Landscape cover type, not social dominance, is associated with the winter movement patterns of Snowy Owls in temperate areas

Abstract Migrating animals occur along a continuum from species that spend the nonbreeding season at a fixed location to species that are nomadic during the nonbreeding season, essentially continuously moving. Such variation is likely driven by the economics of territoriality or heterogeneity in the...

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Published in:Ornithology
Main Authors: McCabe, Rebecca A, Therrien, Jean-François, Wiebe, Karen L, Gauthier, Gilles, Brinker, David, Weidensaul, Scott, Elliott, Kyle
Other Authors: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukaa082
http://academic.oup.com/auk/article-pdf/138/2/ukaa082/37841134/ukaa082.pdf
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spelling croxfordunivpr:10.1093/ornithology/ukaa082 2024-09-15T18:00:30+00:00 Landscape cover type, not social dominance, is associated with the winter movement patterns of Snowy Owls in temperate areas McCabe, Rebecca A Therrien, Jean-François Wiebe, Karen L Gauthier, Gilles Brinker, David Weidensaul, Scott Elliott, Kyle Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukaa082 http://academic.oup.com/auk/article-pdf/138/2/ukaa082/37841134/ukaa082.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model Ornithology volume 138, issue 2 ISSN 0004-8038 2732-4613 journal-article 2021 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukaa082 2024-08-19T04:22:53Z Abstract Migrating animals occur along a continuum from species that spend the nonbreeding season at a fixed location to species that are nomadic during the nonbreeding season, essentially continuously moving. Such variation is likely driven by the economics of territoriality or heterogeneity in the environment. The Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) is known for its complex seasonal movements, and thus an excellent model to test these ideas, as many individuals travel unpredictably along irregular routes during both the breeding and nonbreeding seasons. Two possible explanations for this large variation in the propensity to move are (1) dominance hierarchies in which dominant individuals (adult females in this case) monopolize some key, consistent resources, and move less than subdominants; and (2) habitat heterogeneity in which individuals foraging in rich and less heterogenic environments are less mobile. We analyzed fine-scale telemetry data (global positioning system [GPS]/global system for mobile communication [GSM]) from 50 Snowy Owls tagged in eastern and central North America from 2013 to 2019, comparing space use during the winter period according to sex and age, and to land cover attributes. We used variograms to classify individuals as nomadic (58%) or range-resident (42%), and found that nomadic owls had ten times larger wintering areas than range-resident owls. The frequency of nomadism was similar in socially-dominant adult females, immatures, and males. However, nomadism increased from west to east, and north to south, and was positively associated with the use of water and negatively associated with croplands. We conclude that many individual Snowy Owls in Eastern North America are nomadic during the nonbreeding season and that movement patterns during this time are driven primarily by extrinsic factors, specifically heterogeneity in habitat and prey availability, as opposed to intrinsic factors associated with spacing behavior, such as age and sex. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bubo scandiacus snowy owl Oxford University Press Ornithology 138 2
institution Open Polar
collection Oxford University Press
op_collection_id croxfordunivpr
language English
description Abstract Migrating animals occur along a continuum from species that spend the nonbreeding season at a fixed location to species that are nomadic during the nonbreeding season, essentially continuously moving. Such variation is likely driven by the economics of territoriality or heterogeneity in the environment. The Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) is known for its complex seasonal movements, and thus an excellent model to test these ideas, as many individuals travel unpredictably along irregular routes during both the breeding and nonbreeding seasons. Two possible explanations for this large variation in the propensity to move are (1) dominance hierarchies in which dominant individuals (adult females in this case) monopolize some key, consistent resources, and move less than subdominants; and (2) habitat heterogeneity in which individuals foraging in rich and less heterogenic environments are less mobile. We analyzed fine-scale telemetry data (global positioning system [GPS]/global system for mobile communication [GSM]) from 50 Snowy Owls tagged in eastern and central North America from 2013 to 2019, comparing space use during the winter period according to sex and age, and to land cover attributes. We used variograms to classify individuals as nomadic (58%) or range-resident (42%), and found that nomadic owls had ten times larger wintering areas than range-resident owls. The frequency of nomadism was similar in socially-dominant adult females, immatures, and males. However, nomadism increased from west to east, and north to south, and was positively associated with the use of water and negatively associated with croplands. We conclude that many individual Snowy Owls in Eastern North America are nomadic during the nonbreeding season and that movement patterns during this time are driven primarily by extrinsic factors, specifically heterogeneity in habitat and prey availability, as opposed to intrinsic factors associated with spacing behavior, such as age and sex.
author2 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author McCabe, Rebecca A
Therrien, Jean-François
Wiebe, Karen L
Gauthier, Gilles
Brinker, David
Weidensaul, Scott
Elliott, Kyle
spellingShingle McCabe, Rebecca A
Therrien, Jean-François
Wiebe, Karen L
Gauthier, Gilles
Brinker, David
Weidensaul, Scott
Elliott, Kyle
Landscape cover type, not social dominance, is associated with the winter movement patterns of Snowy Owls in temperate areas
author_facet McCabe, Rebecca A
Therrien, Jean-François
Wiebe, Karen L
Gauthier, Gilles
Brinker, David
Weidensaul, Scott
Elliott, Kyle
author_sort McCabe, Rebecca A
title Landscape cover type, not social dominance, is associated with the winter movement patterns of Snowy Owls in temperate areas
title_short Landscape cover type, not social dominance, is associated with the winter movement patterns of Snowy Owls in temperate areas
title_full Landscape cover type, not social dominance, is associated with the winter movement patterns of Snowy Owls in temperate areas
title_fullStr Landscape cover type, not social dominance, is associated with the winter movement patterns of Snowy Owls in temperate areas
title_full_unstemmed Landscape cover type, not social dominance, is associated with the winter movement patterns of Snowy Owls in temperate areas
title_sort landscape cover type, not social dominance, is associated with the winter movement patterns of snowy owls in temperate areas
publisher Oxford University Press (OUP)
publishDate 2021
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukaa082
http://academic.oup.com/auk/article-pdf/138/2/ukaa082/37841134/ukaa082.pdf
genre Bubo scandiacus
snowy owl
genre_facet Bubo scandiacus
snowy owl
op_source Ornithology
volume 138, issue 2
ISSN 0004-8038 2732-4613
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op_doi https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukaa082
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