Evaluating trade-offs between forage, biting flies, and footing on habitat selection by wood bison ( Bison bison athabascae )
Habitat selection is a behavioural process that ultimately affects animal fitness. Forage availability and predation risk are often studied in the context of habitat selection for large ungulates, while other biological and environmental factors such as insect harassment and footing are less studied...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 2023-12-17T10:28:13+01:00 Evaluating trade-offs between forage, biting flies, and footing on habitat selection by wood bison ( Bison bison athabascae ) Belanger, R.J. Edwards, M.A. Carbyn, L.N. Nielsen, S.E. 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 98, issue 4, page 254-261 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2020 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 2023-11-19T13:38:15Z Habitat selection is a behavioural process that ultimately affects animal fitness. Forage availability and predation risk are often studied in the context of habitat selection for large ungulates, while other biological and environmental factors such as insect harassment and footing are less studied. Here we examine trade-offs in summer habitat selection between forage availability for wood bison (Bison bison athabascae Rhoads, 1898) with that of biting-fly harassment and soil firmness, which affects activity budgets and predation risk, respectively, and contrast this to winter when flies are absent and soils frozen. Using path analysis, we demonstrate that graminoid availability was not related to habitat selection in summer, but was positively related to habitat selection in winter. Habitat selection in summer was negatively related to biting-fly abundance and positively related to firmer footing. Our results suggest that bison observe trade-offs in summer between maximizing forage intake and minimizing harassment from that of biting flies, while avoiding areas of soft substrates that affect locomotion and vulnerability to predators. In contrast, during the winter, bison focus on areas with greater graminoid availability. Although forage is a key aspect of habitat selection, our results illustrate the importance of considering direct and indirect effects of multiple biological and environmental factors related to ungulate habitat selection. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bison bison athabascae Wood Bison Bison bison bison Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Canadian Journal of Zoology 98 4 254 261 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Belanger, R.J. Edwards, M.A. Carbyn, L.N. Nielsen, S.E. Evaluating trade-offs between forage, biting flies, and footing on habitat selection by wood bison ( Bison bison athabascae ) |
topic_facet |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Habitat selection is a behavioural process that ultimately affects animal fitness. Forage availability and predation risk are often studied in the context of habitat selection for large ungulates, while other biological and environmental factors such as insect harassment and footing are less studied. Here we examine trade-offs in summer habitat selection between forage availability for wood bison (Bison bison athabascae Rhoads, 1898) with that of biting-fly harassment and soil firmness, which affects activity budgets and predation risk, respectively, and contrast this to winter when flies are absent and soils frozen. Using path analysis, we demonstrate that graminoid availability was not related to habitat selection in summer, but was positively related to habitat selection in winter. Habitat selection in summer was negatively related to biting-fly abundance and positively related to firmer footing. Our results suggest that bison observe trade-offs in summer between maximizing forage intake and minimizing harassment from that of biting flies, while avoiding areas of soft substrates that affect locomotion and vulnerability to predators. In contrast, during the winter, bison focus on areas with greater graminoid availability. Although forage is a key aspect of habitat selection, our results illustrate the importance of considering direct and indirect effects of multiple biological and environmental factors related to ungulate habitat selection. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Belanger, R.J. Edwards, M.A. Carbyn, L.N. Nielsen, S.E. |
author_facet |
Belanger, R.J. Edwards, M.A. Carbyn, L.N. Nielsen, S.E. |
author_sort |
Belanger, R.J. |
title |
Evaluating trade-offs between forage, biting flies, and footing on habitat selection by wood bison ( Bison bison athabascae ) |
title_short |
Evaluating trade-offs between forage, biting flies, and footing on habitat selection by wood bison ( Bison bison athabascae ) |
title_full |
Evaluating trade-offs between forage, biting flies, and footing on habitat selection by wood bison ( Bison bison athabascae ) |
title_fullStr |
Evaluating trade-offs between forage, biting flies, and footing on habitat selection by wood bison ( Bison bison athabascae ) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluating trade-offs between forage, biting flies, and footing on habitat selection by wood bison ( Bison bison athabascae ) |
title_sort |
evaluating trade-offs between forage, biting flies, and footing on habitat selection by wood bison ( bison bison athabascae ) |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 |
genre |
Bison bison athabascae Wood Bison Bison bison bison |
genre_facet |
Bison bison athabascae Wood Bison Bison bison bison |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 98, issue 4, page 254-261 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2019-0201 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
98 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
254 |
op_container_end_page |
261 |
_version_ |
1785580246370615296 |