Drivers of site fidelity in ungulates
Abstract While the tendency to return to previously visited locations—termed ‘site fidelity’—is common in animals, the cause of this behaviour is not well understood. One hypothesis is that site fidelity is shaped by an animal's environment, such that animals living in landscapes with predictab...
Published in: | Journal of Animal Ecology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 |
id |
crwiley:10.1111/1365-2656.13425 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crwiley:10.1111/1365-2656.13425 2024-09-15T17:36:17+00:00 Drivers of site fidelity in ungulates Morrison, Thomas A. Merkle, Jerod A. Hopcraft, J. Grant C. Aikens, Ellen O. Beck, Jeffrey L. Boone, Randall B. Courtemanch, Alyson B. Dwinnell, Samantha P. Fairbanks, W. Sue Griffith, Brad Middleton, Arthur D. Monteith, Kevin L. Oates, Brendan Riotte‐Lambert, Louise Sawyer, Hall Smith, Kurt T. Stabach, Jared A. Taylor, Kaitlyn L. Kauffman, Matthew J. Loison, Anne U.S. Bureau of Land Management Division of Environmental Biology H2020 Societal Challenges Zoologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt National Institute of Food and Agriculture U.S. Forest Service Parks Canada Alaska Department of Fish and Game Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Journal of Animal Ecology volume 90, issue 4, page 955-966 ISSN 0021-8790 1365-2656 journal-article 2021 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 2024-09-05T05:06:58Z Abstract While the tendency to return to previously visited locations—termed ‘site fidelity’—is common in animals, the cause of this behaviour is not well understood. One hypothesis is that site fidelity is shaped by an animal's environment, such that animals living in landscapes with predictable resources have stronger site fidelity. Site fidelity may also be conditional on the success of animals’ recent visits to that location, and it may become stronger with age as the animal accumulates experience in their landscape. Finally, differences between species, such as the way memory shapes site attractiveness, may interact with environmental drivers to modulate the strength of site fidelity. We compared inter‐year site fidelity in 669 individuals across eight ungulate species fitted with GPS collars and occupying a range of environmental conditions in North America and Africa. We used a distance‐based index of site fidelity and tested hypothesized drivers of site fidelity using linear mixed effects models, while accounting for variation in annual range size. Mule deer Odocoileus hemionus and moose Alces alces exhibited relatively strong site fidelity, while wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus and barren‐ground caribou Rangifer tarandus granti had relatively weak fidelity. Site fidelity was strongest in predictable landscapes where vegetative greening occurred at regular intervals over time (i.e. high temporal contingency). Species differed in their response to spatial heterogeneity in greenness (i.e. spatial constancy). Site fidelity varied seasonally in some species, but remained constant over time in others. Elk employed a ‘win‐stay, lose‐switch’ strategy, in which successful resource tracking in the springtime resulted in strong site fidelity the following spring. Site fidelity did not vary with age in any species tested. Our results provide support for the environmental hypothesis, particularly that regularity in vegetative phenology shapes the strength of site fidelity at the inter‐annual scale. Large ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces caribou Rangifer tarandus Wiley Online Library Journal of Animal Ecology 90 4 955 966 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract While the tendency to return to previously visited locations—termed ‘site fidelity’—is common in animals, the cause of this behaviour is not well understood. One hypothesis is that site fidelity is shaped by an animal's environment, such that animals living in landscapes with predictable resources have stronger site fidelity. Site fidelity may also be conditional on the success of animals’ recent visits to that location, and it may become stronger with age as the animal accumulates experience in their landscape. Finally, differences between species, such as the way memory shapes site attractiveness, may interact with environmental drivers to modulate the strength of site fidelity. We compared inter‐year site fidelity in 669 individuals across eight ungulate species fitted with GPS collars and occupying a range of environmental conditions in North America and Africa. We used a distance‐based index of site fidelity and tested hypothesized drivers of site fidelity using linear mixed effects models, while accounting for variation in annual range size. Mule deer Odocoileus hemionus and moose Alces alces exhibited relatively strong site fidelity, while wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus and barren‐ground caribou Rangifer tarandus granti had relatively weak fidelity. Site fidelity was strongest in predictable landscapes where vegetative greening occurred at regular intervals over time (i.e. high temporal contingency). Species differed in their response to spatial heterogeneity in greenness (i.e. spatial constancy). Site fidelity varied seasonally in some species, but remained constant over time in others. Elk employed a ‘win‐stay, lose‐switch’ strategy, in which successful resource tracking in the springtime resulted in strong site fidelity the following spring. Site fidelity did not vary with age in any species tested. Our results provide support for the environmental hypothesis, particularly that regularity in vegetative phenology shapes the strength of site fidelity at the inter‐annual scale. Large ... |
author2 |
Loison, Anne U.S. Bureau of Land Management Division of Environmental Biology H2020 Societal Challenges Zoologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt National Institute of Food and Agriculture U.S. Forest Service Parks Canada Alaska Department of Fish and Game Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Morrison, Thomas A. Merkle, Jerod A. Hopcraft, J. Grant C. Aikens, Ellen O. Beck, Jeffrey L. Boone, Randall B. Courtemanch, Alyson B. Dwinnell, Samantha P. Fairbanks, W. Sue Griffith, Brad Middleton, Arthur D. Monteith, Kevin L. Oates, Brendan Riotte‐Lambert, Louise Sawyer, Hall Smith, Kurt T. Stabach, Jared A. Taylor, Kaitlyn L. Kauffman, Matthew J. |
spellingShingle |
Morrison, Thomas A. Merkle, Jerod A. Hopcraft, J. Grant C. Aikens, Ellen O. Beck, Jeffrey L. Boone, Randall B. Courtemanch, Alyson B. Dwinnell, Samantha P. Fairbanks, W. Sue Griffith, Brad Middleton, Arthur D. Monteith, Kevin L. Oates, Brendan Riotte‐Lambert, Louise Sawyer, Hall Smith, Kurt T. Stabach, Jared A. Taylor, Kaitlyn L. Kauffman, Matthew J. Drivers of site fidelity in ungulates |
author_facet |
Morrison, Thomas A. Merkle, Jerod A. Hopcraft, J. Grant C. Aikens, Ellen O. Beck, Jeffrey L. Boone, Randall B. Courtemanch, Alyson B. Dwinnell, Samantha P. Fairbanks, W. Sue Griffith, Brad Middleton, Arthur D. Monteith, Kevin L. Oates, Brendan Riotte‐Lambert, Louise Sawyer, Hall Smith, Kurt T. Stabach, Jared A. Taylor, Kaitlyn L. Kauffman, Matthew J. |
author_sort |
Morrison, Thomas A. |
title |
Drivers of site fidelity in ungulates |
title_short |
Drivers of site fidelity in ungulates |
title_full |
Drivers of site fidelity in ungulates |
title_fullStr |
Drivers of site fidelity in ungulates |
title_full_unstemmed |
Drivers of site fidelity in ungulates |
title_sort |
drivers of site fidelity in ungulates |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 |
genre |
Alces alces caribou Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
Alces alces caribou Rangifer tarandus |
op_source |
Journal of Animal Ecology volume 90, issue 4, page 955-966 ISSN 0021-8790 1365-2656 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13425 |
container_title |
Journal of Animal Ecology |
container_volume |
90 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
955 |
op_container_end_page |
966 |
_version_ |
1810488511109791744 |