Habitat use by semi-domesticated reindeer, estimated with pellet-group counts

Habitat selection theory predicts that herbivores should select for or against different factors at different spatial scales. For instance, quantity of forage is expected to be a strong factor influencing habitat choice at large scales, while forage quality may be important at finer scales. However,...

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Published in:Rangifer
Main Author: Anna Skarin
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Septentrio Academic Publishing 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.7557/2.27.2.167
https://doaj.org/article/6e86cfa153ef43d6b026ee29e87916ac
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spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6e86cfa153ef43d6b026ee29e87916ac 2023-05-15T18:03:57+02:00 Habitat use by semi-domesticated reindeer, estimated with pellet-group counts Anna Skarin 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7557/2.27.2.167 https://doaj.org/article/6e86cfa153ef43d6b026ee29e87916ac EN eng Septentrio Academic Publishing https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/167 https://doaj.org/toc/1890-6729 doi:10.7557/2.27.2.167 1890-6729 https://doaj.org/article/6e86cfa153ef43d6b026ee29e87916ac Rangifer, Vol 27, Iss 2 (2009) disturbance insect harassment multiple linear regression landscape level ungulates Animal culture SF1-1100 article 2009 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7557/2.27.2.167 2022-12-31T09:41:14Z Habitat selection theory predicts that herbivores should select for or against different factors at different spatial scales. For instance, quantity of forage is expected to be a strong factor influencing habitat choice at large scales, while forage quality may be important at finer scales. However, during summer, herbivores such as reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) can be limited in their grazing time by insect harassment, and do not always have the possibility to select for high quality forage. Human disturbances from hikers, etc., can also have a limiting effect on the possibility for reindeer to graze in high quality foraging habitats. Reindeer habitat selection at the landscape level was investigated through faecal pellet-group counts during the summers of 2002 and 2003 in two reindeer herding districts in Sweden. Resource utilization functions (RUFs) were developed using multiple linear regressions, where the pellet densities were related to vegetation types, topographic features, distances to tourist resorts, and distances to hiking trails. Validations of the models were performed through cross-validation correlations. Results show that high altitudes with high quality forage were important habitats. Areas that offer both snow patches and fresh forage plants for the reindeer were used in relation to their availability. The reindeer also seemed able to habituate to human intervention to a certain extent. The predictive capabilities of the RUF models were high and pellet-group counts seemed well suited to study how abiotic factors affect the habitat use at large temporal and spatial scales Abstract in Swedish / Sammanfattning: Renens användning av sommarbetesområdet, uppskattat med spillningsinventeringar Hierarkiskt habitatval innebär att djur väljer för och emot olika faktorer beroende på den rumsliga skalan. Mängden bete kan t ex spela stor roll för en växtätares habitatval på en stor skala medan kvalitén på betet kan ha större betydelse på en mindre skala. För renar (Rangifer tarandus tarandus), kan ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Rangifer Rangifer tarandus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Rangifer 27 2 121
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
topic disturbance
insect harassment
multiple linear regression
landscape level
ungulates
Animal culture
SF1-1100
spellingShingle disturbance
insect harassment
multiple linear regression
landscape level
ungulates
Animal culture
SF1-1100
Anna Skarin
Habitat use by semi-domesticated reindeer, estimated with pellet-group counts
topic_facet disturbance
insect harassment
multiple linear regression
landscape level
ungulates
Animal culture
SF1-1100
description Habitat selection theory predicts that herbivores should select for or against different factors at different spatial scales. For instance, quantity of forage is expected to be a strong factor influencing habitat choice at large scales, while forage quality may be important at finer scales. However, during summer, herbivores such as reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) can be limited in their grazing time by insect harassment, and do not always have the possibility to select for high quality forage. Human disturbances from hikers, etc., can also have a limiting effect on the possibility for reindeer to graze in high quality foraging habitats. Reindeer habitat selection at the landscape level was investigated through faecal pellet-group counts during the summers of 2002 and 2003 in two reindeer herding districts in Sweden. Resource utilization functions (RUFs) were developed using multiple linear regressions, where the pellet densities were related to vegetation types, topographic features, distances to tourist resorts, and distances to hiking trails. Validations of the models were performed through cross-validation correlations. Results show that high altitudes with high quality forage were important habitats. Areas that offer both snow patches and fresh forage plants for the reindeer were used in relation to their availability. The reindeer also seemed able to habituate to human intervention to a certain extent. The predictive capabilities of the RUF models were high and pellet-group counts seemed well suited to study how abiotic factors affect the habitat use at large temporal and spatial scales Abstract in Swedish / Sammanfattning: Renens användning av sommarbetesområdet, uppskattat med spillningsinventeringar Hierarkiskt habitatval innebär att djur väljer för och emot olika faktorer beroende på den rumsliga skalan. Mängden bete kan t ex spela stor roll för en växtätares habitatval på en stor skala medan kvalitén på betet kan ha större betydelse på en mindre skala. För renar (Rangifer tarandus tarandus), kan ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Anna Skarin
author_facet Anna Skarin
author_sort Anna Skarin
title Habitat use by semi-domesticated reindeer, estimated with pellet-group counts
title_short Habitat use by semi-domesticated reindeer, estimated with pellet-group counts
title_full Habitat use by semi-domesticated reindeer, estimated with pellet-group counts
title_fullStr Habitat use by semi-domesticated reindeer, estimated with pellet-group counts
title_full_unstemmed Habitat use by semi-domesticated reindeer, estimated with pellet-group counts
title_sort habitat use by semi-domesticated reindeer, estimated with pellet-group counts
publisher Septentrio Academic Publishing
publishDate 2009
url https://doi.org/10.7557/2.27.2.167
https://doaj.org/article/6e86cfa153ef43d6b026ee29e87916ac
genre Rangifer
Rangifer tarandus
genre_facet Rangifer
Rangifer tarandus
op_source Rangifer, Vol 27, Iss 2 (2009)
op_relation https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/167
https://doaj.org/toc/1890-6729
doi:10.7557/2.27.2.167
1890-6729
https://doaj.org/article/6e86cfa153ef43d6b026ee29e87916ac
op_doi https://doi.org/10.7557/2.27.2.167
container_title Rangifer
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