the effect of map boundary on estimates of landscape resistance to animal movement地图的影响边界景观阻力估算动物运动.pdfVIP

The Effect of Map Boundary on Estimates of Landscape Resistance to Animal Movement 1 1 2 3 Erin L. Koen *, Colin J. Garroway , Paul J. Wilson , Jeff Bowman 1 Environmental and Life Sciences, Trent University, Peterborough, Canada, 2 Biology Department, Trent University, Peterborough, Canada, 3 Wildlife Research and Development Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, Canada Abstract Background: Artificial boundaries on a map occur when the map extent does not cover the entire area of study; edges on the map do not exist on the ground. These artificial boundaries might bias the results of animal dispersal models by creating artificial barriers to movement for model organisms where there are no barriers for real organisms. Here, we characterize the effects of artificial boundaries on calculations of landscape resistance to movement using circuit theory. We then propose and test a solution to artificially inflated resistance values whereby we place a buffer around the artificial boundary as a substitute for the true, but unknown, habitat. Methodology/Principal Findings: We randomly assigned landscape resistance values to map cells in the buffer in proportion to their occurrence in the known map area. We used circuit theory to estimate landscape resistance to organism movement and gene flow, and compared the output across several scenarios: a habitat-quality map with artificial boundaries and no buffer, a map with a buffer composed of randomized habitat quality data, and a map with a buffer composed of the true habitat quality data. We tested the sensitivity of the randomized buffer to the possibility that the composition of the real but unknown buffer is biased toward h