Stephanie Kramer-Schadt

Stephanie Kramer-Schadt
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research · Department of Ecological Dynamics

Dr.

About

254
Publications
137,730
Reads
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8,117
Citations
Introduction
Stephanie Kramer-Schadt leads the Department of Ecological Dynamics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research. Stephanie does research in Biostatistics, Ecology and Computing in Natural Science. www.ecological-dynamics-izw.com
Additional affiliations
January 2010 - present
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Position
  • Ecological Modelling
June 2007 - December 2009
University of Bergen
Position
  • Virulence evolution
April 2002 - May 2007
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung
Position
  • Infectious disease dynamics in wildlife
Education
July 1999 - March 2002
Technische Universität München
Field of study
  • Landscape Ecology
November 1991 - March 1998
Technische Universität München
Field of study
  • Landscape Architecture and Planning

Publications

Publications (254)
Article
Full-text available
Aim Advancement in ecological methods predicting species distributions is a crucial precondition for deriving sound management actions. Maximum entropy (MaxEnt) models are a popular tool to predict species distributions, as they are considered able to cope well with sparse, irregularly sampled data and minor location errors. Although a fundamental...
Article
Understanding host–pathogen dynamics requires realistic consideration of transmission events that, in the case of directly transmitted pathogens, result from contacts between susceptible and infected individuals. The corresponding contact rates are usually heterogeneous due to variation in individual movement patterns and the underlying landscape s...
Article
Full-text available
Demographic parameters are key to understanding population dynamics. Here, we analyse the survival and reproduction of the German wolf population in the 20 years following recolonization. Specifically, we analysed the effects of environmental, ecological and individual characteristics on 1) survival probability of the population; 2) annual survival...
Article
Full-text available
In wildlife populations, parasites often go unnoticed, as infected animals appear asymptomatic. However, these infections can subtly alter behaviour. Field evidence of how these subclinical infections induce changes in movement behaviour is scarce in free-ranging animals, yet it may be crucial for zoonotic disease surveillance. We used an ultra-hig...
Article
Full-text available
Biological responses to climate change have been widely documented across taxa and regions, but it remains unclear whether species are maintaining a good match between phenotype and environment, i.e. whether observed trait changes are adaptive. Here we reviewed 10,090 abstracts and extracted data from 71 studies reported in 58 relevant publications...
Chapter
Kapitel über die Bedeutung urbaner Räume für die Biodiversität aus dem Faktencheck Artenvielfalt. Download unter https://www.feda.bio/de/das-ist-faktencheck-artenvielfalt/ oder https://www.oekom.de/buch/faktencheck-artenvielfalt-9783987260957
Article
Full-text available
Wildlife tagging provides critical insights into animal movement ecology, physiology, and behavior amid global ecosystem changes. However, the stress induced by capture, handling, and tagging can impact post-release locomotion and activity and, consequently, the interpretation of study results. Here, we analyze post-tagging effects on 1585 individu...
Article
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Wildlife in cities divides people, with some animals bringing positive benefits and others causing conflict, for example due to property damage. Urban wildlife professionals from municipal administration, nature conservation, and hunting associations have a crucial role in shaping human‐wildlife relationships in cities and fostering conflict‐free c...
Article
The Earth Hologenome Initiative (EHI) is a global collaboration to generate and analyse hologenomic data from wild animals and associated microorganisms using standardised methodologies underpinned by open and inclusive research principles. Initially focused on vertebrates, it aims to re-examine ecological and evolutionary questions by studying hos...
Preprint
Thousands of scientists and practitioners conduct research on infectious diseases of wildlife. Rapid and comprehensive data sharing is vital to the transparency and actionability of their work, but unfortunately, most efforts designed to publically share these data are focused on pathogen determination and genetic sequence data. Other facets of exi...
Article
Antibiotic resistance is a priority public health problem resulting from eco-evolutionary dynamics within microbial communities and their interaction at a mammalian host interface or geographical scale. The links between mammalian host genetics, bacterial gut community and antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG) content must be better understood in nat...
Article
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Rapid development of tracking technologies allow the collection of high‐quality data on multiple simultaneously moving individuals. This, in turn, initiated the development of several methods to infer interactions among moving animals. However, the performance of these methods has not been studied systematically, especially with regard to the facto...
Technical Report
Full-text available
"There are no scientifically justified obstacles to protecting biodiversity in all its beauty and diversity. There are only six years left to achieve the biodiversity targets by 2030. We must work together now to get there in time." In the 10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science 2024, 64 scientists have further developed their well-founded and div...
Article
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Wildlife must adapt to human presence to survive in the Anthropocene, so it is critical to understand species responses to humans in different contexts. We used camera trapping as a lens to view mammal responses to changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 163 species sampled in 102 projects around the world, changes in the amo...
Book
Full-text available
Mechanistic effect models have become increasingly popular for use in the frame of the environmental risk assessment of plant protection products and the active substances therein (summarized as pesticides). In 2018, the EFSA Panel on Plant Protection Products and their Residues (PPR) considered TKTD models of the GUTS family. fit for the modelling...
Article
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The Langbian Plateau, a biodiversity hotspot in the southern Annamites of Viet Nam, has undergone extensive hunting pressure. However, the limited information on the effects of overexploitation on the current status and community composition of wildlife hinders effective conservation efforts, including the implementation of targeted patrols to redu...
Article
Full-text available
Throughout the last decades, the emergence of zoonotic diseases and the frequency of disease outbreaks have increased substantially, fuelled by habitat encroachment and vectors overlapping with more hosts due to global change. The virulence of pathogens is one key trait for successful invasion. In order to understand how global change drivers such...
Article
Full-text available
Context Preserving functional connectivity is a conservation priority to secure the long-term viability of geographically dispersed subpopulations, such as the jaguar (Panthera onca) populations in Central America. However, managing connectivity in this region is limited due to the scarcity of local assessments of the connectivity between existing...
Article
Full-text available
In Africa, burgeoning human populations promote agricultural expansion and the associated demand for water. Water abstraction for agriculture from perennial rivers can be detrimental for wildlife, particularly when it reduces water availability in protected areas. Ruaha National Park (Ruaha NP) in southern Tanzania, one of the largest parks in Afri...
Preprint
Full-text available
Closely related host species share similar symbionts, yet how host genetics and the environment affect symbiont communities at different stages of host genetic divergence remains largely unknown. Similarly, it is unclear whether host-symbiont associations result from or contribute to host divergence. We examined the intestinal community of 619 wild...
Article
Full-text available
Aim The non‐stationarity in habitat selection of expanding populations poses a significant challenge for spatial forecasting. Focusing on the grey wolf (Canis lupus) natural recolonization of Germany, we compared the performance of different distribution modelling approaches for predicting habitat suitability in unoccupied areas. Furthermore, we an...
Article
Full-text available
Aim: The increasing availability of animal tracking datasets collected across many sites provides new opportunities to move beyond local assessments to enable detailed and consistent habitat mapping at biogeographical scales. However, integrating wildlife datasets across large areas and study sites is challenging, as species' varying responses to d...
Article
Full-text available
Context Landscape composition and configuration, as well as seasonal landscape dynamics shape the behaviour, movement and energy expenditure of animals, i.e. foraging, hiding or fleeing, and ultimately survival. Especially in highly modified agricultural systems, it is crucial to understand how animal behaviour is influenced by landscape context to...
Article
Full-text available
Previously unknown pathogens often emerge from primary ecosystems, but there is little knowledge on the mechanisms of emergence. Most studies analyzing the influence of land-use change on pathogen emergence focus on a single host-pathogen system and often observe contradictory effects. Here, we studied virus diversity and prevalence patterns in nat...
Article
Full-text available
Urban ecology is a rapidly growing research field that has to keep pace with the pressing need to tackle the sustainability crisis. As an inherently multidisciplinary field with close ties to practitioners and administrators, research synthesis and knowledge transfer between those different stakeholders is crucial. Knowledge maps can enhance knowle...
Article
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Quantifying and monitoring the risk of defaunation and extinction require assessing and monitoring biodiversity in impacted regions. Camera traps that photograph animals as they pass sensors have revolutionized wildlife assessment and monitoring globally. We conducted a global review of camera trap research on terrestrial mammals over the last two...
Article
Full-text available
1. Robust monitoring, providing information on population status, is fundamental for successful conservation planning. However, this can be hard to achieve for species that are elusive and occur at low densities, such as felids. These are often keystones of functioning ecosystems and are threatened by habitat loss and human persecution. 2. When elu...
Article
Full-text available
Context Adjustments in habitat use by large carnivores can be a key factor facilitating their coexistence with people in shared landscapes. Landscape composition might be a key factor determining how large carnivores can adapt to occurring alongside humans, yet broad-scale analyses investigating adjustments of habitat use across large gradients of...
Preprint
Full-text available
In Africa, burgeoning human populations promote agricultural expansion and the associated demand for water. Water abstraction for agriculture from perennial rivers can be detrimental for wildlife, particularly when it reduces water availability in protected areas. Ruaha National Park in southern Tanzania, one of the largest parks in Africa, contain...
Preprint
Full-text available
Wildlife parasite communities are important for an OneHealth approach. The external environment impacts host-associated communities directly and via the hosts. Hosts in poor body condition are more susceptible to infection and parasite mode of transmission will affect occurrence: rural environments with better availability of intermediate hosts fav...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract The use of invertebrate‐derived DNA (iDNA) is a promising non‐invasive tool to monitor wildlife. While most studies have been carried out in dense tropical and sub‐tropical forests and have focused on the use of a single category of invertebrates, this study compares the use of flies and mosquitoes‐derived DNA to assess vertebrate diversit...
Article
Full-text available
The northern bald ibis Geronticus eremita disappeared from Europe in the Middle Ages. Since 2003 a migratory population has been reintroduced in Central Europe. We conducted demographic analyses of the survival and reproduction of 384 northern bald ibises over a period of 12 years (2008–2019). These data also formed the basis for a population viabi...
Article
Full-text available
Background Animal personality has emerged as a key concept in behavioral ecology. While many studies have demonstrated the influence of personality traits on behavioral patterns, its quantification, especially in wild animal populations, remains a challenge. Only a few studies have established a link between personality and recurring movements with...
Article
Full-text available
Many countries are investing heavily in wind power generation,1 triggering a high demand for suitable land. As a result, wind energy facilities are increasingly being installed in forests,2,3 despite the fact that forests are crucial for the protection of terrestrial biodiversity.4 This green-green dilemma is particularly evident for bats, as most...
Article
Full-text available
In semi-arid environments characterized by erratic rainfall and scattered primary production, migratory movements are a key survival strategy of large herbivores to track resources over vast areas. Veterinary Cordon Fences (VCFs), intended to reduce wildlife-livestock disease transmission, fragment large parts of southern Africa and have limited th...
Article
Full-text available
Eastern European broadleaved forests north of the 50th degree of latitude serve as a core breeding area for most migratory bat species wintering in Eastern and Central Europe. The southern border of this region has faced an increase in clear-cutting intensity in recent decades. We conducted a standardized mist-netting survey on eleven heterogeneous...
Article
Full-text available
Globally, migratory ungulates are affected by fences. While field observational studies reveal the amount of animal–fence interactions across taxa, GPS tracking-based studies uncover fence effects on movement patterns and habitat selection. However, studies on the direct effects of fences and fence gaps on movement behavior, especially based on hig...
Article
Full-text available
Antimicrobial resistances (AMR) in bacteria, such as ESBL/AmpC-producing E. coli, are a burden to human and animal health. This burden is mainly driven by the consumption and release of antimicrobial substances into the environment. The pollution and contamination of habitats by AMR in bacteria and antimicrobial substances can lead to the transmiss...
Article
Full-text available
To offset the declining timber supply by shifting towards more sustainable forestry practices, industrial tree plantations are expanding in tropical production forests. The conversion of natural forests to tree plantation is generally associated with loss of biodiversity and shifts towards more generalist and disturbance tolerant communities, but e...
Article
Full-text available
Understanding how species respond to climate change is key to informing vulnerability assessments and designing effective conservation strategies, yet research efforts on wildlife responses to climate change fail to deliver a representative overview due to inherent biases. Bats are a species‐rich, globally distributed group of organisms that are th...
Article
Full-text available
Background Animal personality has emerged as a key concept in behavioral ecology. While many studies have demonstrated the influence of personality traits on behavioral patterns, its quantification, especially in wild animal populations, remains a challenge. Only a few studies have established a link between personality and recurring movements with...
Preprint
Full-text available
In the last years, the emergence of zoonotic diseases and the frequency of disease outbreaks have increased substantially, fuelled by habitat encroachment and asynchrony of biological cycles due to global change. The virulence of these diseases is a key aspect for their success. In order to understand the complex processes of pathogen virulence evo...
Article
Full-text available
The prevailing trend of increasing urbanization and habitat fragmentation makes knowledge of species’ habitat requirements and distribution a crucial factor in conservation and urban planning. Species distribution models (SDMs) offer powerful toolboxes for discriminating the underlying environmental factors driving habitat suitability. Nevertheless...
Article
Full-text available
In semi-arid environments characterized by erratic rainfall and scattered primary production, migratory movements are a key survival strategy of large herbivores to track resources over vast areas. Veterinary Cordon Fences (VCFs), intended to reduce wildlife-livestock disease transmission, fragment large parts of southern Africa and have limited th...
Preprint
Full-text available
ContextBehavioral adjustments by large carnivores can be a key factor facilitating their coexistence with people in shared landscapes. Landscape composition might be a key factor determining how large carnivores can adapt to occurring alongside humans, yet broad-scale analyses investigating adjustments of habitat use across large gradients of human...
Preprint
Full-text available
Context: Landscape composition and configuration, as well as seasonal landscape dynamics shape the behaviour, movement and energy expenditure in animals, i.e. foraging, hiding or fleeing, and ultimately survival. Especially in highly modified agricultural systems it is crucial to gain an understanding of how animal behaviour is influenced by landsc...
Preprint
Full-text available
Tracking progress towards global biodiversity conservation targets requires appropriate allocation of research and monitoring efforts. We conducted a global review of camera trap research on mammals as a proxy for biodiversity research and monitoring over the last two decades. We assessed how 3395 research locations from 2324 studies tracked priori...
Technical Report
Full-text available
"10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science”, ranging from climate stress for forests to the corona virus that has jumped from animals to humans, are now published for the first time. More than 45 experts from the German Leibniz Research Network Biodiversity and colleagues have compiled this inventory on the preservation of nature as the basis of huma...
Article
Full-text available
Understanding species‐environment relationships at large spatial scales is required for the prioritization of conservation areas and the preservation of landscape connectivity for large carnivores. This endeavour is challenging for jaguars (Panthera onca), given their elusiveness, and the local nature of most jaguar studies, precluding extrapolatio...
Technical Report
Full-text available
Uns Autorinnen und Autoren geht es darum Wissen zu vermitteln. Wissen um Wandel, um politisches und gesellschaftliches Handeln für einen gesunden Planeten, den Erhalt und die nachhaltige Nutzung der Biodiversität zu unterstützen. Wissenschaft und Forschung zur Begleitung eines komplexen und systemaren Prozess wird angeboten. For us as contributors...
Article
Full-text available
s Wind energy production is particularly rewarding along coastlines, yet coastlines are often important as migratory corridors for wildlife. This creates a conflict between energy production from renewable sources and conservation goals, which needs to be considered during environmental planning. To shed light on the spatial interactions of a high...
Article
Full-text available
Understanding the trophic structure of carnivore communities leads to improved species management and conservation, particularly in highly threatened, yet scarcely studied habitats such as tropical montane forests. Using camera-trap data, we conducted an occupancy modeling study to reveal the patterns of ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) occupancy in the...
Article
Habitat selection is a multi-scale process driven by trade-offs between benefits, such as resource abundance, and disadvantages, such as the avoidance of risk. The latter includes human disturbances, to which large carnivores, with their large spatial requirements, are especially sensitive. We investigated the ecological processes underlying multi-...
Article
Full-text available
Studying species interactions and niche segregation under human pressure provides important insights into species adaptation, community functioning and ecosystem stability. Due to their high plasticity in behaviour and diet, urban mesocarnivores are ideal species for studying community assembly in novel communities. We analysed the spatial and temp...
Preprint
Full-text available
Persistence of viable populations may be uncertain for large carnivore species, especially for those established in human-dominated landscapes. Here, we studied the Eurasian lynx in Western Europe established in the Upper Rhine metapopulation (i.e., Jura, Vosges-Palatinian and Black Forest populations) and in the Alpine population. These population...
Article
Full-text available
Following the reintroduction and natural expansion of various Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx populations, new challenges are being faced. The current lack of genetic exchange between small populations due to restricted dispersal caused by human activities (i.e. habitat fragmentation, persecution, vehicle collisions) puts them at risk of stochastic demogra...
Article
Full-text available
Social networks are considered to be ‘highly modular’ when individuals within one module are more connected to each other than they are to individuals in other modules. It is currently unclear how highly modular social networks influence the persistence of contagious pathogens that generate lifelong immunity in their hosts when between‐group intera...