Foraging and movement paths of female reindeer: insights from fractal analysis, correlated random walks, and Lévy flights
Food-plant and foraging-site selection by semidomesticated female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus L.) was studied to shed light on the searching and foraging behaviour of this herbivore. The aims of the study were (i) to determine the role of food biomass and (or) plant nitrogen content in feed...
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z02-061 2024-06-23T07:55:37+00:00 Foraging and movement paths of female reindeer: insights from fractal analysis, correlated random walks, and Lévy flights Mårell, Anders Ball, John P Hofgaard, Annika 2002 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z02-061 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z02-061 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 80, issue 5, page 854-865 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 journal-article 2002 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z02-061 2024-06-06T04:11:14Z Food-plant and foraging-site selection by semidomesticated female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus L.) was studied to shed light on the searching and foraging behaviour of this herbivore. The aims of the study were (i) to determine the role of food biomass and (or) plant nitrogen content in feeding-site selection and (ii) to analyse the extent to which movement patterns of reindeer are related to availability of food resources using several models of searching behaviour (fractal analysis, correlated random walks, and Lévy flights). The study was conducted in summer 1999 in a mountainous area of northern Sweden. Reindeer selected different plant communities during this period and changed search pattern in late summer. We found that reindeer selected feeding sites with higher green biomass of Betula spp. and Salix spp. However, there was no sharp threshold for foraging as suggested by some models. Contrary to qualitative predictions of optimal-foraging theory, we found no selection of feeding sites on the basis of the nitrogen content of food. The changed search pattern in late summer and the discrepancy between reindeer foraging paths and a correlated random walk model suggests that reindeer were responding to their environment by changing their searching behaviour. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Sweden Rangifer tarandus Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Zoology 80 5 854 865 |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Food-plant and foraging-site selection by semidomesticated female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus L.) was studied to shed light on the searching and foraging behaviour of this herbivore. The aims of the study were (i) to determine the role of food biomass and (or) plant nitrogen content in feeding-site selection and (ii) to analyse the extent to which movement patterns of reindeer are related to availability of food resources using several models of searching behaviour (fractal analysis, correlated random walks, and Lévy flights). The study was conducted in summer 1999 in a mountainous area of northern Sweden. Reindeer selected different plant communities during this period and changed search pattern in late summer. We found that reindeer selected feeding sites with higher green biomass of Betula spp. and Salix spp. However, there was no sharp threshold for foraging as suggested by some models. Contrary to qualitative predictions of optimal-foraging theory, we found no selection of feeding sites on the basis of the nitrogen content of food. The changed search pattern in late summer and the discrepancy between reindeer foraging paths and a correlated random walk model suggests that reindeer were responding to their environment by changing their searching behaviour. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mårell, Anders Ball, John P Hofgaard, Annika |
spellingShingle |
Mårell, Anders Ball, John P Hofgaard, Annika Foraging and movement paths of female reindeer: insights from fractal analysis, correlated random walks, and Lévy flights |
author_facet |
Mårell, Anders Ball, John P Hofgaard, Annika |
author_sort |
Mårell, Anders |
title |
Foraging and movement paths of female reindeer: insights from fractal analysis, correlated random walks, and Lévy flights |
title_short |
Foraging and movement paths of female reindeer: insights from fractal analysis, correlated random walks, and Lévy flights |
title_full |
Foraging and movement paths of female reindeer: insights from fractal analysis, correlated random walks, and Lévy flights |
title_fullStr |
Foraging and movement paths of female reindeer: insights from fractal analysis, correlated random walks, and Lévy flights |
title_full_unstemmed |
Foraging and movement paths of female reindeer: insights from fractal analysis, correlated random walks, and Lévy flights |
title_sort |
foraging and movement paths of female reindeer: insights from fractal analysis, correlated random walks, and lévy flights |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2002 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z02-061 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z02-061 |
genre |
Northern Sweden Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden Rangifer tarandus |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 80, issue 5, page 854-865 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z02-061 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
80 |
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5 |
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854 |
op_container_end_page |
865 |
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1802648278545727488 |