Using occupancy models to determine mammalian responses to landscape changes

Determining impacts of anthropogenic landscape changes on wildlife populations is difficult.Besides the challengesDetermining impacts of anthropogenic landscape changes on wildlife populations is difficult.Besides the challenges of designing field studies to document conditions before and after landscape changes occur,assessment of popula-of designing field studies to document conditions before and after landscape changes occur,assessment of popula-tion responses(e.g.changes in population density)often provide poor inference because of sampling limitations.tion responses(e.g.changes in population density)often provide poor inference because of sampling limitations.Estimation of occupancy,however,only requires data on detection or non-detection of a species and might provideEstimation of occupancy,however,only requires data on detection or non-detection of a species and might provide better inference.To demonstrate the utility of occupancy models,we used data from an American black bear(Ursusbetter inference.To demonstrate the utility of occupancy models,we used data from an American black bear(Ursus americanus Pallas)population in North Carolina,USA to test our research hypothesis that documented declines inamericanus Pallas)population in North Carolina,USA to test our research hypothesis that documented declines in site occupancy of black bears would be greater near a new four-lane highway.We used multi-season occupancysite occupancy of black bears would be greater near a new four-lane highway.We used multi-season occupancy models to estimate site occupancy based on bear visitation to survey sites before and after completion of the newmodels to estimate site occupancy based on bear visitation to survey sites before and after completion of the new highway and as a function of distance to the highway.Site occupancy declined from 0.81 to 0.35 between the twohighway and as a function of distance to the highway.Site occupancy declined from 0.81 to 0.35 between the two study phases,but was not a function of distance to the highway.Therefore,the impact of the new highway onstudy phases,but was not a function of distance to the highway.Therefore,the impact of the new highway on occupancy extended to the entire study area.Our case study demonstrates that occupancy models can provideoccupancy extended to the entire study area.Our case study demonstrates that occupancy models can provide powerful inference regarding the potential impacts of landscape changes on species occupancy.As urban areas andpowerful inference regarding the potential impacts of landscape changes on species occupancy.As urban areas and transportation infrastructure are rapidly expanding in developing regions of the world,the need to determine howtransportation infrastructure are rapidly expanding in developing regions of the world,the need to determine how these changes affect mammal populations and how they might be mitigated increases accordingly.Because fieldthese changes affect mammal populations and how they might be mitigated increases accordingly.Because field sampling for occupancy models only requires detection data,surveys can be conducted for extensive geographicsampling for occupancy models only requires detection data,surveys can be conducted for extensive geographic areas,thus making these surveys particularly applicable to studies of large mammals.areas,thus making these surveys particularly applicable to studies of large mammals.

Proximity to corridors benefits bird communities in vegetated interrow vineyards in Mendoza, Argentina

Management under ecological schemes and increasing habitat heterogeneity,are essential for enhancing biodiversity in vineyards.Birds provide several contributions to agriculture,for example pest control,recreation and enhancing human mental health,and have intrinsic value.Birds are also ideal model organisms because they are easy to survey,and species respond differently to agricultural land use at different scales.Vegetated borders of crops are key for many species of birds,and distance to the border have been found to be an important factor in vineyard-dominated agroecosystems.We evaluate if there are differences in the bird assemblage,between the interior compared to borders within vineyards,using a hierarchical community occupancy model.We hypoth-esized that occupancy of birds is greater in environments with greater heterogeneity,which in this study was considered to be contributed by the proximity to vegetated corridors.We expected that vineyard borders close to corridors will have higher bird occupancy than the center of the vineyard.The research was conducted in three vineyards with biodiversity-friendly management practices,in Gualtallary,Mendoza,Argentina.Bird surveys were conducted over three breeding seasons from 2018 to 2020.Occupancy and richness of the bird community was more closely associated with the borders adjacent to the corridors than with the interior of the vineyards,as we initially predicted,although the assemblage of birds did not differ much.More than 75%of the registered species consume exclusively or partially invertebrates.Biodiversity-friendly management and ecological schemes,together with vegetated corridors provide multiple benefits for biodiversity conservation.These ap-proaches not only minimize the use of agrochemicals but also prioritize soil cover with spontaneous vegetation,which supports a diverse community of insectivorous bird species,potentially contributing to pest control.

Development of Job Burden-capital Model of Occupational Stress： An Exploratory Study

This study proposes a new framework as job burden-capital model for comprehensive assessment on occupational stress. 1618 valid samples were recruited from electronic manufacturing service industry in Hunan province by self-rated questionnaires after written consent. Structural equation model analysis was employed to verify the model by the data collected. The final fitting model has satisfactory fitting goodness （CMIN/DF=5.78, AGFI=0.937, NNFI=0.960, IF1=0.968, RMSEA=0.054）. Both of the measurement model and structural model have acceptable path Ioadings. Job burden and capital could either directly affect occupational outcomes or indirectly influence them through equation personality.

Modelling method of inter-building movement for campus-scale occupancy simulation:A case study

As an important factor in the investigation of building energy consumption,occupant behavior(OB)has been widely studied on the building level.However so far,studies of OB modelling on the district scale remain limited.Indeed,district-scale OB modelling has been facing the challenges from the scarcity of district-scale data,modelling methods,as well as simulation application.This study initiates the extrapolation of occupancy modelling methodology from building level to district scale through proposing modelling methods of inter-building movements.The proposed modelling methods utilize multiple distribution fittings and Bayesian network to upscale the event description methods from inter-zone movement events at the building level to inter-building movement events at the district level.This study provides a framework on the application of the proposed modelling methods for a university campus in the suburbs of Shanghai,taking advantages of data sensing,monitoring and survey techniques.With the collected campus-scale occupancy data,this paper defines five patterns of inter-building movement.One pattern represents the dominated inter-building movement events for one kind of students in their daily campus life.Based on the quantitative descriptions for various inter-building movement events,this study performs the stochastic simulation for the campus district,using Markov chain models.The simulation results are then validated with the campus-scale occupancy measurement data.Furthermore,the impact of inter-building movement modelling methods on building energy demand is evaluated for the library building,taking the deterministic occupancy schedules suggested by current building design standard as a baseline.

Simulation of Restraint System Performance upon the Occupant's Response During Impact

Aim To study the influence of restraint system performance upon the occupant's response during impact, and provide a scientific base for occupant restraint system design. Methods \ In the light of basic theory of multibody system dynamics and impact dynamics on the basis of classical theory of impact, R W method is adopted to construct the vehicle occupant system model consisting of fourteen rigid bodies, thirty seven DOFs and slip joints for the simulation. A software named SVC3D(3 dimensional simulation of vehicle crash) is developed in the FORTRAN language. Results\ The results of simulation have a good coincidence with those of tests and the restraint system with low elongation webbing and equipped with pretensioner provides better restraint effect for the occupant. Conclusion\ The model of vehicle occupant multibody system and SVC3D are suitable for use. Occupant should be belted with low elongation webbing to a certain degree and occupant restraint system should be equipped with pretensioner.

Modelling method for air-conditioning usage behavior in multi-occupant office space based on group decision-making strategy

Occupant behavior largely influence the energy use within buildings.In the multi-occupant office,occupant behavior is affected by individual preference as well as the interaction among occupants,and yet no suitable model is available to precisely reflect the behavior characteristics.This paper proposed and introduced a method for innovative multi-occupant air-conditioning(AC)usage behavior modelling in a multi-occupant office,which used intuitionistic fuzzy preference relationship to describe individual behavior intention and a hierarchical structure to reflect the social relationship among multiple occupants through subjective evaluation method.The group decision-making process combined the individual behavior intention and the weights of occupants using the analytic hierarchy process.Then,the AC usage behavior of a multi-occupant office was simulated by integrating the multi-occupant model into designer’s simulation toolkit(DeST)building performance simulation software.The results of conducted analysis of a single office with multi-occupant showed that the proposed multi-occupant modelling method could quantitatively characterize the group relationships and AC usage behavior patterns.The absolute errors for the total AC operation time and frequency of the start-up periods of AC between the simulation and measurement results were only 2.7%and 2.0%,respectively.Thus,the proposed multi-occupant modelling method could realize a relatively accurate simulation of the multi-occupant behavior.

Review on occupancy detection and prediction in building simulation

Energy simulation results for buildings have significantly deviated from actual consumption because of the uncertainty and randomness of occupant behavior.Such differences are mainly caused by the inaccurate estimation of occupancy in buildings.Therefore,the error between reality and prediction could be largely reduced by improving the accuracy level of occupancy prediction.Although various studies on occupancy have been conducted,there are still many differences in the approaches to detection,prediction,and validation.Reports published within this domain are reviewed in this article to discover the advantages and limitations of previous studies,and gaps in the research are identified for future investigation.Six methods of monitoring and their combinations are analyzed to provide effective guidance in choosing and applying a method.The advantages of deterministic schedules,stochastic schedules,and machine-learning methods for occupancy prediction are summarized and discussed to improve prediction accuracy in future work.Moreover,three applications of occupancy models—improving building simulation software,facilitating building operation control,and managing building energy use—are examined.This review provides theoretical guidance for building design and makes contributions to building energy conservation and thermal comfort through the implementation of intelligent control strategies based on occupancy monitoring and prediction.

Initial Assessment on Large and Medium Sized Terrestrial Mammal Assemblage Using Camera Trapping in Nangunhe Nature Reserve in Yunnan, China

During surveys for wild felids in Nangunhe Nature Reserve, Yunnan province, China, we conducted a wider mammal survey of the core nature reserve area, using camera trapping techniques. Forty motion-triggered digital camera traps had been set in oldest forest tract of protected area to conduct a species inventory. The total camera trapping effort of 2460 camera trap nights yielded 232 digital photographs of mammals represented by 17 species in ifve orders. The species photographed include rare and elusive species and those that are of high conservation value, such as IUCN endangered species Asiatic elephant （Elephas maximus）, and Phayre’s leaf monkey （Trachypit hecus phayrei）. In addition, IUCN vulnerable species including Asiatic black bear （Ursus thibetanus）, sambar （Rusa unicolor）, northern pig-tailed macaque （Macaca leonine）, and marbled cat （Pardofelis marmorata）, and more common species were found. Al mammals were also listed as key protected wild animals by the State Forestry Administration of China. Of particular importance were the carnivores, with 7 different species recorded. Ungulates and other taxa forming a prey base for these predators,such as rhesus macaque （Macaca mulatta）, red muntjac （Muntiacus muntjac）, sambar, wild boar （Sus scrofa）, and Chinese serow （Capricornis milneedwardsi）, were found to be the most frequently photographed and most widespread species. Opportunities for local people to develop standardized monitoring designs for targeted species were identiifed by these initial assessment results. Local nature reserve staff lacked technical ability to produce standardized survey designs, yet a by product of this type of non-standardized data collection can be very informative and produce inventory information that gives a species richness analysis, as well as initial estimates for occupancy and detection probability for abundant species to drive future standardized survey designs and efforts.

Biodiversity Assessment of Mammal and Bird Species from Camera Trap Data in Yanchiwan National Nature Reserve,Gansu Province,China

Camera traps serve as an important tool for monitoring species diversity. We used data from camera traps set for capturing snow leopards（Panthera uncia） in the Yanchiwan National Nature Reserve,Gansu Province,China,to assess species richness with respect to mammal and birds species. We also assessed survey efficiency for species detection,and conducted an initial analysis of species interactions. The survey effort of 10,171 camera workdays yielded 2,868 suitable animal image events involving 17 mammal and 20 bird species. Among these,the dhole（Cuon alpinus） is considered to be Endangered,the snow leopard and white-lipped deer（Cervus albirostris） Vulnerable,and the Pallas＇ s cat（Feli smanul）,mountain weasel（Mustela altaica）,Himalayan griffon（Gyps himalayensis） and cinereous vulture（Aegypius monachus） Near Threatened under the IUCN red list. Fourteen species were also listed as key protected wild animals according to China national standards. Both the rarefaction curves and richness estimators suggested our sampling for mammal and pheasant species is sufficient,while more survey efforts are still needed to detect other bird species. With a focus on the dominant species Eurasian lynx（Lynx lynx）,occupancy models were used to estimate site use and detection probability for selected species,and to investigate predator-prey relationships between lynx on the one hand and woolly hare（Lepus oiostolus）,pika（Ochotona spp.）and Tibetan partridge（Perdix hodgsoniae） on the other. We give recommendations on how to increase efficiency in camera-based species inventory and biodiversity monitoring.

Amphibian richness along modified riparian areas of central Mexico:conservation priorities

Background:Land‑use change frequently affects faunistic populations and communities.To achieve successful conservation strategies,we need suitable information about species distribution and the causes of extinction risk.Many amphibian species depend on riparian vegetation to complete their life cycles.About 41%of amphibian species are globally threatened,and accurate estimations of population size,species richness and the identification of critical habitats are urgently needed worldwide.To evaluate the magnitude of changes in species richness and demography,estimations that include detection probability are necessary.In this study,we employed multi‑species occupancy models to estimate detection probability and the effect of land cover type(i.e.,cropland,artificial pasture,secondary and mature forest)in a 500‑m radius on the occupancy probability and richness of diurnal amphibians in 60 riparian zones in the state of Michoacán in central Mexico.Furthermore,we evaluated the potential of the endemic salamander Ambystoma ordinarium as a flagship species for the conservation of other native amphibian species.Results:We registered a total of 20 amphibian species in the diurnal assemblage,of which 10 species are considered at risk of extinction.We found that cropland was the most important land‑use type for explaining amphibian distribu‑tion in riparian zones,with negative effects on most amphibian species.We found no differences in species richness between zones with and without A.ordinarium.In riparian zones occupied by A.ordinarium,however,we found a higher number of species at risk of extinction.Conclusions:Our findings showed negative effects of croplands on the distribution of most amphibian species.The riparian zones are important for the maintenance of native diurnal amphibian communities and A.ordinarium can act as a flagship species for the conservation of threatened amphibian species.

How Snow Leopards Share the Same Landscape with Tibetan Agro-pastoral Communities in the Chinese Himalayas

The snow leopard(Panthera uncia)inhabits a human-altered alpine landscape and is often tolerated by residents in regions where the dominant religion is Tibetan Buddhism,including in Qomolangma NNR on the northern side of the Chinese Himalayas.Despite these positive attitudes,many decades of rapid economic development and population growth can cause increasing disturbance to the snow leopards,altering their habitat use patterns and ultimately impacting their conservation.We adopted a dynamic landscape ecology perspective and used multiscale technique and occupancy model to better understand snow leopard habitat use and coexistence with humans in an 825 km^(2) communal landscape.We ranked eight hypothetical models containing potential natural and anthropogenic drivers of habitat use and compared them between summer and winter seasons within a year.HABITAT was the optimal model in winter,whereas ANTHROPOGENIC INFLUENCE was the top ranking in summer(AICc_(w)≤2).Overall,model performance was better in the winter than in the summer,suggesting that perhaps some latent summer covariates were not measured.Among the individual variables,terrain ruggedness strongly affected snow leopard habitat use in the winter,but not in the summer.Univariate modeling suggested snow leopards prefer to use rugged land in winter with a broad scale(4000 m focal radius)but with a lesser scale in summer(30 m);Snow leopards preferred habitat with a slope of 22°at a scale of 1000 m throughout both seasons,which is possibly correlated with prey occurrence.Furthermore,all covariates mentioned above showed inextricable ties with human activities(presence of settlements and grazing intensity).Our findings show that multiple sources of anthropogenic activity have complex connections with snow leopard habitat use,even under low human density when anthropogenic activities are sparsely distributed across a vast landscape.This study is also valuable for habitat use research in the future,especially regarding covariate selection for finite sample sizes in inaccessible terrain.

Collision mitigation and vehicle transportation safety using integrated vehicle dynamics control systems

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of vehicle dynamics control systems （VDCS） on both the collision of the vehicle body and the kinematic behaviour of the ve- hicle＇s occupant in case of offset frontal vehicle-to-vehicle collision. A unique 6-degree-of- freedom （6-DOF） vehicle dynamics/crash mathematical model and a simplified lumped mass occupant model are developed. The first model is used to define the vehicle body crash parameters and it integrates a vehicle dynamics model with a vehicle front-end structure model. The second model aims to predict the effect of VDCS on the kinematics of the occupant. It is shown from the numerical simulations that the vehicle dynamics/crash response and occupant behaviour can be captured and analysed quickly and accurately. Yurthermore, it is shown that the VDCS can affect the crash characteristics positively and the occupant behaviour is improved.