Mapping out a future for ungulate migrations

Kauffman, Matthew J.; Cagnacci, Francesca; Chamaillé‐Jammes, Simon; Hebblewhite, Mark; Hopcraft, J. Grant C.; Merkle, Jerod A.; Mueller, Thomas; Mysterud, Atle; Peters, Wibke; Roettger, Christiane; Steingisser, Alethea; Meacham, James E.; Abera, Kasahun; Adamczewski, Jan; Aikens, Ellen O.; Bartlam‐Brooks, Hattie L. A.; Bennitt, Emily; Berger, Joël; Boyd, Charlotte; Côté, Steeve D.; Debeffe, Lucie; Dekrout, Andrea; Dejid, Nandintsetseg; Donadío, Emiliano; Dziba, Luthando; Fagan, William F.; Fischer, Claude; Focardi, Stefano; Fryxell, John M.; Fynn, Richard W.S.; Geremia, Chris; González, Benito A.; Gunn, Anne; Gurarie, Elie; Heurich, Marco; Hilty, Jodi A.; Hurley, Mark A.; Johnson, Aran; Joly, Kyle; Kaczensky, Petra; Kendall, Corinne J.; Kochkarev, Pavel; Kolpaschikov, Leonid; Kowalczyk, Rafał; Langevelde, Frank van; Li, Binbin V.; Lobora, Alex; Loison, Anne; Madiri, Tinaapi H.; Mallon, David; Marchand, Pascal; Medellín, Rodrigo A.; Meisingset, Erling L.; Merrill, Evelyn H.; Middleton, Arthur D.; Monteith, Kevin L.; Morjan, Malik D.; Morrison, Thomas A.; Mumme, Steffen; Naidoo, Robin; Novaro, Andrés J.; Ogutu, Joseph O.; Olson, Kirk A.; Oteng-Yeboah, A.; Ovejero, Ramiro; Owen‐Smith, Norman; Paasivaara, Antti; Packer, Craig; Panchenko, Danila; Pedrotti, Luca; Plumptre, Andrew J.; Rolandsen, Christer Moe; Saïd, Sonia; Salemgareyev, Albert; Савченко, А. П.; Savchenko, P. A.; Sawyer, Hall; Selebatso, Moses; Skroch, Matthew; Solberg, Erling Johan; Stabach, Jared A.; Strand, Olav; Suitor, Michael J.; Tachiki, Yasuyuki; Trainor, Anne M.; Tshipa, Arnold; Virani, Munir Z.; Vynne, Carly; Ward, Stéphanie; Wittemyer, George; Xu, Wenjing; Zuther, Steffen

doi:10.1126/science.abf0998

Cited by 75 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Our study adds caribou to the growing list of ungulates that exhibit individual-level migratory plasticity [ 18 , 19 , 97 – 101 ]. New efforts to map ungulate migrations seek to increase awareness of the threats to ungulate migration and to provide data to support their conservation and management [ 102 ]. Understanding dynamics of migratory behavior, destination, and timing plays an important role in supporting such goals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in winter site fidelity within and among individuals influences movement behavior in a partially migratory ungulate

Fullman¹,

Person

Prichard

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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Many animals migrate to take advantage of temporal and spatial variability in resources. These benefits are offset with costs like increased energetic expenditure and travel through unfamiliar areas. Differences in the cost-benefit ratio for individuals may lead to partial migration with one portion of a population migrating while another does not. We investigated migration dynamics and winter site fidelity for a long-distance partial migrant, barren ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti) of the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd in northern Alaska. We used GPS telemetry for 76 female caribou over 164 annual movement trajectories to identify timing and location of migration and winter use, proportion of migrants, and fidelity to different herd wintering areas. We found within-individual variation in movement behavior and wintering area use by the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd, adding caribou to the growing list of ungulates that can exhibit migratory plasticity. Using a first passage time–net squared displacement approach, we classified 78.7% of annual movement paths as migration, 11.6% as residency, and 9.8% as another strategy. Timing and distance of migration varied by season and wintering area. Duration of migration was longer for fall migration than for spring, which may relate to the latter featuring more directed movement. Caribou utilized four wintering areas, with multiple areas used each year. This variation occurred not just among different individuals, but state sequence analyses indicated low fidelity of individuals to wintering areas among years. Variability in movement behavior can have fitness consequences. As caribou face the pressures of a rapidly warming Arctic and ongoing human development and activities, further research is needed to investigate what factors influence this diversity of behaviors in Alaska and across the circumpolar Arctic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in winter site fidelity within and among individuals influences movement behavior in a partially migratory ungulate

Fullman¹,

Person

Prichard

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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“…Rapid environmental change, both global warming and increased anthropogenic development, is causing severe and dramatic impacts to the widespread and generally successful strategy of seasonal migration for many taxa, and the fate of many animal migrations is a topic of increasing concern (Wilcove and Wikelski, 2008;Kauffman et al, 2021). The ability of animals to respond to these changes depends deeply on their behavioral plasticity and cognitive abilities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the question of whether migratory animals are more or less resilient to environmental disruptions in the environment remains open and largely case-specific (Moore and Huntington, 2008;Hardesty-Moore et al, 2018;Xu et al, 2021). On the one hand, migratory species may be more vulnerable as disruptions in either of the seasonal ranges or along a migratory corridor can have significant negative impacts (Wilcove and Wikelski, 2008;Seebacher and Post, 2015;Kauffman et al, 2021). On the other hand, migratory species might be more resilient due to their general wide-ranging mobility (Robinson et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Memories of Migrations Past: Sociality and Cognition in Dynamic, Seasonal Environments

et al. 2021

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Seasonal migrations are a widespread and broadly successful strategy for animals to exploit periodic and localized resources over large spatial scales. It remains an open and largely case-specific question whether long-distance migrations are resilient to environmental disruptions. High levels of mobility suggest an ability to shift ranges that can confer resilience. On the other hand, a conservative, hard-wired commitment to a risky behavior can be costly if conditions change. Mechanisms that contribute to migration include identification and responsiveness to resources, sociality, and cognitive processes such as spatial memory and learning. Our goal was to explore the extent to which these factors interact not only to maintain a migratory behavior but also to provide resilience against environmental changes. We develop a diffusion-advection model of animal movement in which an endogenous migratory behavior is modified by recent experiences via a memory process, and animals have a social swarming-like behavior over a range of spatial scales. We found that this relatively simple framework was able to adapt to a stable, seasonal resource dynamic under a broad range of parameter values. Furthermore, the model was able to acquire an adaptive migration behavior with time. However, the resilience of the process depended on all the parameters under consideration, with many complex trade-offs. For example, the spatial scale of sociality needed to be large enough to capture changes in the resource, but not so large that the acquired collective information was overly diluted. A long-term reference memory was important for hedging against a highly stochastic process, but a higher weighting of more recent memory was needed for adapting to directional changes in resource phenology. Our model provides a general and versatile framework for exploring the interaction of memory, movement, social and resource dynamics, even as environmental conditions globally are undergoing rapid change.

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“…It has also been shown that lowdensity counterurbanization can have positive effects on animal biodiversity (insects, birds and mammals), especially when there is a newcomer attitude toward conservation (Hansen et al 2005;Bock and Bock 2009), although their species composition differs from natural environments with a high proportion of urban adapted species (Suarez-Rubio et al 2011). Also, certain negative outcomes for wildlife, such as disease transmission by domestic animals, or reduction of top carnivore and ungulate populations due to fences and roads could also occur (Hansen et al 2005;Kauffman et al 2021).…”

Section: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Counterurbanization: A neglected pathway of forest transition

Jimenez

Aráoz

Fernández

et al. 2021

Ambio

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Human settlement into rural areas (counterurbanization) is generating new patterns of reforestation, with distinctive features compared to the previously considered pathways of forest transition through ''economic development'' and ''forest scarcity''. Here, we discuss the specific features of this neglected pathway of forest recovery and describe the process with the support of study cases around the world. This pathway includes specific motivations (e.g., natural amenities, outdoor recreation), particular socio-economic processes, conflicts between newcomers and locals, and specific ecological outcomes (e.g., a larger proportion of non-native species in the new forests). Although this pathway locally affects small areas, as a widespread and expanding process around the world, counterurbanization could have a growing global effect, with the potential to modify biodiversity, ecosystem services, and cultural values. These novel characteristics should be further explored to better understand the patterns and processes of forest transitions in a context of a globally connected world.

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Mapping out a future for ungulate migrations

Abstract: Limited mapping of migrations hampers conservation

Cited by 75 publications

References 18 publications

Variation in winter site fidelity within and among individuals influences movement behavior in a partially migratory ungulate

Variation in winter site fidelity within and among individuals influences movement behavior in a partially migratory ungulate

Memories of Migrations Past: Sociality and Cognition in Dynamic, Seasonal Environments

Counterurbanization: A neglected pathway of forest transition

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