Seasonal differences in habitat selection by muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) in a high subarctic environment: Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada ...

• Main Author: Jelinski, Dennis E. Dennis Edward, 1956-
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Calgary 1984
• Subjects: QL 737 R6 J44 1986; Muskrats - Northwest Territories - Ecology; Muskrats - Habitat; Habitat Ecology; Arctic; Mackenzie Delta; Northwest Territories; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/prism/21051; https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/23042

Bibliography: p. 140-158. ... : Differences in summer and winter habitat selection by muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus spatulata) in the Mackenzie Delta, a heterogeneous high subarctic-low arctic environment, were studied. Quantitative data consisting of 11 biotic and abiotic habitat variables were obtained from 72 winter burrow sites and 119 summer burrow sites. On the basis of burrow site locations, multivariate analysis of variance revealed that habitats used by muskrats in the two seasons differed significantly. The single discriminant function generated by a discriminant function analysis was strongly correlated with variables describing food, cover, and overwinter survival of muskrats. Muskrats in summer preferred to burrow in closer proximity to shallow water, on gentler slopes, with cover and nearer to Equisetum fluviatile than muskrats in winter. I suggest that the alteration of habitat selection behavior in relation to changes in the seasonal quality of the habitat is a condition whereby habitat breadth narrows in winter. The ...