Tiziana A. Gelmi Candusso

Tiziana A. Gelmi Candusso

Research fellow at the University of Toronto

Publications

Dynamic connectivity assessment for a terrestrial predator in a metropolitan region.

Published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2024

We assessed landscape connectivity for coyotes dynamically across temporal scales and demographic traits. We found that: (1) high-vegetation density areas were key for connectivity in urban areas, (2) riverbanks, railways, and areas below power lines were predicted as movement corridors, and (3) commercial and industrial clusters strongly disrupted connectivity. Spatio-temporal differences in connectivity were detected following time of day and coyote social status but not following climate and biological seasonality nor coyote age/sex.

Recommended citation: Gelmi-Candusso TA, Chin ATM, Thompson CA, McLaren AAD, Wheeldon TJ, Patterson BR, Fortin MJ. (2024) Dynamic connectivity assessment for a terrestrial predator in a metropolitan region. Frontiers in Ecology and the environment. . doi:10.1002/fee.2633. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.2633

Unveiling Urban Complexity: Research note on integrating OpenStreetMap to enhance representation of fine-scale landscape heterogeneity

Published in biorxiv, 2023

We extracted and integrated geographic features from OpenStreetMaps into a global landcover map to increase the representation of fine-scale landscape heterogeneity within urban areas need for fine-scale ecological modeling.

Recommended citation: Gelmi-Candusso, Tiziana A. ;Rodriguez, Peter; Fortin, Marie-Josée (2023) Unveiling Urban Complexity: Research note on integrating OpenStreetMap to enhance representation of fine-scale landscape heterogeneity bioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.31.564785v1

The effect of urbanization and behavioral factors on coyote net displacement and its implications for seed dispersal

Published in Urban Ecosystems, 2023

With an omnivorous diet and luscious fur, coyotes may be important endzoochorous and epizoochorous seed dispersal vectors in urban areas. However, fragmentation, anthropogenic food sources, and human activity can limit their natural movement patterns. Previous research has found urbanization limits movement range across mammals; however, it remains unclear the degree to which this may cascade into seed dispersal as seed retention time plays an important role in seed dispersal distance. Additionally, social and temporal changes in behavior influence coyote movement patterns. Using GPS data we analyzed the effect of urbanization on coyote net displacement for a series of seed retention timeframes. Urbanization reduced net displacement increasingly with seed retention timeframe and disproportionately affected long-distance seed dispersal. Seasonality influenced the effect of urbanization to a smaller extent than social status. Social status had a strong interaction effect, as urbanization negatively impacted the net displacement of transient and dispersing coyotes but had a negligible influence on resident coyotes.

Recommended citation: Gelmi-Candusso TA, Wheeldon TJ, Patterson BR, Fortin MJ. (2023) The effect of urbanization and behavioral factors on coyote net displacement and its implications for seed dispersal. In review. Urban Ecosystems. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11252-023-01460-7

Building urban predator-prey networks using camera traps

Published in Food webs, 2023

We compared two types of datasets derived from camera traps, and test their effectiveness to build bipartite predator-prey networks. Our findings suggest the two datasets provided complementary information on the bipartite networks’ structure: the predation events dataset underestimated large mammal prey, and the potential encounter events underestimated small mammal prey. Together, the predator-prey links we found reflected previous literature on dietary analysis.

Recommended citation: Gelmi-Candusso TA, Brimacombe C., Collinge Ménard G., Fortin MJ. (2023) Building urban predator-prey networks using camera traps. Food Webs https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2023.e00305 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352249623000344

Seeds and the City: The Interdependence of Zoochory and Ecosystem Dynamics in Urban Environments

Published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2019

We assess the ecological and evolutionary consequences for seed dispersal, following urbanization, by considering how zoochory is affected by specific features of urban environments. These include the complexity of habitats with varying continuity; high disturbance and intense management; a high proportion of alien species combined with low natural biodiversity; animal behavioral adjustments in different urban settings; and rapid evolutionary change due to urbanization.

Recommended citation: Gelmi-Candusso, T.A., Hämäläinen, A. (2019) "Seeds and the city: the interdependence of zoochory and ecosystem dynamics in urban environments." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00041 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00041

Estimating seed dispersal distance: a comparison of methods using animal movement and plant genetic data

Published in Ecology and Evolution, 2019

We investigated two plant species with different life history traits exclusively dispersed by two arboreal mammals, Saguinus mystax and Leontocebus nigrifrons. We compared seed dispersal distance obtained from direct observations, genetic identification of mother plants from seed coats, parentage analysis of seedlings/saplings, and phenomenological and mechanistic modeling approaches.

Recommended citation: Gelmi-Candusso, T. A., Bialozyt, R., Slana. D., Zarate–Gomez R., Heymann, E. W., and Heer, K. (2019). Estimating seed dispersal distance: a comparison of methods using animal movement and plant genetic data on two primate–dispersed Neotropical plant species. Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5422 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.5422

Frugivore behavior and plant spatial genetics

Published in Thesis repository, 2019

The thesis explores the relationship between frugivore behavior and plant spatial genetics. The work assesses i) the literature on frugivore behavior and resulting spatial genetic structure, finding the patterns between animal movement and plant population genetics resulting on this review. ii) the methodology behind the estimation of seed dispersal distance comparing observational, molecular and modeling methods, resulting on this paper. iii) the relationship between primate foraging behavior, plant phenology and population genetics iv) the effect of frugivore territoriality on plant population genetics; v) the development of microsatellite markers for neotropical trees and validates the use of FTA cards as a method for sampling plant DNA material in the Neotropics.

Recommended citation: Gelmi-Candusso, T. A. (2019). Frugivore behavior and plant spatial genetic. Doctorate thesis. http://dx.doi.org/10.53846/goediss-7285 http://dx.doi.org/10.53846/goediss-7285

Effects of zoochory (animal seed dispersal) on the spatial genetic structure of plant populations.

Published in Molecular Ecology, 2017

Spatial genetic structure (SGS) of plants results from the nonrandom distribution of related individuals. SGS provides information on gene flow and spatial patterns of genetic diversity within populations. We compared the proportions of studies with SGS among groups and tested for differences in strength of SGS using Sp statistics. The presence of SGS differed among taxonomic groups, with reduced presence in plants dispersed by birds. Strength of SGS was instead significantly influenced by the behaviour of seed dispersal vectors, with higher SGS in plant species dispersed by animals with behavioural traits that result in short seed dispersal distances

Recommended citation: Gelmi-Candusso, T. A., Heymann, E. W., and Heer, K. (2017). Effects of zoochory on the spatial genetic structure of plant populations. Molecular Ecology. 26, 5896–5910. https://doi:10.1111/mec.14351. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.14351