Partial migration or just habitat selection? Seasonal movements of roe deer in an Alpine population

Gaudry, William; Saı̈d, Sonia; Gaillard, Jean‐Michel; Chevrier, Thierry; Loison, Anne; Maillard, Daniel; Bonenfant, Christophe

doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyv055

Cited by 33 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…For example, it has been suggested that niche dimensions that are being followed are narrower and seasonally variable, while niche dimensions that are being switched are broader and static in time, but variable in space (Laube et al 2015). While we provide first insights into niche switching by migrants characterizing niches in n dimensions using static variables only, other studies using time-variant variables in only one niche dimension (NDVI) have suggested that migratory as well as resident large herbivores follow gradients of plant green-up as expected in temperate environments (Bischof et al 2012, Gaudry et al 2015. Consequently, we would expect niche switching for both migrants as well as residents between seasons when comparing niche dimensions of time-variant variables, such as time-matched NDVI, in seasonal temperate habitats (Mancinelli et al 2015).…”

Section: Objective 1: Describing Patterns Of Migration Plasticity: Tomentioning

confidence: 72%

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Migration in geographic and ecological space by a large herbivore

Peters

Hebblewhite

Mysterud

et al. 2017

Ecological Monographs

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Partial migration, when only part of the population migrates seasonally while the other part remains resident on the shared range, is the most common form of migration in ungulates. Migration is often defined by spatial separation of seasonal ranges and consequently, classification of individuals as migrants or residents is usually only based on geographic criteria. However, the underlying mechanism for migration is hypothesized to be movement in response to spatiotemporal resource variability and thus, migrants are assumed to travel an “ecological distance” (ED) or shift their realized ecological niches. While ecological and geographic distances should be related, their relationship may depend on landscape heterogeneity. Here, we tested the utility of ecological niche theory to both classify migratory individuals and to understand the underlying ecological factors for migratory behavior. We developed an integrative approach combining measures in geographic and ecological niche space and used this to classify and explain migratory behavior of 71 annual roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) movement trajectories in five European study areas. First, to assess the utility of the ED concept for classifying migratory behavior, we tested whether roe deer sought the same ecological conditions year‐round or moved to different ecological conditions by measuring the annual ED travelled and the seasonal niche overlap using multivariate statistics. Comparing methods to classify migrants and residents based on geographic and ecological niche space, we found that migratory roe deer switched between seasons both in geographic and in ecological dimensions. Second, we tested which seasonal ecological factors separated resident from migrant niches using discriminant analysis and which broad‐scale determinants (e.g., spatiotemporal forage variation and population density) predicted migration probability using generalized linear models. Our results indicated that factors describing forage and topographic variability discriminated seasonal migrant from resident niches. Determinants for predicting migration probability included the temporal variation (seasonality) and also the spatial variability of forage patches. Last, we also found suggestive evidence for a positive relationship between population density and migration probability. By applying the ecological niche concept to the study of partial migration in ungulates, our work underlines that partial migration is a form of behavioral plasticity.

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Section: Objective 1: Describing Patterns Of Migration Plasticity: Tomentioning

confidence: 72%

“…, Gaudry et al. ). Consequently, we would expect niche switching for both migrants as well as residents between seasons when comparing niche dimensions of time‐variant variables, such as time‐matched NDVI, in seasonal temperate habitats (Mancinelli et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migration in geographic and ecological space by a large herbivore

Peters

Hebblewhite

Mysterud

et al. 2017

Ecological Monographs

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“…While our study focused on herbs, shrubs, and trees native to the Western Cascades, the effect of advanced phenology is not limited to a single trophic level, and the negative effects of trophic asynchronies have been documented around the world (Walther et al 2002, Parmesan and Yohe 2003, Visser and Both 2005, Both et al 2009, Aldridge et al 2011, Forrest and Thomson 2011. Areas of topographic heterogeneity typically display a strong gradient in spring plant phenology (Hwang et al 2011), which may mitigate the effects of regional warming for mobile organisms like birds or mammals (Gaudry et al 2015, Frey et al 2016a). However, in 2015, a potential analogue of future winter weather and snowpack dynamics, the timing of spring plant phenology became much less varied across the landscape; it is possible that such loss of variation could lead to more widespread consequences and trophic asynchronies than in years in which early season microclimate and phenological diversity are maintained (e.g., 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

A long‐term perspective on microclimate and spring plant phenology in the Western Cascades

Ward

Schulze²,

Roy

2018

Ecosphere

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Phenology-recurring seasonal events in an organism's life cycle-is largely driven by local climates <1 km 2 (microclimates), and changes in phenology are frequently used to indicate a species' or community response to climate change. Phenological shifts can result in trophic asynchrony, population declines of higher-level consumers, and reduction of plant fitness. While timing of phenological events is often correlated with elevation, studies have shown that microclimates created by areas of heterogeneous topography can be decoupled from regional climate patterns and that the distribution of microclimates does not always follow the elevation gradient. To examine the interaction between regional weather patterns and microclimate, and the subsequent effect of microclimate on phenology, we conducted standardized weekly spring phenology surveys of 18 native forest plants at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the Western Cascades from 2009 to 2016. We saw a high degree of inter-annual variability of microclimate within and across sites, resulting in a changing pattern of microclimate diversity across the landscape from year to year. Most importantly, we saw that years with regional conditions predicted by continued climate change showed a loss of diversity in both microclimate and phenological events, with a more rapid advancement in bud break occurring at higher elevation sites. This study highlights the importance of understanding the interactions between regional and local processes that determine microclimate conditions and how those conditions influence patterns of plant phenology within forest communities, across mountain landscapes and over time, with implications for the capacity of mountainous regions to buffer local communities against the effects of climate change.

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“…In evaluating correspondence between migrant predictions and observed resident locations, the largest discrepancy we observed occurred at the second order (Table 1B), emphasizing that migration in this system can be conceptualized primarily as a form of home range selection: a seasonal choice between high-elevation resident or low-elevation migrant winter ranges. Studying Roe deer Capreolus capreolus, Gaudry et al (2015) demonstrated that finer-scale selection can also produce the appearance of partial migration, but these authors argued that within-home-range selection lacks the station keeping behaviour typically required by most definitions of migration. Thus, the behaviours required to maintain partial migration operate at either the second order (conditional migrants) or the first order (where migratory behaviour is canalized; Gaudry et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studying Roe deer Capreolus capreolus, Gaudry et al (2015) demonstrated that finer-scale selection can also produce the appearance of partial migration, but these authors argued that within-home-range selection lacks the station keeping behaviour typically required by most definitions of migration. Thus, the behaviours required to maintain partial migration operate at either the second order (conditional migrants) or the first order (where migratory behaviour is canalized; Gaudry et al, 2015). Despite significant behavioural differences between migrant and resident resource selection, we observed a positive relationship between migrant predictions and observed resident locations at the population and within-home-range scales (first order and second order; Table 1B).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat predicts local prevalence of migratory behaviour in an alpine ungulate

Spitz

Hebblewhite

Stephenson

2020

Journal of Animal Ecology

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The resource hierarchy hypothesis predicts that the most important factors limiting a species’ distribution act at the coarsest spatial scales. However, resource selection behaviour affords mobile organisms the opportunity to adopt a range of tactics for navigating spatial trade‐offs between competing biotic and abiotic constraints. Throughout the animal kingdom, partial migration (where some individuals migrate, and others remain resident year round) offers a pervasive example of such behavioural polymorphism. Identifying the differences between these behaviours is therefore central to understanding the conditions (habitat) needed to sustain migrant and resident populations. Here we test an extension of the resource hierarchy hypothesis. We hypothesized that rather than responding to a single limiting factor, migration and residency represent contrasting scale‐specific approaches to managing trade‐offs between forage, predation risk and severe winter conditions. Furthermore, we predicted that the distribution of habitat selected by migrants and residents is predictive of the local prevalence of migratory behaviour. To test these hypotheses, we quantified migratory status‐ (resident/migrant) and season‐specific (winter/summer) differences in resource selection by eight populations of federally endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep Ovis canadensis sierrae across three spatial scales: population range, individual range and within individual range. We then integrated these spatial predictions to produce separate spatial predictions of migrant and resident winter habitat. As predicted, model selection provided strong evidence for the importance of status‐specific differences in resource selection. Residents showed stronger coarse‐scale selection for terrain associated with predator avoidance and stronger fine‐scale selection for greenness, while in migrants this pattern was reversed. Availability of migrant habitat predicted the local prevalence of migration (top model pseudo R2 of .87). Our ability to respond to global declines of migratory species depends on improving our understanding of the conditions required to maintain migratory behaviour. Through explicitly contrasting migrant and resident behaviour, our results illustrate seasonal differences in migrant and resident habitat and how these two behaviours represent responses to different limiting conditions. Our analyses provides a novel empirical basis for assessing the local prevalence of migratory behaviour across large landscapes.

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Partial migration or just habitat selection? Seasonal movements of roe deer in an Alpine population

Cited by 33 publications

References 46 publications

Migration in geographic and ecological space by a large herbivore

Migration in geographic and ecological space by a large herbivore

A long‐term perspective on microclimate and spring plant phenology in the Western Cascades

Habitat predicts local prevalence of migratory behaviour in an alpine ungulate

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