Interactive effects of wildfires, season and predator activity shape mule deer movements
Abstract Wildfires are increasing in size, frequency and severity due to climate change and fire suppression, but the direct and indirect effects on wildlife remain largely unresolved. Fire removes forest canopy, which can improve forage for ungulates but also reduce snow interception, leading to a...
Published in: | Journal of Animal Ecology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 |
id |
crwiley:10.1111/1365-2656.13810 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crwiley:10.1111/1365-2656.13810 2024-09-15T18:01:27+00:00 Interactive effects of wildfires, season and predator activity shape mule deer movements Ganz, Taylor R. DeVivo, Melia T. Kertson, Brian N. Roussin, Trent Satterfield, Lauren Wirsing, Aaron J. Prugh, Laura R. National Geographic Society Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Journal of Animal Ecology volume 91, issue 11, page 2273-2288 ISSN 0021-8790 1365-2656 journal-article 2022 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 2024-08-01T04:19:09Z Abstract Wildfires are increasing in size, frequency and severity due to climate change and fire suppression, but the direct and indirect effects on wildlife remain largely unresolved. Fire removes forest canopy, which can improve forage for ungulates but also reduce snow interception, leading to a deeper snowpack and potentially increased vulnerability to predation in winter. If ungulates exhibit predator‐mediated foraging, burns should generally be selected for in summer to access high‐quality forage and avoided in winter to reduce predation risk in deep snow. Fires also typically increase the amount of deadfall and initiate the growth of dense understory vegetation, creating obstacles that may confer a hunting advantage to stalking predators and a disadvantage to coursing predators. To minimize risk, ungulates may therefore avoid burns when and where stalking predators are most active, and use burns when and where coursing predators are most active. We used telemetry data from GPS‐collared mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ), cougars ( Puma concolor ) and wolves ( Canis lupus ) to develop step selection functions to examine how mule deer navigated species‐specific predation risk across a landscape in northern Washington, USA, that has experienced substantial wildfire activity during the past several decades. We considered a diverse array of wildfire impacts, accounting for both the severity of the fire and time since the burn (1–35 years) in our analyses. We observed support for the predator mediating foraging hypothesis: mule deer generally selected for burned areas in summer and avoided burns in winter. In addition, deer increased use of burned areas when and where wolf activity was high and avoided burns when and where cougar use was high in winter, suggesting the hunting mode of resident predators mediated the seasonal response of deer to burns. Deer were not more likely to die by predation in burned than in unburned areas, indicating that they adequately manage fire‐induced changes to predation risk. As ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Wiley Online Library Journal of Animal Ecology 91 11 2273 2288 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Wildfires are increasing in size, frequency and severity due to climate change and fire suppression, but the direct and indirect effects on wildlife remain largely unresolved. Fire removes forest canopy, which can improve forage for ungulates but also reduce snow interception, leading to a deeper snowpack and potentially increased vulnerability to predation in winter. If ungulates exhibit predator‐mediated foraging, burns should generally be selected for in summer to access high‐quality forage and avoided in winter to reduce predation risk in deep snow. Fires also typically increase the amount of deadfall and initiate the growth of dense understory vegetation, creating obstacles that may confer a hunting advantage to stalking predators and a disadvantage to coursing predators. To minimize risk, ungulates may therefore avoid burns when and where stalking predators are most active, and use burns when and where coursing predators are most active. We used telemetry data from GPS‐collared mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ), cougars ( Puma concolor ) and wolves ( Canis lupus ) to develop step selection functions to examine how mule deer navigated species‐specific predation risk across a landscape in northern Washington, USA, that has experienced substantial wildfire activity during the past several decades. We considered a diverse array of wildfire impacts, accounting for both the severity of the fire and time since the burn (1–35 years) in our analyses. We observed support for the predator mediating foraging hypothesis: mule deer generally selected for burned areas in summer and avoided burns in winter. In addition, deer increased use of burned areas when and where wolf activity was high and avoided burns when and where cougar use was high in winter, suggesting the hunting mode of resident predators mediated the seasonal response of deer to burns. Deer were not more likely to die by predation in burned than in unburned areas, indicating that they adequately manage fire‐induced changes to predation risk. As ... |
author2 |
National Geographic Society Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ganz, Taylor R. DeVivo, Melia T. Kertson, Brian N. Roussin, Trent Satterfield, Lauren Wirsing, Aaron J. Prugh, Laura R. |
spellingShingle |
Ganz, Taylor R. DeVivo, Melia T. Kertson, Brian N. Roussin, Trent Satterfield, Lauren Wirsing, Aaron J. Prugh, Laura R. Interactive effects of wildfires, season and predator activity shape mule deer movements |
author_facet |
Ganz, Taylor R. DeVivo, Melia T. Kertson, Brian N. Roussin, Trent Satterfield, Lauren Wirsing, Aaron J. Prugh, Laura R. |
author_sort |
Ganz, Taylor R. |
title |
Interactive effects of wildfires, season and predator activity shape mule deer movements |
title_short |
Interactive effects of wildfires, season and predator activity shape mule deer movements |
title_full |
Interactive effects of wildfires, season and predator activity shape mule deer movements |
title_fullStr |
Interactive effects of wildfires, season and predator activity shape mule deer movements |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interactive effects of wildfires, season and predator activity shape mule deer movements |
title_sort |
interactive effects of wildfires, season and predator activity shape mule deer movements |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
Journal of Animal Ecology volume 91, issue 11, page 2273-2288 ISSN 0021-8790 1365-2656 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13810 |
container_title |
Journal of Animal Ecology |
container_volume |
91 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
2273 |
op_container_end_page |
2288 |
_version_ |
1810438597744001024 |