Fidelity to calving areas in moose (Alces alces) in the absence of natural predators

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Authors: Tremblay, J.-P., Solberg, E.J., Sæther, B.-E., Heim, M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2007
• Subjects: Alces alces
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z07-077; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/Z07-077; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/Z07-077

We used long-term monitoring (1991–2005) data from a moose ( Alces alces (L., 1758)) population (i) to determine if moose cows are faithful to their calving sites and (ii) to examine the effect of previous recruitment success on calving-site fidelity. We generated null hypotheses from the distances between calving sites used by other individuals inside the home range of each cow. The calving sites used in successive years by individual cows were closer together (2.1 ± 0.2 km) than were calving sites used by other cows within their home range (3.9 ± 0.1 km; n = 30 cows, 148 sites). The former is similar to distances reported from areas where natural predators are present but females successfully weaned their calf or calves. We did not detect any effects of previous recruitment success, but the distances to the next calving sites of the only two cows that did not wean their calves (3.8 and 3.4 km) are analogous to values reported for cows that have lost their calf or calves to predators. Our data support the theory that fidelity to areas where parturition has been successful could be an evolutionary trade-off between reproductive success and risk of predation to maximize fitness. On an ecological scale, moose cows apparently perceived anthropogenic disturbances as a potential risk, influencing their choice of calving sites and ultimately their fidelity.