Complex variation in habitat selection strategies among individuals driven by extrinsic factors
Understanding behavioral strategies employed by animals to maximize fitness in the face of environmental heterogeneity, variability, and uncertainty is a central aim of animal ecology. Flexibility in behavior may be key to how animals respond to climate and environmental change. Using a mechanistic...
Published in: | Ecology and Evolution |
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Language: | English |
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John Wiley & Sons
2017
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Online Access: | https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:495810 |
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ftunivqespace:oai:espace.library.uq.edu.au:UQ:495810 2023-05-15T18:49:30+02:00 Complex variation in habitat selection strategies among individuals driven by extrinsic factors Raynor, Edward J. Beyer, Hawthorne L. Briggs, John M. Joern, Anthony 2017-02-15 https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:495810 eng eng John Wiley & Sons doi:10.1002/ece3.2764 issn:2045-7758 orcid:0000-0002-5430-0784 Not set DEB 1020485 1440484 Bison bison Climatic variability Forage maturation hypothesis Forage quality-quantity tradeoffs Konza Prairie Resource selection plasticity Step selection Weather-induced resource variation 1105 Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 2303 Ecology 2309 Nature and Landscape Conservation Journal Article 2017 ftunivqespace https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2764 2020-12-29T00:23:51Z Understanding behavioral strategies employed by animals to maximize fitness in the face of environmental heterogeneity, variability, and uncertainty is a central aim of animal ecology. Flexibility in behavior may be key to how animals respond to climate and environmental change. Using a mechanistic modeling framework for simultaneously quantifying the effects of habitat preference and intrinsic movement on space use at the landscape scale, we investigate how movement and habitat selection vary among individuals and years in response to forage quality–quantity tradeoffs, environmental conditions, and variable annual climate. We evaluated the association of dynamic, biotic forage resources and static, abiotic landscape features with large grazer movement decisions in an experimental landscape, where forage resources vary in response to prescribed burning, grazing by a native herbivore, the plains bison (Bison bison bison), and a continental climate. Our goal was to determine how biotic and abiotic factors mediate bison movement decisions in a nutritionally heterogeneous grassland. We integrated spatially explicit relocations of GPS-collared bison and extensive vegetation surveys to relate movement paths to grassland attributes over a time period spanning a regionwide drought and average weather conditions. Movement decisions were affected by foliar crude content and low stature forage biomass across years with substantial interannual variation in the magnitude of selection for forage quality and quantity. These differences were associated with interannual differences in climate and growing conditions from the previous year. Our results provide experimental evidence for understanding how the forage quality–quantity tradeoff and fine-scale topography drives fine-scale movement decisions under varying environmental conditions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bison bison bison Plains Bison The University of Queensland: UQ eSpace Ecology and Evolution 7 6 1802 1822 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The University of Queensland: UQ eSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftunivqespace |
language |
English |
topic |
Bison bison Climatic variability Forage maturation hypothesis Forage quality-quantity tradeoffs Konza Prairie Resource selection plasticity Step selection Weather-induced resource variation 1105 Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 2303 Ecology 2309 Nature and Landscape Conservation |
spellingShingle |
Bison bison Climatic variability Forage maturation hypothesis Forage quality-quantity tradeoffs Konza Prairie Resource selection plasticity Step selection Weather-induced resource variation 1105 Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 2303 Ecology 2309 Nature and Landscape Conservation Raynor, Edward J. Beyer, Hawthorne L. Briggs, John M. Joern, Anthony Complex variation in habitat selection strategies among individuals driven by extrinsic factors |
topic_facet |
Bison bison Climatic variability Forage maturation hypothesis Forage quality-quantity tradeoffs Konza Prairie Resource selection plasticity Step selection Weather-induced resource variation 1105 Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 2303 Ecology 2309 Nature and Landscape Conservation |
description |
Understanding behavioral strategies employed by animals to maximize fitness in the face of environmental heterogeneity, variability, and uncertainty is a central aim of animal ecology. Flexibility in behavior may be key to how animals respond to climate and environmental change. Using a mechanistic modeling framework for simultaneously quantifying the effects of habitat preference and intrinsic movement on space use at the landscape scale, we investigate how movement and habitat selection vary among individuals and years in response to forage quality–quantity tradeoffs, environmental conditions, and variable annual climate. We evaluated the association of dynamic, biotic forage resources and static, abiotic landscape features with large grazer movement decisions in an experimental landscape, where forage resources vary in response to prescribed burning, grazing by a native herbivore, the plains bison (Bison bison bison), and a continental climate. Our goal was to determine how biotic and abiotic factors mediate bison movement decisions in a nutritionally heterogeneous grassland. We integrated spatially explicit relocations of GPS-collared bison and extensive vegetation surveys to relate movement paths to grassland attributes over a time period spanning a regionwide drought and average weather conditions. Movement decisions were affected by foliar crude content and low stature forage biomass across years with substantial interannual variation in the magnitude of selection for forage quality and quantity. These differences were associated with interannual differences in climate and growing conditions from the previous year. Our results provide experimental evidence for understanding how the forage quality–quantity tradeoff and fine-scale topography drives fine-scale movement decisions under varying environmental conditions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Raynor, Edward J. Beyer, Hawthorne L. Briggs, John M. Joern, Anthony |
author_facet |
Raynor, Edward J. Beyer, Hawthorne L. Briggs, John M. Joern, Anthony |
author_sort |
Raynor, Edward J. |
title |
Complex variation in habitat selection strategies among individuals driven by extrinsic factors |
title_short |
Complex variation in habitat selection strategies among individuals driven by extrinsic factors |
title_full |
Complex variation in habitat selection strategies among individuals driven by extrinsic factors |
title_fullStr |
Complex variation in habitat selection strategies among individuals driven by extrinsic factors |
title_full_unstemmed |
Complex variation in habitat selection strategies among individuals driven by extrinsic factors |
title_sort |
complex variation in habitat selection strategies among individuals driven by extrinsic factors |
publisher |
John Wiley & Sons |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:495810 |
genre |
Bison bison bison Plains Bison |
genre_facet |
Bison bison bison Plains Bison |
op_relation |
doi:10.1002/ece3.2764 issn:2045-7758 orcid:0000-0002-5430-0784 Not set DEB 1020485 1440484 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2764 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1802 |
op_container_end_page |
1822 |
_version_ |
1766243097199509504 |