Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative(802) 656-0683femc@uvm.eduwww.uvm.edu/femc705 Spear StreetSouth BurlingtonVermont05403United States of AmericaNortheastern States Research Cooperative United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and AgriculturefunderUniversity of Vermont Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural ResourcesleadVermont Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department partnerEstimating distribution and connectivity of recolonizing American marten in the northeastern United States using expert elicitation techniquesThe American marten Martes americana is a species of conservation concern in the northeastern United States due to widespread declines from over-harvesting and habitat loss. Little information exists on current marten distribution and how landscape characteristics shape patterns of occupancy across the region, which could help develop effective recovery strategies. The rarity of marten and lack of historical distribution records are also problematic for region-wide conservation planning. Expert opinion can provide a source of information for estimating species–landscape relationships and is especially useful when empirical data are sparse. We created a survey to elicit expert opinion and build a model that describes marten occupancy in the northeastern United States as a function of landscape conditions.Estimating distribution and connectivity of recolonizing American marten in the northeastern United States using expert elicitation techniquesDonovanTerriKilpatrickWilliamMurdochJamesAylwardCodyBernierChrisKatzJonwildlifedistributionoccupancy modelingexpert opinionconnectivityamerican martenCorridor map2015-01-012018-01-01This is a raster map of corridors of expected movement between known populations of American marten (Martes americana) in Vermont, New Hamphire/Maine, and upstate New York (Adirondack Mountains). Corridors were estimated using a cost-distance approach. For details on the development of the map, please see: Aylward, C. M., J. D. Murdoch, T. M. Donovan, C. W. Kilpatrick, C. Bernier, and J. Katz. 2018. Estimating distribution and connectivity of recolonizing American marten in the northeastern United States using expert elicitation techniques. Animal Conservation (doi:10.1111/acv.12417). See figure 5.Estimating movement corridors between isolated core populations of the American marten using circuit theory. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of expert-opinion data at modeling occupancy for rare species and provide tools for planning marten recovery in the northeastern United States. 20180531121705_marten_corridors_vt_nh_ny.imgVMC.1266.2516mySQLJames Murdoch (2018) Marten corridors in the northeastern United States. FEMC. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/femc/data/archive/project/marten/dataset/corridorhttps://www.uvm.edu/femc/CI4/data/archive/project/marten/dataset/corridor