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Journal of Biogeography
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Occupancy patterns of large mammals in the Far North of Ontario under imperfect detection
and spatial autocorrelation
Lucy G. Poley, Bruce A. Pond, James A. Schaefer, Glen S. Brown, Justina C. Ray and Devin S. Johnson
Appendix S1 Habitat covariates in the Boreal Shield ecozone, Hudson Bay Lowlands ecozone, and whole
study area (Hudson Bay Lowlands + Boreal Shield) in the Far North of Ontario, Canada. The first three
covariates show the percentage of total land cover in the ecozone composed of each land cover type.
The last two covariates show the averages calculated from values for each sampling unit.
Covariate
Bog (%)
Disturbed (%)
Water (%)
Nearest settlement (average, km)
Elevation (average SD, m)
Boreal Shield
21.68
15.94
13.41
43.69
6.51
Hudson Bay Lowlands
60.06
2.14
6.87
98.80
4.38
Whole study area
51.77
7.57
9.53
73.44
5.17
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Appendix S2 Detection, occupancy, and spatial variance parameter estimates and credible intervals.
Table S1 Means and 95% credible intervals (CIs) of detection parameters estimated in occupancy
analyses for (a) woodland caribou and (b) moose in the Boreal Shield (BSH) and Hudson Bay Lowlands
(HBL) ecozone models, Ontario, Canada. The parameters for (c) wolf were estimated across the whole
study area (WSA; both ecozones combined). All parameters except for Julian day and % open represent
the mean value in each study unit during each survey visit; % open represents the percentage of a 1000
m buffer zone surrounding the flight path in each study unit comprised of open land cover. Covariates
with CIs not encompassing zero were considered to be important, while covariates with CIs
encompassing zero were considered to have no relationship with species detection.
(a) Caribou
Parameter*
(Intercept)
Julian day
Altitude
Speed
Time of day
Time of day2
% open
BSH mean
7.68
-2.32 x 10-3
0.00038
0.0012
4.61
-4.30
0.94
BSH CI
(-12.77, 28.83)
(-5.90 x 10-3, 1.61 x 10-3)
(-0.0014, 0.0022)
(-0.0039, 0.0061)
(-32.12, 43.00)
(-30.71, 20.76)
(0.42, 1.47)
HBL mean
53.22
-1.66 x 10-3
-1.06 x 10-3
9.50 x 10-4
37.02
-26.13
0.81
HBL CI
(35.83, 69.55)
(-2.05 x 10-3, -1.24 x 10-3)
(-2.72 x 10-3, 4.93 x 10-3)
(-3.28 x 10-3, 5.30 x 10-3)
(20.60, 54.06)
(-38.31, -14.59)
(0.20, 1.41)
BSH mean
5.60
1.49 x 10-4
-1.9 x 10-3
-7.46 x 10-3
-24.15
14.77
-0.18
BSH CI
(-11.81, 23.20)
(-1.47 x 10-4, 4.78 x 10-4)
(-3.60 x 10-3, -3.66 x 10-4)
(-1.16 x 10-2, -3.52 x 10-3)
(-55.44, 4.75)
(-5.58, 35.50)
(-0.53, 0.17)
HBL mean
-5.17
7.50 x 10-5
-1.93 x 10-3
-2.65E x 10-3
5.61
-4.25
-1.05
HBL CI
(-24.31, 13.23)
(-4.01 x 10-4, 5.25 x 10-4)
(-3.64 x 10-3, -2.67 x 10-4)
(-7.27 x 10-3, 1.90 x 10-3)
(-10.68, 22.09)
(-15.76, 7.47)
(-1.52, -0.58)
WSA mean
7.46
-8.60 x 10-4
-0.0027
-0.0063
-12.15
7.72
-0.45
WSA CI
(-3.45, 19.15)
(-3.33 x 10-3, 1.70 x 10-3)
(-0.0041, -0.0012)
(-0.0097, -0.0029)
(-27.02, 2.23)
(-2.57, 17.84)
(-0.79, -0.14)
(b) Moose
Parameter
(Intercept)
Julian day
Altitude
Speed
Time of day
Time of day2
% open
(c) Wolf
Parameter
(Intercept)
Julian day
Altitude
Speed
Time of day
Time of day2
% open
*Altitude = average above ground altitude of the aircraft; speed = mean speed of the aircraft; time of
day = mean time of day of survey visit, paired with a squared term; % open = percentage of a 1000 m
buffer around the flight path through each survey unit comprised of open land cover classes. All
parameters were specific to each survey visit (from one to five visits per survey unit).
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Table S2 Means and 95% credible intervals (CIs) of occupancy parameters estimated in an occupancy
analysis for (a) woodland caribou and (b) moose in the Boreal Shield (BSH) and Hudson Bay Lowlands
(HBL) ecozone models, Ontario, Canada. The parameters for (c) wolf were estimated across the whole
study area (WSA; both ecozones combined). Covariates with CIs not encompassing zero were considered
to be important, while covariates with CIs encompassing zero were considered to have no relationship
with species occupancy.
(a) Caribou
Parameter
(Intercept)
Ruggedness
Bog
Water
Disturbed
Settlement
BSH mean
0.39
-0.074
2.40 x 10-8
-4.55 x 10-8
-1.69 x 10-8
0.28
BSH CI
(-0.39, 1.15)
(-0.12, -0.032)
(1.18 x 10-8, 3.71 x 10-8)
(-6.05 x 10-8, -2.94 x 10-8)
(-2.49 x 10-8, -9.29 x 10-9)
(0.033, 0.53)
HBL mean
-0.89
-0.02
-3.34 x 10-8
-1.51 x 10-8
1.12 x 10-8
1.17
HBL CI
(-1.82, 0.02)
(-0.07, 0.02)
(-5.02 x 10-8, -1.73 x 10-8)
(-2.31 x 10-8, -6.96 x 10-9)
(-9.44 x 10-9, 3.20 x 10-8)
(0.76, 1.58)
BSH mean
2.08
-0.01
-3.93 x 10-8
-3.58 x 10-8
3.53 x 10-8
0.32
BSH CI
(0.96, 3.24)
(-0.09, 0.08)
(-5.24 x 10-8, -2.71 x 10-8)
(-5.41 x 10-8, -1.80 x 10-8)
(1.23 x 10-8, 6.10 x 10-8)
(-0.03, 0.67)
HBL mean
0.23
0.11
-1.09 x 10-8
-4.69 x 10-8
9.02 x 10-9
0.23
HBL CI
(-0.55, 1.00)
(0.05, 0.17)
(-1.84 x 10-8, -3.11 x 10-9)
(-6.51 x 10-8, -2.91 x 10-8)
(-1.69 x 10-8, 3.87 x 10-8)
(-0.11, 0.54)
WSA mean
-0.59
-0.20
-5.90 x 10-9
0.93
1.05
WSA CI
(-1.24, 0.069)
(-0.57 x 10-9, 0.16)
(-1.28 x 10-8, 9.56 x 10-10)
(0.52, 1.40)
(0.42, 1.71)
(b) Moose
Parameter
(Intercept)
Ruggedness
Bog
Water
Disturbed
Settlement
(c) Wolf
Parameter
(Intercept)
Settlement
Bog
Caribou
Moose
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Table S3 The 95% credible intervals of the spatial variance parameter (σ = 1/√τ) from the occupancy
models for woodland caribou, moose and wolves in two ecozones (Boreal Shield, BSH, and Hudson Bay
Lowlands, HBL), in the Far North of Ontario, Canada. The prior distribution was the same for all models.
Model
Prior
Caribou (BSH)
Caribou (HBL)
Moose (BSH)
Moose (HBL)
Wolf (Whole study area)
Lower CI
0.0028
2.51
2.29
1.22
1.55
1.44
Upper CI
0.079
3.78
3.21
2.45
2.44
2.49