New wildlife model captures species interactions in New York State

by Krisy Gashler, Cornell University
Dec. 18, 2024

Cornell ecologists and colleagues have developed a new model that captures the abundance of wildlife species in a region and offers new insights into animals’ interactions with each other – information that will aid wildlife management and conservation.

The model was tested on coyotes, fishers and American martens in northern New York but can be used on any wildlife system, including mammals, birds, fish and even insects.

“Abundance-Mediated Species Interactions” published Dec. 5 in the journal Ecology. First author is Joshua Twining, a former postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) and now an assistant professor in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences at Oregon State University.

It was co-authored by Angela Fuller, leader of the New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and professor in DNRE in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“Most current models for species interactions are based on co-occurrence – whether two species occur at a site or not,” Twining said. “And that’s important to know, but it’s a very coarse measurement that misses a huge amount of information that’s critical for understanding when and how species are actually interacting.”

Keep reading: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2024/12/new-wildlife-model-captures-species-interactions-nys

Read the Ecology paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecy.4468