Resource selection and movement of male moose in response to varying levels of off‐road vehicle access

Brown, Casey L.; Kielland, Knut; Brinkman, Todd J.; Gilbert, Sophie L.; Euskirchen, Eugénie

doi:10.1002/ecs2.2405

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…During our study (2012-2016), 4.8% (n = 5) of collared moose mortalities were from human harvest. Other studies found ungulates used habitats providing cover during the hunting season (Bjørneraas et al 2011, Bonnot et al 2013, Brown et al 2018; however, we did not explicitly observe that behavior. Contrary to our prediction, moose selected for areas closer to roads in winter and spring.…”

Section: Habitat Selectioncontrasting

confidence: 70%

“…Female moose behave similarly in the fall, by avoiding roads yet using habitat with increased forage availability (i.e., wetlands, cutblocks). Brown et al (2018) reported that during the hunting season in Alaska, hunter access from trails and roads affected male moose movement and habitat selection to avoid risk. Although licensed harvest is predominately focused on male moose in our study area, we anticipate female moose to behave similarly in the fall because of the risk of mortality from subsistence harvest.…”

Section: Habitat Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Female Moose Prioritize Forage Over Mortality Risk in Harvested Landscapes

et al. 2020

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Since 2010, several moose (Alces alces) populations have declined across North America. These declines are believed to be broadly related to climate and landscape change. At the western reaches of moose continental range, in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, wildlife managers have reported widespread declines of moose populations. Disturbances to forests from a mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonum ponderosae) outbreak and associated salvage logging infrastructure in British Columbia are suspected as a mechanism manifested in moose behavior and habitat selection. We examined seasonal differences in moose habitat selection in response to landscape change from mountain pine beetle salvage logging infrastructure: dense road networks and large intensive forest harvest cutblocks. We used 157,447 global positioning system locations from 83 adult female moose from 2012 to 2016 on the Bonaparte Plateau at the southern edge of the Interior Plateau of central British Columbia to test whether increased forage availability, landscape features associated with increased mortality risk, or the cumulative effects of salvage logging best explain female moose distribution using resource selection functions in an informationtheoretic framework. We tested these hypotheses across biological seasons, defined using a cluster analysis framework. The cumulative effects of forage availability and risk best predicted resource selection of female moose in all seasons; however, the covariates included in the cumulative models varied between seasons. The top forage availability model better explained moose habitat use than the top risk model in all seasons, except for the calving and fall seasons where the top risk model (distance to road) better predicted moose space use. Selection of habitat that provides forage in winter, spring, and summer suggests that moose seasonally trade predation risk for the benefits of foraging in early seral vegetation communities in highly disturbed landscapes. Our results identified the need for intensive landscape-scale management to stem moose population declines. Additional research is needed on predator densities, space use, and calf survival in relation to salvage logging infrastructure.

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Section: Habitat Selectioncontrasting

confidence: 70%

Section: Habitat Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female Moose Prioritize Forage Over Mortality Risk in Harvested Landscapes

et al. 2020

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“…To quantify the phenology of changes in elk behavior associated with exposure to human hunters, we modeled the speed of elk movements (m/30 min) using quantile regression (Cribari-Neto and Zeileis 2010). We chose movement rates as our first focal metric because in ungulates it is more sensitive than resource selection as an indicator of behavioral change in response to hunting pressure (i.e., animals may be displaced without changing their resource selection behavior, but animals that change their resource selection must necessarily alter their spatial distribution; Brown et al 2018). This approach allowed us to quantify changes in the magnitude and variation of elk movements across hunt periods and treatments.…”

Section: Durationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral changes and nutritional consequences to elk (Cervus canadensis) avoiding perceived risk from human hunters

et al. 2019

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The life‐and‐death stakes of predator–prey encounters justify the high price of many anti‐predator behaviors. In adopting these behaviors, prey incur substantial non‐consumptive costs that can have population‐level consequences. Because prey knowledge of risk is imperfect, individuals may even adopt these costly behaviors in the absence of a real threat. For example, rather than only avoid hunters, many species categorically avoid all anthropogenic activity. Although hunting seasons only increase risk for specific individuals (e.g., males), non‐target individuals may still perceive human hunters as a source of risk and respond accordingly. Here, we used a large‐scale experiment including 89 animal‐years of location data from 62 unique individuals over 6 yr to quantify the duration, magnitude, and energetic consequences of changes to movement and resource selection behavior adopted by non‐target female elk (Cervus canadensis) in response to human hunters during three separate experimental 5‐d hunts (elk archery, deer rifle (Odocoileus hemionus or Odocoileus virginianus), and elk rifle). We predicted that elk response to hunters would be brief, but that strong behavioral responses to hunters (e.g., strengthened avoidance of roads and trails) would carry nutritional costs. We measured the duration of hunt‐related changes in elk speed using quantile regression, further quantified the strength of elk behavioral responses to hunters using population‐level resource selection functions, and evaluated whether anti‐predator resource selection behavior translated to measurable metabolic costs in the form of reduced body fat heading into winter. Elk responses to human hunters were stronger in the day than at night and were generally more pronounced during the elk hunts than during deer hunts. During hunts, elk shifted their diurnal behavior to avoid forage and intensified their avoidance of roads and trails. The combination of these changes in behavior led to a predicted pattern of distribution during the hunt that differed substantially from the distribution prior to the hunt. Lactating females that more strongly avoided roads entered winter in poorer nutritional condition, suggesting that the changes in resource selection we describe carry corresponding nutritional costs that have the potential to impact subsequent population performance.

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“…Habitat selection using mixed-effect models can also be inferred at the population level (marginal inference) as well as the group or individual level (conditional inference; Muff et al 2016). We used a point-based approach in step selection modeling opposed to a path-based approach (Boyce et al 2003) and paired each hourly use point with five random steps (Thurfjell et al 2014, Brown et al 2018) starting from the same point of origin. We generated random step points by sampling from the observed distributions of step length and relative turning angle.…”

Section: Analysis Of Habitat Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual heterogeneity in resource selection has implications for mortality risk in white‐tailed deer

et al. 2020

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Individual animals vary in their selection of habitat as a function of sex, age, and experience. Such individual heterogeneity is important when decomposing segments of the population that may or may not respond to habitat or population management, or when targeting management that has greater potential for increasing demographic responses (e.g., survival). We examined individual heterogeneity in habitat selection during the hunting season using multilevel step selection models for 59 adult (≥2.5 yr old) white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) of both sexes. We used fractal analysis to determine the scale at which animals perceived and responded to the landscape, and modeled selection using covariates for use of agriculture, wetland, edge, forest interior, and distance to road. We tested for differences in individualspecific habitat selection between age classes and modeled survival as a function of individual-specific selection using proportional hazard modeling. At the population level, males selected for agriculture and forest interior and avoided roads, while adult females selected for agriculture. Individual-specific selection of forest interior differed between age classes in males, with mature males selecting interior forest less frequently than immature males. Risk of mortality was related negatively to individual-specific selection for wetland areas in males and forest interior for females. No habitat variables that were selected for or avoided at the population level influenced mortality risk at the individual level, suggesting management efforts based on traditional population-level analysis may be misguided. Managers attempting to influence population dynamics via habitat and harvest management should be aware of the substantial heterogeneity in habitat selection among individual animals before implementing costly practices that may not be effective for their objectives.

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Resource selection and movement of male moose in response to varying levels of off‐road vehicle access

Cited by 12 publications

References 47 publications

Female Moose Prioritize Forage Over Mortality Risk in Harvested Landscapes

Female Moose Prioritize Forage Over Mortality Risk in Harvested Landscapes

Behavioral changes and nutritional consequences to elk (Cervus canadensis) avoiding perceived risk from human hunters

Individual heterogeneity in resource selection has implications for mortality risk in white‐tailed deer

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