"Changes in the co-occurrence of the ungulates of Cazorla after the collapse of the Spanish ibex"

Abstract

One of the main objectives of community ecology is identifying how co-occurring species use and share space and resources. Species of the same trophic level, such as large herbivores, are of fundamental interest in that context because competition for resources is likely. Segregation in space or on some axes of the ecological niche are processes allowing coexistence, yet, both are seldom studied jointly.
Based on annual summer censuses collected for 37 yr, we analysed the degree of overlap in spatial distribution among ibex Capra pyrenaica, deers Red deer and Fallow deer and mouflon Ovis gmelini musimon, 4 species of similar size that coexist on the same region. We further investigated whether they differed in terms of habitat selection processes, and identified which environmental factors led new spread distribution of species……...

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Bozeman (Montana) 2019 September
Paulino Fandos
pfandos@agenciamedioambienteyagua.es
Unidad de Planificación Cinegética y Piscícola
Agencia de Medio Ambiente y Agua de Andalucía
“Changes in the co-occurrence of the ungulates of
Cazorla after the collapse of the Spanish ibex”
Guillermo Fandos Guzman, José Enrique Granados Torres, Daniel Burón Fernandez, Tirso Espada
Vega, Jesús María Pérez Jiménez, Ramón C. Soriguer Escofet, Paulino Fandos Paris

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Geographic Distribution of Species
Identify the factors
Abioticos
Estructurales
Antropicos
Históricos
Bióticos
etc
Conservación y
Planificación

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Geographic Distribution of Species
Quantify the
factors
influence
Little studied
subject
=Global Change
Scenario
changing
influence

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A
BM
The green area A represents the
geographic region with the
appropriate set of abiotic factors for
the species.
Area B (blue) is the region
where the right combination
of interacting species occurs,
which may or may not overlap
extensively with A.
Competition
Human foot print.
Territorial interaction
Area M (red) is composed of those parts
of the world “accessible” to the species
in some ecological sense, without
barriers to movement and colonization.
BAM Diagram
Realized Niche (RN) of
the species

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Geographic Distribution of Species
Picture Fix
Changes in abiotic factors are
generally gradual.
There are also abrupt
changes
Temperature rise
precipitation decrease
Earthquakes, floods
emergence of diseases
Adaptability

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Objetivos
=
1. Produce directly interpretable coefficients that allow users to
determine the relative importances (i.e. effect sizes) of species'
interactions and environmental covariates in driving occurrence
probabilities.
2. Estimate how interactions are predicted to change across
environmental gradients.
3. How these interactions change after a Sarcoptes episode

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Area de Estudio
=
Macizo montañoso en una de las zonas mas meridionales y
desérticas de Europa
Sustrato calizo con relieve abrupto con roca aflorante
Masa forestal continua de las mas importantes
Diferencias altitudinales entre 600 y 2000 m asl
Cazorla

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Study area
The area is around 600 Km2, almost completely occupied by pine trees, but we
have seen different vegetal formations following the different altitudes ranges
between 600 y 2000 m asl.
Forming the most important continuous forest mass in the Western South of
Europe.
Limestone substrate, with very steep relief and many rocky outcrops
Its climatology is diverse due to the different altitudes and microclirnas of the
area

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Ungulates Species
Capra pyrenaica
Cervus elaphus
Dama dama
Ovis musimon

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Ungulates Species historical approach in Cazorla
Population ungulates evolution.
In order to understand the changes observed, it is necessary to know the History,
at least of the last 100 years where the greatest human interventions are
concentrated. Forest management, construction of access roads, forest
exploitation, creation of the national preserve, entry and exit of species.
1915 ROE DEER AND IBERIAN IBEX
1960 IBERIAN IBEX, RED DEER, FALLOW DEER, MOUFLON.
1987 CRASH of IBERIAN IBEX
2011 NEW STABLE SITUATION
08/04/1905 08/05/1905 08/06/1905 08/07/1905
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
IBEX
R DEER
F DEER
MOUFONS
ROE DEER
Ungulates
release
Crash
population
ibex by
sarcoptidosis
Current
population
stabilization
EVOLUTION OF UNGULATES IN CAZORLA
DURING THE LAST CENTURY
1915 1950 1980 2018

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Ungulates Species Competition in Cazorla
Altitudinal distribution Food consumer
+ Grass + Branch
12345678910
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Ibex
Red
Fallow
Mouflón

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Metodology
Monitoring of ungulate populations in Cazorla
for 40 years by systematic sampling locating
and dating contacts, also recording
characteristics of the specimen itself such as
sex or age in males, in addition to other
elements of interest such as size and group
composition, etc. and the habitat.
The 47 itineraries including with about 350 km
along signposted tracks and around 50 km
through less accessible routes
Sampled 1/5 of the entire area, represented in
500 m side grids
Mapa de la zona con recorridos diferenciados

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Spatial distribution of
observations 1982 2011
Specie 1982 2011
Ibex 727 201
Red
Deer
186 341
Fallow
Deer
172 385
Mouflon 186 400

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Abiotic Factors Analysed
CLIMATIC
Precipitation PRE
Temperature TEM
VEGETATION
Tree covert TCOV
Grassland covert GCOV
Evapotranspiration,EVP
TOPOGRAPHIC
Slope SLP
Elevation ELP
Aspect ASP
1982 2011

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Metodology
This method overcomes some of the limitations from other
methods by estimating interspecific interactions, while controlling
for indirect interactions, from co-occurrence datasets.
We used an R statistical package to fit MRF and CRF models
MRFcov;has the capability to account for possible spatial
autocorrelation when estimating interaction parameters. To do
this, we incorporate functions from the;“mgcv” package to
include smoothed Gaussian process spatial regression splines
in each node-wise regression.;….
1º Generaliced Aditive Models GAM(non significative differences)
2º Conditional Random Fields(Markov Random Fields)

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Interaction 1982

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Interaction
between
species 2011
All species interact with all

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Ungulates Co-occurrence
Mode Interactions
at varying Prec
Med Magnitudes

©19
2011
1982
Representation of the standardized coefficients that interact
with the deer in each of the two periods analyzed
Variables ordered from highest to
lowest explanatory importance.
The number indicates the amount and the sign the effect, positive or negative.
Ibex

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1982 2011
Representation of the standardized coefficients that interact
with the ibex in each of the two periods analyzed
Deer

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1982 2011
Representation of the standardized coefficients that interact
with the mouflon in each of the two periods analyzed
Deer
Ibex

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1982 2011
Representation of the standardized coefficients that interact
with the fallow in each of the two periods analyzed
Ele_Dee
Ibex
Deer
Tem_Ibe
TreeC
Ele_Ibe
Deer
Ibex

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Species
The thickness marks
the relative importance
of each variable
Red deer Iberian ibex Mouflon
Fallow deer
2011
Climate Topographic Vegetation
Interaction
environmente with
other species
Interaction
environmente with
other species
Climate Topo
Red deer Iberian ibex Fallow deer Mouflon
1982
Abiotic factors
Interactions

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Conclusions or take home message:
De este trabajo
•El gamo es la especie mas generalista y el que mas interacciona con las demas
especies
•La casi desaparición de la cabra en 1987 provocó un cambio en la distribución del
resto de ungulados y su interacción
Mas generals:
•Precaución a la hora de interpreter, ya que solo hablamos de coocurrencia y a lo
mejor no es una Buena escala para detectar la competencia.
•Resaltar la importancia de las interacciones bioticas a la hora de explicar la
distribucion de las especies, y como cambian segun los diferentes gradientes
ambientales
•Como esas interacciones con el ambiente y las otras especies pueden cambiar a lo
largo del tiempo por diversos factores como en este caso la sarna

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