Data from: Adjustments in habitat selection to changing availability induce fitness costs for a threatened ungulate ...

• Main Authors: Losier, Chrystel L., Couturier, Serge, St-Laurent, Martin-Hugues, Drapeau, Pierre, Dussault, Claude, Rudolph, Tyler, Brodeur, Vincent, Merkle, Jerod A., Fortin, Daniel
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2016
• Subjects: ecological trap; Rangifer tarandus; resource selection function; forest-dwelling caribou; habitat selection tactic; Holocene; mortality risk; cutovers
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.f6c56; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.f6c56

1. Functional responses in habitat selection occur when individuals adjust their selection of habitat features as a function of the availability of those features. Functional responses in habitat selection are generally assumed to be fitness-rewarding tactics and are used to guide conservation actions. Fitness consequences of functional responses, however, have rarely been evaluated. 2. Eighty-three caribou were followed with GPS collars to establish the link between functional responses in habitat selection and adult female survival, a strong fitness correlate for caribou. We measured how caribou avoidance of mixed/deciduous stands and 6–20-year-old clearcuts varied with the proportion of 6–20-year-old clearcuts within their 100% minimal convex polygon (MCP), and if these functional responses were linked to survival. Mixed/deciduous stands and 6–20-year-old clearcuts are risky for caribou because they are selected by moose, thereby attracting wolves and increasing predation risk for caribou. 3. Caribou ... : Data_Losier_et_al_JAPPL ...