Effects of urbanisation on the movements of an arboreal specialist using hidden Markov models

Caio Santos Neto; Ross G. Dwyer; Theo Michelot; Romane H. Cristescu

doi:10.1186/s40462-025-00569-y

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Effects of urbanisation on the movements of an arboreal specialist using hidden Markov models

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Effects of urbanisation on the movements of an arboreal specialist using hidden Markov models

Caio Santos Neto, Ross G. Dwyer, Theo Michelot and Romane H. Cristescu

Movement Ecology, Vol.13, pp.1-14

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-025-00569-y

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Abstract

animal movement

koala

hidden Markov model

animal telemetry

movement behaviours

urban wildlife

human activities

urbanisation

arboreal species

specialist species

Background Species with specialised ecological niches rely heavily on specific resources or conditions, making them less resilient to habitat fragmentation and land-use changes. For specialists with limited mobility, the challenges are even greater, as they may struggle to locate new habitats for their survival. While some highly mobile species adjust their movement behaviours in human-modified environments by either avoiding areas with faster, straighter paths or adapting to forage for human-related resources, little is known about how arboreal species with low mobility adapt to urban landscapes. Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) are highly susceptible to the impacts of urbanisation due to their unique adaptations and reliance on tree canopy cover, which is thought to be a major factor driving population decline in the increasingly urbanised Australian coast. Methods In this study, we applied biotelemetry to track the movements of 72 koalas in urban and nonurban environments. We then applied hidden Markov models (HMMs) to these data to investigate how environmental factors (such as human land use), as well as biological factors (e.g., sex) and temporal cycles (e.g., time of day), influenced koala movement behaviours. Results We detected little effect of land use type on the movement behaviours of koalas in urban and nonurban landscapes, suggesting that the type of land use does not play a substantial role in how koalas shift between different movement behaviours. However, urban-dwelling koalas exhibited faster and more directed movements at night (rather than at dusk) and showed less pronounced changes in their movement behaviours across seasons than those typically observed in natural environments. Conclusions Our findings highlight the adaptability and flexibility of koalas in modifying their movement behaviours to navigate human-modified environments. By focusing their movements during times when human activity is lower, koalas may be able to reduce the likelihood of agonistic interactions with humans. We suggest that creating low-disturbance areas in urban and peri-urban environments could allow wildlife to maintain more natural behaviours, potentially improving their overall well-being.

Details

Title: Effects of urbanisation on the movements of an arboreal specialist using hidden Markov models
Authors: Caio Santos Neto (Corresponding Author) - Queensland University of Technology
Ross G. Dwyer - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Theo Michelot - Dalhousie University
Romane H. Cristescu - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Publication details: Movement Ecology, Vol.13, pp.1-14
Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd.
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1186/s40462-025-00569-y
ISSN: 2051-3933
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Data Availability: The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland Government, and Redland City Council. However, these data are subject to restrictions and were used under license for the current study, so they are not publicly accessible. Data can be obtained from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission from the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland Government, and Redland City Council. The code for this analysis is publicly available at https://github.com/caiosantosnt/hmm-koalas.
Grant note: This work was supported through funding from the Redland City Council - Koala Monitoring Program.
Organisation Unit: School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991166465502621
Output Type: Journal article

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