Behavior and diet data collected from i) GPS video camera collars and ii) fecal samples collected from individuals from the Fortymile Caribou Herd ...

Summer diets are crucial for large herbivores in the subarctic and are affected by weather, harassment from insects and a variety of environmental changes linked to climate. Yet understanding foraging behavior and diet of large herbivores is challenging in the subarctic because of their remote range...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ehlers, Libby, Coulombe, Gabrielle, Herriges, Jim, Bentzen, Torsten, Suitor, Mike, Joly, Kyle, Hebblewhite, Mark
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: Dryad 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h18931zmz
https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.h18931zmz
Description
Summary:Summer diets are crucial for large herbivores in the subarctic and are affected by weather, harassment from insects and a variety of environmental changes linked to climate. Yet understanding foraging behavior and diet of large herbivores is challenging in the subarctic because of their remote ranges. We used GPS video-camera collars to observe behaviors and summer diets of the migratory Fortymile Caribou Herd (Rangifer tarandus granti) across Alaska, USA and the Yukon, Canada. First, we characterized caribou behavior. Second, we tested if videos could be used to quantify changes in the probability of eating events. Third, we estimated summer diets at the finest taxonomic resolution possible through videos. Finally, we compared summer diet estimates from video collars to microhistological analysis of fecal pellets. We classified 18,134 videos from 30 female caribou over two summers (2018 – 2019). Caribou behaviors included eating (mean = 43.5%), ruminating (25.6%), travelling (14.0%), stationary awake ... : This dataset was collected from GPS video-camera collars worn by female caribou of the Fortymile Caribou Herd spanning Alaska, USA and Yukon, Canada. ...