warrants. Country‐scale conservation plans can serve as effective frameworks to prioritise areas, actions, and conservation investment...

Seasonal environmental conditions shape the behavior and life history of virtually all organisms. Climate change is modifying these seasonal environmental conditions, which threatens to disrupt population dynamics. It is conceivable that climatic changes may be beneficial in one season but result in detrimental conditions in another because life-hi...

Cancer is a disease of single cells that expresses itself at the population level. The striking similarities between initiation and growth of tumors and dynamics of biological populations, and between metastasis and ecological invasion and community dynamics suggest that oncology can benefit from an ecological perspective to improve our understandi...

Natural populations are exposed to seasonal variation in environmental factors that simultaneously affect several demographic rates (survival, development and reproduction). The resulting covariation in these rates determines population dynamics, but accounting for its numerous biotic and abiotic drivers is a significant challenge. Here, we use a f...

Abstract Cyclic fluctuations in abundance exhibited by some mammalian populations in northern habitats (“population cycles”) are key processes in the functioning of many boreal and tundra ecosystems. Understanding population cycles, essentially demographic processes, necessitates discerning the demographic mechanisms that underlie numerical change...

Livestock depredation is the most ubiquitous type of negative interaction between humans and carnivores. We conducted a range-wide assessment linking diet patterns of the endangered dhole Cuon alpinus, with livestock consumption and human-dhole interactions. We first performed a reanalysis of dhole diet data from all published studies (1973-2013) i...

Cyclic fluctuations in abundance exhibited by some mammalian populations in northern habitats (“population cycles”) are key processes in the functioning of many boreal and tundra ecosystems. Understanding population cycles, essentially demographic processes, necessitates discerning the demographic mechanisms that underlie numerical changes. Using m...

Context Animals' use of space and habitat selection emerges from their movement patterns, which are, in turn, determined by their behavioural or physiological states and extrinsic factors. Aim The aims of the present study were to investigate animal movement and incorporate the movement patterns into habitat selection analyses using Global Position...

Understanding the spatial ecology of highly mobile marine vertebrates is necessary for informing conservation and management strategies aimed at protecting such species. Buck Island Reef National Monument (BIRNM), off the coast of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, harbors critical foraging habitat for Critically Endangered juvenile hawksbills Eretmoche...

Environmental factors drive the persistence of natural populations by causing complex, covarying responses in demographic processes (i.e., survival, growth, and reproduction). As most natural populations inhabit seasonal environments, overlooking seasonal differences in this covariation may obscure the mechanisms that buffer or amplify population r...

Population viability analysis (PVA) is useful in management of imperiled species. Applications range from research design, threat assessment, and development of management frameworks. Given the importance of PVAs, it is essential that they be rigorous and adhere to widely accepted guidelines; however, the quality of published PVAs is rarely assesse...

Abundant evidence supports the benefits accrued to the Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) population via the genetic introgression project implemented in South Florida, USA, in 1995. Since then, genetic diversity has improved, the frequency of morphological and biomedical correlates of inbreeding depression have declined, and the population size...

The study of mammals has promoted the development and testing of many ideas in contemporary ecology. Here we address recent developments in foraging and habitat selection, source–sink dynamics, competition (both within and between species), population cycles, predation (including apparent competition), mutualism, and biological invasions. Because m...

• Despite nearly a century of research, the causes of population cycles in Arvicoline rodents (voles and lemmings) in northern latitudes are not yet fully understood. Theory tells us that delayed density‐dependent feedback mechanisms are essential for rodent population cycles, suggesting vegetation–rodent, rodent–parasite or rodent–predator interac...

Most large carnivore populations currently occur in heterogeneous landscapes, with source populations embedded in a matrix of human-dominated habitats. Understanding changes in distribution of endangered carnivores is critical for prioritizing and implementing conservation strategies. We examined distribution and dynamics of a dhole Cuon alpinus me...

Capsule: Non-breeding Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus tracked in Oman and the Horn of Africa ranged over large areas and made regular use of anthropogenic sources of food. Tracking data provide evidence that vultures monitor the availability of food within their home ranges. Aims: To study home range and movement patterns of non-breeding Eg...

Highly variable patterns in temperature and rainfall events can have pronounced consequences for small mammals in resource‐restricted environments. Climatic factors can therefore play a crucial role in determining the fates of small mammal populations. We applied Pradel's temporal symmetry model to a 21‐year capture–recapture dataset to study popul...

Context Animals’ use of space and habitat selection emerges from their movement patterns, which are, in turn, determined by their behavioural or physiological states and extrinsic factors. Aim The aims of the present study were to investigate animal movement and incorporate the movement patterns into habitat selection analyses using Global Position...

The California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) inhabits semiarid oak (Quercus spp.) woodlands and shrublands of California's southern Coast Ranges and lower slopes of the western Sierra Nevada. From 1993 to 2014, we studied the demography of California mice in semiarid oak woodland in coastal-central California. Using capture-mark-recapture (CMR) m...

Movement patterns can influence an animal's ability to secure food, find mates, and avoid enemies, potentially affecting individual fitness. We studied movement patterns of 10 male and 3 female endangered Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi) using location data collected from a long-Term (2005-2012) GPS collar study. Males traveled faster and cov...

Colonial island‐breeding birds can be particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbance, which can adversely affect their nesting success. We studied Sooty Falcons Falco concolor breeding on 10 ground‐predator‐free islands in the Sea of Oman during 2007–2014, and evaluated spatio–temporal trends in the number of breeding pairs occurring on the i...

Population density around the natal site is often invoked as an explanation for variation in dispersal distance, with the expectation that competition for limiting resources, coupled with increased intra-specific aggression at high densities, should drive changes in dispersal distances. However, tests of the density-dependent dispersal hypothesis i...

Understanding fine-scale habitat needs of species and the factors influencing heterogeneous use of habitat within home range would help identify limiting resources and inform habitat management practices. This information is especially important for large mammals living in fragmented habitats where resources may be scarcer and more patchily distrib...

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Knowledge of demographic parameters affecting population dynamics is critical to the formulation of effective conservation strategies. Sooty Falcon Falco concolor is a little-studied, Near-threatened species; estimates of global population size and trend for this species are uncertain. They lay eggs during mid-summer and sometimes nest in colonies....

A greater understanding of how environmental factors and anthropogenic landscape features influence animal movements can inform management and potentially aid in mitigating human–wildlife conflicts. We investigated the movement patterns of 16 Florida black bears (Ursus americanus floridanus; 6 females, 10 males) in northcentral Florida at multiple...

Leprosy (or Hansen’s disease) remains an important public health challenge globally, with an estimated 5.5 million total number of cases and 200,000–300,000 new cases reported annually. The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is the only known natural non-human vertebrate host of Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, in the...

Life history theory attempts to explain the diversity of life history patterns, and the mechanisms by which natural selection has shaped life-history traits. It attempts to answer questions such as why organisms are large or small, why they grow fast or slowly, why they mature early or late, why they produce one or many offspring, and why they repr...

Organochlorine pesticides disrupted reproduction and killed many raptorial birds, and contributed to population declines during the 1940s-1970s. We sought to discern whether and to what extent territory occupancy and breeding success changed from the pesticide era to recent years in a resident population of Peregrine Falcons Falco peregrinus in sou...

Large-scale fluctuations in abundance are a common feature of small mammal populations and have been the subject of extensive research. These demographic fluctuations are often associated with concurrent changes in the average body mass of individuals, sometimes referred to as the “Chitty effect”. Despite the long-standing recognition of this pheno...

Conceptualizing cancer from an ecological and evolutionary perspective, where a large heterogeneous population of cells interact with their microenvironment and obey the same principles of survival and replication as those that drive Darwinian evolution, has provided a framework for understanding how fitness of neoplastic cell(s) are influenced not...

Section 1: Background/Question/Methods Adaptive management requires for population viability analyses (PVAs) to be updated and reevaluated as conservation strategies are implemented, changes in the population or the environment occur, and new demographic data become available. The Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) population has been monitored...

Submerged passive acoustic technology allows researchers to investigate spatial and temporal movement patterns of many marine and freshwater species. The technology uses receivers to detect and record acoustic transmissions emitted from tags attached to an individual. Acoustic signal strength naturally attenuates over distance, but numerous environ...

Understanding how animals use space and resources in newly colonized, anthropogenically altered habitats is important for species management because animals in fragmented habitats may use the landscape differently than conspecifics in contiguous habitats. We collected GPS-location data for 16 individuals (6 females, ages 1–9 y; 10 males, ages 2–8 y...

The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is the only known nonhuman reservoir of Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of Hansen’s disease or leprosy. We conducted a 6-yr study on a wild population of armadillos in western Mississippi that was exposed to M. leprae to evaluate the importance of demographic and spatial risk factors on ind...

This paper reviews the literature on survival estimates for different species of raptors and owls, examines the methods used to obtain the estimates, and draws out some general patterns arising. Estimating survival usually involves the marking of birds so that they can be recognised as individuals on subsequent encounters This article is protected...

Reproduction is thought to be costly for female mammals due to high energetic costs associated with pregnancy and lactation. Such costs of reproduction can be particularly high for younger females, who are less experienced and smaller than fully grown adults, and can manifest themselves within (intra-individual or intra-generational trade-offs) or...

Understanding food habits of wild ungulates is of paramount importance to ecology and wildlife management. We studied the food habits of grey gorals (Naemorhedus goral) using microhistological techniques at two sites (Machiara and Serli Sacha) that differed in livestock grazing pressure in the Machiara National Park (MNP), Azad Jammu and Kashmir, P...

Although the Middle East supports a high level of avian biodiversity, the ecology of relatively few species that use the region has been studied in detail. Despite its restricted breeding distribution in the Middle East, and apparent unfavorable conservation status, little is known about the population ecology of the Sooty Falcon (Falco concolor),...

We characterized population dynamics of nonmigratory cave bats, Myotis velifer, in Oklahoma by locating all 21 caves known to be occupied in an exhaustively searched, large study area, marking representative samples with numbered wing bands and conducting annual winter counts and recaptures over a decade. Bats moved readily among maternity caves du...

Phenotypic plasticity, the ability of an individual to modify its phenotype according to the conditions it experiences, is a source of between-individual variation and a mechanism by which individuals can cope with environmental change. Plasticity is expected to evolve in response to environmental heterogeneity, such as seasonality and year-to-year...

Crop and livestock depredation by wildlife is a primary driver of human–wildlife conflict, a problem that threatens the coexistence of people and wildlife globally. Understanding mechanisms that underlie depredation patterns holds the key to mitigating conflicts across time and space. However, most studies do not consider imperfect detection and re...