Transcending scale-dependence in identifying habitat for endangered species

Multi-scale resource selection modeling is used to identify factors that limit species distributions across scales of space and time. This multi-scaled nature of habitat suitability complicates the translation of inferences to single, spatial depictions of habitat required for endangered species conservation. We estimated resource selection functions (RSFs) across three scales for a threatened ungulate, woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) with two objectives: 1) to infer the relative roles of two forms anthropogenic disturbance (forestry and linear features) in limiting the distributions of woodland caribou, and 2) to estimate scale-integrated resource selection functions (SIRSFs) that synthesize results across scales for management-oriented habitat suitability mapping. We found a scale-specific switch in woodland caribou response to disturbance. Caribou avoided forestry cut-blocks at broad scales according to first- and second-order RSFs and avoided linear features at fine scales according to third-order RSFs, corroborating predictions developed according to predator-mediated effects of each disturbance type. Additionally, a single SIRSF validated as well as each of three single- scale RSFs when estimating habitat suitability across three different spatial scales. We demonstrate that a single SIRSF can be applied to predict relative habitat suitability at both local and landscape scales in support of species recovery planning.