Refrigeration or anti-theft? Food-caching behavior of Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in Scandinavia
Food-caching animals can gain nutritional advantages by buffering seasonality in food availability, especially during times of scarcity. The wolverine (Gulo gulo) is a facultative predator that occupies environments of low productivity. As an adaptation to fluctuating Food availability, wolverines c...
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ftninstnf:oai:brage.nina.no:11250/2651232 2023-05-15T16:32:18+02:00 Refrigeration or anti-theft? Food-caching behavior of Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in Scandinavia van der Veen, Bert Mattisson, Jenny Zimmermann, Barbara Odden, John Persson, Jens Scandinavia, Skandinavia 2020 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2651232 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-2823-4 eng eng urn:issn:0340-5443 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2651232 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-2823-4 cristin:1806524 Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no ©The Author(s) 2020 CC-BY 74 Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Carnivore Climate change Mustelid Resource selection Scatter hoarding Seasonality VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 Journal article 2020 ftninstnf https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-2823-4 2023-03-08T23:46:24Z Food-caching animals can gain nutritional advantages by buffering seasonality in food availability, especially during times of scarcity. The wolverine (Gulo gulo) is a facultative predator that occupies environments of low productivity. As an adaptation to fluctuating Food availability, wolverines cache perishable food in snow, boulders, and bogs for short- and long-term storage. We studied caching behavior of 38 GPS-collared wolverines in four study areas in Scandinavia. By investigating clusters of GPS locations, we identified a total of 303 food caches from 17 male and 21 female wolverines.Wolverines cached food all year around, from both scavenging and predation events, and spaced their caches widely within their home range.Wolverines cached food items on average 1.1 km from the food source andmade between 1 and 6 caches per source.Wolverines cached closer to the source when scavenging carcasses killed by other large carnivores; this might be a strategy to optimize food gain when under pressure of interspecific competition.When caching, wolverines selected for steep and rugged terrain in unproductive habitat types or in forest, indicating a preference for less-exposed sites that can provide cold storage and/or protection against pilferage. The observed year-round investment in caching by Wolverines underlines the importance of food predictability for survival and reproductive success in this species. Increasing temperatures as a consequence of climate change may provide newchallenges for wolverines by negatively affecting the preservation of cached food and by increasing competition from pilferers that benefit from awarmer climate. It is however still not fully understood which consequences this may have for the demography and behavior of the wolverine. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Gulo gulo Norwegian Institute for Nature Research: Brage NINA Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 74 5 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research: Brage NINA |
op_collection_id |
ftninstnf |
language |
English |
topic |
Carnivore Climate change Mustelid Resource selection Scatter hoarding Seasonality VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 |
spellingShingle |
Carnivore Climate change Mustelid Resource selection Scatter hoarding Seasonality VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 van der Veen, Bert Mattisson, Jenny Zimmermann, Barbara Odden, John Persson, Jens Refrigeration or anti-theft? Food-caching behavior of Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in Scandinavia |
topic_facet |
Carnivore Climate change Mustelid Resource selection Scatter hoarding Seasonality VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 |
description |
Food-caching animals can gain nutritional advantages by buffering seasonality in food availability, especially during times of scarcity. The wolverine (Gulo gulo) is a facultative predator that occupies environments of low productivity. As an adaptation to fluctuating Food availability, wolverines cache perishable food in snow, boulders, and bogs for short- and long-term storage. We studied caching behavior of 38 GPS-collared wolverines in four study areas in Scandinavia. By investigating clusters of GPS locations, we identified a total of 303 food caches from 17 male and 21 female wolverines.Wolverines cached food all year around, from both scavenging and predation events, and spaced their caches widely within their home range.Wolverines cached food items on average 1.1 km from the food source andmade between 1 and 6 caches per source.Wolverines cached closer to the source when scavenging carcasses killed by other large carnivores; this might be a strategy to optimize food gain when under pressure of interspecific competition.When caching, wolverines selected for steep and rugged terrain in unproductive habitat types or in forest, indicating a preference for less-exposed sites that can provide cold storage and/or protection against pilferage. The observed year-round investment in caching by Wolverines underlines the importance of food predictability for survival and reproductive success in this species. Increasing temperatures as a consequence of climate change may provide newchallenges for wolverines by negatively affecting the preservation of cached food and by increasing competition from pilferers that benefit from awarmer climate. It is however still not fully understood which consequences this may have for the demography and behavior of the wolverine. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
van der Veen, Bert Mattisson, Jenny Zimmermann, Barbara Odden, John Persson, Jens |
author_facet |
van der Veen, Bert Mattisson, Jenny Zimmermann, Barbara Odden, John Persson, Jens |
author_sort |
van der Veen, Bert |
title |
Refrigeration or anti-theft? Food-caching behavior of Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in Scandinavia |
title_short |
Refrigeration or anti-theft? Food-caching behavior of Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in Scandinavia |
title_full |
Refrigeration or anti-theft? Food-caching behavior of Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in Scandinavia |
title_fullStr |
Refrigeration or anti-theft? Food-caching behavior of Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in Scandinavia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Refrigeration or anti-theft? Food-caching behavior of Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in Scandinavia |
title_sort |
refrigeration or anti-theft? food-caching behavior of wolverines (gulo gulo) in scandinavia |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2651232 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-2823-4 |
op_coverage |
Scandinavia, Skandinavia |
genre |
Gulo gulo |
genre_facet |
Gulo gulo |
op_source |
74 Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |
op_relation |
urn:issn:0340-5443 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2651232 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-2823-4 cristin:1806524 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no ©The Author(s) 2020 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-2823-4 |
container_title |
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |
container_volume |
74 |
container_issue |
5 |
_version_ |
1766022053625856000 |