GLMM Applied on the Spatial Distribution of Koalas in a Fragmented Landscape

Abstract

Predicting the spatial distribution of wildlife populations is an important component of the development of management strategies for their conservation. Landscape structure and composition are important determinants of where species occur and the viability of their populations. In particular, the amount of suitable habitat and its level of fragmentation (i.e. how broken apart it is) in a landscape can be important determinants of the distribution and abundance of biological populations(Hanski, 1998; Fahrig, 2003). In addition to the role of habitat, anthropogenic impacts, such as wildlife mortality on roads or direct wildlife-human conflict, can also have large impacts on the distribution and abundance of a species (Fahrig et al., 1995; Woodroffe and Ginsberg, 1998; Naves et al., 2003). Therefore, if we are to manage landscapes to successfully conserve wildlife, it is important that we understand the role of these landscape processes in determining their distributions.