Size‐Related Effects on Search Times in North American Grassland Female Ungulates
Feeding and searching (= vigilance) rates arise as a result of many interrelated factors including trophic level, diet, reproductive condition, sex, habitat, body mass, and potential predation pressure. Because of unique ecological conditions in which the confounding influences of all but two of the...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1943172 http://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2307%2F1943172 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2307%2F1943172 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2307/1943172 |
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crwiley:10.2307/1943172 2024-09-15T18:01:16+00:00 Size‐Related Effects on Search Times in North American Grassland Female Ungulates Berger, Joel Cunningham, Carol 1988 http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1943172 http://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2307%2F1943172 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2307%2F1943172 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2307/1943172 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Ecology volume 69, issue 1, page 177-183 ISSN 0012-9658 1939-9170 journal-article 1988 crwiley https://doi.org/10.2307/1943172 2024-07-18T04:25:00Z Feeding and searching (= vigilance) rates arise as a result of many interrelated factors including trophic level, diet, reproductive condition, sex, habitat, body mass, and potential predation pressure. Because of unique ecological conditions in which the confounding influences of all but two of these variables could be minimized, we examined the hypothesis that body mass alone accounts for interspecific differences in search times, and tested it with females of four sympatric native North American ungulates (Bison bison, Antilocapra americana, Ovis canadensis, and Odocoileus hemionus). When the effects of group size were controlled, smaller bodied species were more vigilant (per unit body mass) than larger ones. However, search times (ST) also scaled to body mass, and between 81 and 97% of the ST variance was explained by either exponential or power functions. To remove the potential bias that predators exert different influences on species of varying size, search times of bison in areas with and without their major predator, wolves (Canis lupus), were contrasted; search times did not differ between sites. Our results highlight the importance of designing field research that controls for confounding variables prior to attempting to scale behavioral processes to ecological events. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Wiley Online Library Ecology 69 1 177 183 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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English |
description |
Feeding and searching (= vigilance) rates arise as a result of many interrelated factors including trophic level, diet, reproductive condition, sex, habitat, body mass, and potential predation pressure. Because of unique ecological conditions in which the confounding influences of all but two of these variables could be minimized, we examined the hypothesis that body mass alone accounts for interspecific differences in search times, and tested it with females of four sympatric native North American ungulates (Bison bison, Antilocapra americana, Ovis canadensis, and Odocoileus hemionus). When the effects of group size were controlled, smaller bodied species were more vigilant (per unit body mass) than larger ones. However, search times (ST) also scaled to body mass, and between 81 and 97% of the ST variance was explained by either exponential or power functions. To remove the potential bias that predators exert different influences on species of varying size, search times of bison in areas with and without their major predator, wolves (Canis lupus), were contrasted; search times did not differ between sites. Our results highlight the importance of designing field research that controls for confounding variables prior to attempting to scale behavioral processes to ecological events. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Berger, Joel Cunningham, Carol |
spellingShingle |
Berger, Joel Cunningham, Carol Size‐Related Effects on Search Times in North American Grassland Female Ungulates |
author_facet |
Berger, Joel Cunningham, Carol |
author_sort |
Berger, Joel |
title |
Size‐Related Effects on Search Times in North American Grassland Female Ungulates |
title_short |
Size‐Related Effects on Search Times in North American Grassland Female Ungulates |
title_full |
Size‐Related Effects on Search Times in North American Grassland Female Ungulates |
title_fullStr |
Size‐Related Effects on Search Times in North American Grassland Female Ungulates |
title_full_unstemmed |
Size‐Related Effects on Search Times in North American Grassland Female Ungulates |
title_sort |
size‐related effects on search times in north american grassland female ungulates |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
1988 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1943172 http://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2307%2F1943172 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2307%2F1943172 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2307/1943172 |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
Ecology volume 69, issue 1, page 177-183 ISSN 0012-9658 1939-9170 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2307/1943172 |
container_title |
Ecology |
container_volume |
69 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
177 |
op_container_end_page |
183 |
_version_ |
1810438437754372096 |