Activity Patterns of Eurasian Lynx Are Modulated by Light Regime and Individual Traits over a Wide Latitudinal Range
The activity patterns of most terrestrial animals are regarded as being primarily influenced by light, although other factors, such as sexual cycle and climatic conditions, can modify the underlying patterns. However, most activity studies have been limited to a single study area, which in turn limi...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4269461 2023-05-15T18:02:14+02:00 Activity Patterns of Eurasian Lynx Are Modulated by Light Regime and Individual Traits over a Wide Latitudinal Range Heurich, Marco Hilger, Anton Küchenhoff, Helmut Andrén, Henrik Bufka, Luděk Krofel, Miha Mattisson, Jenny Odden, John Persson, Jens Rauset, Geir R. Schmidt, Krzysztof Linnell, John D. C. 2014-12-17 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4269461 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25517902 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114143 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25517902 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114143 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2014 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114143 2014-12-28T00:57:12Z The activity patterns of most terrestrial animals are regarded as being primarily influenced by light, although other factors, such as sexual cycle and climatic conditions, can modify the underlying patterns. However, most activity studies have been limited to a single study area, which in turn limit the variability of light conditions and other factors. Here we considered a range of variables that might potentially influence the activity of a large carnivore, the Eurasian lynx, in a network of studies conducted with identical methodology in different areas spanning latitudes from 49°7′N in central Europe to 70°00′N in northern Scandinavia. The variables considered both light conditions, ranging from a day with a complete day–night cycle to polar night and polar day, as well as individual traits of the animals. We analysed activity data of 38 individual free-ranging lynx equipped with GPS-collars with acceleration sensors, covering more than 11,000 lynx days. Mixed linear additive models revealed that the lynx activity level was not influenced by the daily daylight duration and the activity pattern was bimodal, even during polar night and polar day. The duration of the active phase of the activity cycle varied with the widening and narrowing of the photoperiod. Activity varied significantly with moonlight. Among adults, males were more active than females, and subadult lynx were more active than adults. In polar regions, the amplitude of the lynx daily activity pattern was low, likely as a result of the polycyclic activity pattern of their main prey, reindeer. At lower latitudes, the basic lynx activity pattern peaked during twilight, corresponding to the crepuscular activity pattern of the main prey, roe deer. Our results indicated that the basic activity of lynx is independent of light conditions, but is modified by both individual traits and the activity pattern of the locally most important prey. Text polar night Lynx PubMed Central (PMC) PLoS ONE 9 12 e114143 |
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Research Article Heurich, Marco Hilger, Anton Küchenhoff, Helmut Andrén, Henrik Bufka, Luděk Krofel, Miha Mattisson, Jenny Odden, John Persson, Jens Rauset, Geir R. Schmidt, Krzysztof Linnell, John D. C. Activity Patterns of Eurasian Lynx Are Modulated by Light Regime and Individual Traits over a Wide Latitudinal Range |
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Research Article |
description |
The activity patterns of most terrestrial animals are regarded as being primarily influenced by light, although other factors, such as sexual cycle and climatic conditions, can modify the underlying patterns. However, most activity studies have been limited to a single study area, which in turn limit the variability of light conditions and other factors. Here we considered a range of variables that might potentially influence the activity of a large carnivore, the Eurasian lynx, in a network of studies conducted with identical methodology in different areas spanning latitudes from 49°7′N in central Europe to 70°00′N in northern Scandinavia. The variables considered both light conditions, ranging from a day with a complete day–night cycle to polar night and polar day, as well as individual traits of the animals. We analysed activity data of 38 individual free-ranging lynx equipped with GPS-collars with acceleration sensors, covering more than 11,000 lynx days. Mixed linear additive models revealed that the lynx activity level was not influenced by the daily daylight duration and the activity pattern was bimodal, even during polar night and polar day. The duration of the active phase of the activity cycle varied with the widening and narrowing of the photoperiod. Activity varied significantly with moonlight. Among adults, males were more active than females, and subadult lynx were more active than adults. In polar regions, the amplitude of the lynx daily activity pattern was low, likely as a result of the polycyclic activity pattern of their main prey, reindeer. At lower latitudes, the basic lynx activity pattern peaked during twilight, corresponding to the crepuscular activity pattern of the main prey, roe deer. Our results indicated that the basic activity of lynx is independent of light conditions, but is modified by both individual traits and the activity pattern of the locally most important prey. |
format |
Text |
author |
Heurich, Marco Hilger, Anton Küchenhoff, Helmut Andrén, Henrik Bufka, Luděk Krofel, Miha Mattisson, Jenny Odden, John Persson, Jens Rauset, Geir R. Schmidt, Krzysztof Linnell, John D. C. |
author_facet |
Heurich, Marco Hilger, Anton Küchenhoff, Helmut Andrén, Henrik Bufka, Luděk Krofel, Miha Mattisson, Jenny Odden, John Persson, Jens Rauset, Geir R. Schmidt, Krzysztof Linnell, John D. C. |
author_sort |
Heurich, Marco |
title |
Activity Patterns of Eurasian Lynx Are Modulated by Light Regime and Individual Traits over a Wide Latitudinal Range |
title_short |
Activity Patterns of Eurasian Lynx Are Modulated by Light Regime and Individual Traits over a Wide Latitudinal Range |
title_full |
Activity Patterns of Eurasian Lynx Are Modulated by Light Regime and Individual Traits over a Wide Latitudinal Range |
title_fullStr |
Activity Patterns of Eurasian Lynx Are Modulated by Light Regime and Individual Traits over a Wide Latitudinal Range |
title_full_unstemmed |
Activity Patterns of Eurasian Lynx Are Modulated by Light Regime and Individual Traits over a Wide Latitudinal Range |
title_sort |
activity patterns of eurasian lynx are modulated by light regime and individual traits over a wide latitudinal range |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4269461 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25517902 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114143 |
genre |
polar night Lynx |
genre_facet |
polar night Lynx |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25517902 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114143 |
op_rights |
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114143 |
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PLoS ONE |
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9 |
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12 |
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e114143 |
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