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Incorporating habitat suitability, landscape distance, and resistant kernels to estimate conservation units for an imperiled terrestrial snake

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Abstract

Context

Wildlife distributions are often subdivided into discrete conservation units to aid in implementing management and conservation objectives. Habitat suitability models, resistance surfaces, and resistant kernels provide tools for delineating spatially explicit conservation units but guidelines for parameterizing resistant kernels are generally lacking.

Objectives

We used the federally threatened eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon couperi) as a case study for calibrating resistant kernels using observed movement data and resistance surfaces to help delineate habitat-based conservation units.

Methods

We simulated eastern indigo snake movements under different resistance surface and resistant kernel parameterizations and selected the scenario that produced simulated movement distances that best approximated the maximum observed annual movement distance. We used our calibrated resistant kernel to model range-wide connectivity and compared delineated conservation units to Euclidean distance-based population units from the recent eastern indigo snake species status assessment (SSA).

Results

We identified a total of 255 eastern indigo snake conservation units, with numerous large (2500–5000 ha of suitable habitat) conservation units across the eastern indigo snake distribution. There was substantial variation in the degree of overlap with the SSA population units likely reflecting the spatial heterogeneity in habitat suitability and landscape resistance.

Conclusion

Our calibration approach is widely applicable to other systems for parameterizing biologically meaningful resistant kernels. Our conservation units can be used to prioritize future eastern indigo snake conservation efforts, identify areas where more survey work is needed, or identify small, isolated populations with high extinction risks.

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Data availability

The GIS data used in these analyses are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code availability

R script used in these analyses are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the many individuals who assisted with various aspects of this project, including Matt Elliott, Kevin Enge, Heidi Hall, Roy King, Benjamin Stegenga, Dirk Stevenson, Charli Thompson, and Marshall Williams. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (grant—F19AC00824), Moody Air Force Base, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Fort Stewart, and the Illinois Natural History Survey provided logistical assistance. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The comments of E. Gustafson and two anonymous reviewers greatly improved this manuscript.

Funding

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (grant—F19AC00824) and Moody Air Force Base provided funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Javan M. Bauder

  2. The Orianne Society, Tiger, GA, USA

    Houston C. Chandler & Christopher L. Jenkins

  3. Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Houston C. Chandler

  4. Georgia Ecological Services, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Athens, GA, USA

    Michele L. Elmore

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  1. Javan M. Bauder
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Contributions

J.M.B. and H.C.C. conceived the original ideas; H.C.C., M.L.E., and C.L.J. secured funding; J.M.B., H.C.C., and M.L.E. compiled the data; J.M.B. and H.C.C. conducted the analysis and led the writing of the manuscript; all authors contributed substantially to revisions and gave final approval for submission and publication.

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Correspondence to Javan M. Bauder.

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Bauder, J.M., Chandler, H.C., Elmore, M.L. et al. Incorporating habitat suitability, landscape distance, and resistant kernels to estimate conservation units for an imperiled terrestrial snake. Landsc Ecol 37, 2519–2533 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01510-z

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