Data from: Functional responses in animal movement explain spatial heterogeneity in animal-habitat relationships ...

• Main Authors: Mason, Tom H.E., Fortin, Daniel, Mason, Tom H. E.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2018
• Subjects: predator-prey spatial games; antipredator behaviour; resource selection; Rangifer tarandus; taiga; SSF; Foraging; Canada; caribou
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5p6kr; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.5p6kr

1. Understanding why heterogeneity exists in animal-habitat spatial relationships is critical for identifying the drivers of animal distributions. Functional responses in habitat selection – whereby animals adjust their habitat selection depending on habitat availability – are useful for describing animal-habitat spatial heterogeneity. However, they could be yielded by different movement tactics, involving contrasting inter-specific interactions. 2. Identifying functional responses in animal movement, rather than in emergent spatial patterns like habitat selection, could disentangle the effects of different movement behaviours on spatial heterogeneity in animal-habitat relationships. This would clarify how functional responses in habitat selection emerge and provide a general tool for understanding the mechanistic drivers of animal distributions. 3. We tested this approach using data from GPS-collared woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus), a prey species under top-down control. We tested how caribou selected ... : Caribou movement and habitat selection dataData on the movement and habitat selection of woodland caribou for fitting step selection functions. Data are from 23 adult female caribou, collected during winter in the Côte-Nord region of Québec, Canada, between 2005 and 2012.caribou.RData ...