Moose Habitat Selection and Fitness Consequences During Two Critical Winter Tick Life Stages in Vermont, United States†
The moose ( Alces alces ) is a charismatic species in decline across much of their southern distribution in North America. In the northeastern United States, much of the reduction has been attributed to winter tick ( Dermacentor albipictus ) infestations. Winter ticks are fairly immobile throughout...
Published in: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.642276 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.642276/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fevo.2021.642276 2024-04-21T07:44:28+00:00 Moose Habitat Selection and Fitness Consequences During Two Critical Winter Tick Life Stages in Vermont, United States† Blouin, Joshua DeBow, Jacob Rosenblatt, Elias Hines, James Alexander, Cedric Gieder, Katherina Fortin, Nicholas Murdoch, James Donovan, Therese 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.642276 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.642276/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution volume 9 ISSN 2296-701X Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2021 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.642276 2024-03-26T08:35:12Z The moose ( Alces alces ) is a charismatic species in decline across much of their southern distribution in North America. In the northeastern United States, much of the reduction has been attributed to winter tick ( Dermacentor albipictus ) infestations. Winter ticks are fairly immobile throughout all life stages, and therefore their distribution patterns at any given time are shaped largely by the occurrence of moose across the landscape during the peak of two critical time periods: fall questing (when ticks latch onto moose) and spring drop-off (when engorged female ticks detach from moose). We used recent land cover and lidar data within a dynamic occupancy modeling framework to estimate first-order habitat selection (use vs. non-use) of female moose ( n = 74) during the tick questing and drop-off periods. Patch extinction and colonization rates between the fall questing and spring drop-off periods were strongly influenced by habitat and elevation, but these effects were diminished during the fall questing period when moose were more active across the landscape. From the fall questing period to the spring drop-off period, patches where colonization was high and extinction was low had higher proportions of young (shrub/forage) mixed forest at higher elevations. Further, we evaluated the fitness consequences of habitat selection by adult females during the fall questing period, when females and their calves acquire ticks. We compared Resource Selection Functions (RSF) for five females that successfully reared a calf to age 1 with five females whose calves perished due to ticks. Adult female moose whose offspring perished selected habitats in the fall that spatially coincided with areas of high occupancy probability during the spring tick drop-off period. In contrast, adult female moose whose offspring survived selected areas where the probability of occupancy during the spring drop-off was low; at present, natural selection may favor female adults who do not select the same habitats in fall as in spring. Our ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9 |
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unknown |
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Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
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Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Blouin, Joshua DeBow, Jacob Rosenblatt, Elias Hines, James Alexander, Cedric Gieder, Katherina Fortin, Nicholas Murdoch, James Donovan, Therese Moose Habitat Selection and Fitness Consequences During Two Critical Winter Tick Life Stages in Vermont, United States† |
topic_facet |
Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
The moose ( Alces alces ) is a charismatic species in decline across much of their southern distribution in North America. In the northeastern United States, much of the reduction has been attributed to winter tick ( Dermacentor albipictus ) infestations. Winter ticks are fairly immobile throughout all life stages, and therefore their distribution patterns at any given time are shaped largely by the occurrence of moose across the landscape during the peak of two critical time periods: fall questing (when ticks latch onto moose) and spring drop-off (when engorged female ticks detach from moose). We used recent land cover and lidar data within a dynamic occupancy modeling framework to estimate first-order habitat selection (use vs. non-use) of female moose ( n = 74) during the tick questing and drop-off periods. Patch extinction and colonization rates between the fall questing and spring drop-off periods were strongly influenced by habitat and elevation, but these effects were diminished during the fall questing period when moose were more active across the landscape. From the fall questing period to the spring drop-off period, patches where colonization was high and extinction was low had higher proportions of young (shrub/forage) mixed forest at higher elevations. Further, we evaluated the fitness consequences of habitat selection by adult females during the fall questing period, when females and their calves acquire ticks. We compared Resource Selection Functions (RSF) for five females that successfully reared a calf to age 1 with five females whose calves perished due to ticks. Adult female moose whose offspring perished selected habitats in the fall that spatially coincided with areas of high occupancy probability during the spring tick drop-off period. In contrast, adult female moose whose offspring survived selected areas where the probability of occupancy during the spring drop-off was low; at present, natural selection may favor female adults who do not select the same habitats in fall as in spring. Our ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Blouin, Joshua DeBow, Jacob Rosenblatt, Elias Hines, James Alexander, Cedric Gieder, Katherina Fortin, Nicholas Murdoch, James Donovan, Therese |
author_facet |
Blouin, Joshua DeBow, Jacob Rosenblatt, Elias Hines, James Alexander, Cedric Gieder, Katherina Fortin, Nicholas Murdoch, James Donovan, Therese |
author_sort |
Blouin, Joshua |
title |
Moose Habitat Selection and Fitness Consequences During Two Critical Winter Tick Life Stages in Vermont, United States† |
title_short |
Moose Habitat Selection and Fitness Consequences During Two Critical Winter Tick Life Stages in Vermont, United States† |
title_full |
Moose Habitat Selection and Fitness Consequences During Two Critical Winter Tick Life Stages in Vermont, United States† |
title_fullStr |
Moose Habitat Selection and Fitness Consequences During Two Critical Winter Tick Life Stages in Vermont, United States† |
title_full_unstemmed |
Moose Habitat Selection and Fitness Consequences During Two Critical Winter Tick Life Stages in Vermont, United States† |
title_sort |
moose habitat selection and fitness consequences during two critical winter tick life stages in vermont, united states† |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.642276 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.642276/full |
genre |
Alces alces |
genre_facet |
Alces alces |
op_source |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution volume 9 ISSN 2296-701X |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.642276 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
9 |
_version_ |
1796936024928026624 |