Wave-like Patterns of Plant Phenology Determine Ungulate Movement Tactics

Aikens, Ellen O.; Mysterud, Atle; Merkle, Jerod A.; Cagnacci, Francesca; Rivrud, Inger Maren; Hebblewhite, Mark; Hurley, Mark A.; Peters, Wibke; Bergen, Scott; Groeve, Johannes De; Dwinnell, Samantha P. H.; Gehr, Benedikt; Heurich, Marco; Hewison, A. J. Mark; Jarnemo, Anders; Kjellander, Petter; Kröschel, Max; Licoppe, Alain; Linnell, John D. C.; Merrill, Evelyn H.; Middleton, Arthur D.; Morellet, Nicolas; Neufeld, Lalenia; Ortega, Anna C.; Parker, Katherine L.; Pedrotti, Luca; Proffitt, Kelly M.; Saïd, Sonia; Sawyer, Hall; Scurlock, Brandon M.; Signer, Johannes; Stent, Patrick; Šustr, Pavel; Szkorupa, Tara; Monteith, Kevin L.; Kauffman, Matthew J.

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.032

Cited by 62 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As the green‐up slowed, female ibex ceased their altitudinal migration, remaining at altitudes that experienced a delay in vegetation senescence, thus optimising resource acquisition up to the onset of winter (35th‐42nd week). Our evidence is one of the first demonstrations of the Green Wave Hypothesis for a Caprinae (but see Jesmer et al, 2018 ), as it was previously tested for grazers and intermediate feeders (Aikens et al, 2020 ; Bischof et al, 2012 ; Geremia et al, 2019 ; Merkle et al, 2016 ). Furthermore, our results indicate the importance for ibex of acquiring high quality resources also later in the season, exploiting delayed senescence of vegetation at high altitudes.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Behavioural heat‐stress compensation in a cold‐adapted ungulate: Forage‐mediated responses to warming Alpine summers

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alpine large herbivores have developed physiological and behavioural mechanisms to cope with fluctuations in climate and resource availability that may become maladaptive under climate warming. We tested this hypothesis in female Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) by modelling annual and daily movement and activity patterns in relation to temperature, vegetation productivity and reproductive status based on bio‐logging data and climate change projections. In summer, ibex moved upslope, tracking the green wave. Ibex decreased diel activity sharply above a threshold temperature of 13–14°C, indicating thermal stress, but compensated behaviourally by foraging both earlier and later in the day, and by moving further upslope than on cooler days, especially reproductive females. This critical temperature will be exceeded three times as often under climate change projections. Under such scenarios, the altitudinal extent of the area will limit the available habitat providing thermal shelter, potentially impacting performance and population distribution of this emblematic mountain ungulate.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…Climate affects mountain ungulates even indirectly, via spatio‐temporal variation of forage availability (Aikens et al, 2020 ). In a capital breeder, like Alpine ibex (Toïgo et al, 2002 ), fitness depends on cumulative resource acquisition throughout summer.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural heat‐stress compensation in a cold‐adapted ungulate: Forage‐mediated responses to warming Alpine summers

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The strong influence of long-term experience has important implications for our understanding of the evolution of longterm memory and migratory behavior (Mettke-Hofmann, 2014). Species migrate to access seasonally variable resources and being able to remember information about the location of resources on seasonal ranges, despite periodic absence, would be critical for exploiting them efficiently (Aikens et al, 2020). Migratory species have been shown to have greater capacity to store and utilize long-term memory, underscoring its importance in informing long distance movements (Mettke-Hofmann and Gwinner, 2003;Pravosudov et al, 2006;Mettke-Hofmann, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Some Memories Never Fade: Inferring Multi-Scale Memory Effects on Habitat Selection of a Migratory Ungulate Using Step-Selection Functions

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding how animals use information about their environment to make movement decisions underpins our ability to explain drivers of and predict animal movement. Memory is the cognitive process that allows species to store information about experienced landscapes, however, remains an understudied topic in movement ecology. By studying how species select for familiar locations, visited recently and in the past, we can gain insight to how they store and use local information in multiple memory types. In this study, we analyzed the movements of a migratory mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) population in the Piceance Basin of Colorado, United States to investigate the influence of spatial experience over different time scales on seasonal range habitat selection. We inferred the influence of short and long-term memory from the contribution to habitat selection of previous space use within the same season and during the prior year, respectively. We fit step-selection functions to GPS collar data from 32 female deer and tested the predictive ability of covariates representing current environmental conditions and both metrics of previous space use on habitat selection, inferring the latter as the influence of memory within and between seasons (summer vs. winter). Across individuals, models incorporating covariates representing both recent and past experience and environmental covariates performed best. In the top model, locations that had been previously visited within the same season and locations from previous seasons were more strongly selected relative to environmental covariates, which we interpret as evidence for the strong influence of both short- and long-term memory in driving seasonal range habitat selection. Further, the influence of previous space uses was stronger in the summer relative to winter, which is when deer in this population demonstrated strongest philopatry to their range. Our results suggest that mule deer update their seasonal range cognitive map in real time and retain long-term information about seasonal ranges, which supports the existing theory that memory is a mechanism leading to emergent space-use patterns such as site fidelity. Lastly, these findings provide novel insight into how species store and use information over different time scales.

show abstract

“…Because newly emergent plant material is nutrientrich and easily digested, these migrants can extend the window of high-quality forage access and increase fat reserves by tracking green-up through space (Middleton et al 2018). Recent evidence indicates that ungulates are able to more effectively track resource phenology when vegetation growth is rapid and progresses sequentially across the landscape, as is the case in many mountain settings (Aikens et al 2020). Evidence of resource tracking in landscapes of relief has also been reported in tortoises (Blake et al 2013), hares (Rehnus and Bollmann 2020), birds (Loiselle and Blake 1991), and human-ecological systems (Beck 1991).…”

Section: Niche Trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonality, niche management, and vertical migration in landscapes of relief

John¹,

Post²

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Landscapes of vertical relief, such as mountains and continental slopes, intensify ecological and climatological variation within narrow spatial windows. Seasonal vertical migrants exploit this variation during their residence in, and movements between, vertically stratified seasonal ranges. Animals in terrestrial, marine, and even human-ecological systems undergo similar patterns of seasonal vertical movements. The diversity of arenas in which vertical migration evolved lends insight to the factors promoting seasonal use of landscapes of relief. Because animals must contend with both endogenous circannual rhythms and exogenous environmental seasonality, vertical migrants may be sensitive to inconsistent change across stratified seasonal ranges under climate change. To better understand how ongoing and future climatic and environmental changes are likely to impact vertical migrants, we examine vertical migration in the context of niche tracking and niche switching. Whereas niche trackers minimize variation in realized environmental conditions throughout their seasonal movements, niche switchers undergo seasonal transitions in realized niche space. These strategies mediate the relationship between migrants and their changing environment, and can be used to forecast impacts of future change and effectively conserve systems of vertical migration. Niche tracking may be hindered by inconsistent or unpredictable environmental change along a single niche axis across strata, while niche switching may be sensitive to incongruous spatiotemporal change across factors. We suggest that climate change will affect seasonal patterns in vertical environments discontinuously across time, space, and strata, and that vertical migrants are likely to face additional anthropogenic threats that interact with environmental seasonality. Conservation of vertical migrants should prioritize the availability of, and facilitate movement between, stratified seasonal ranges.

show abstract

Wave-like Patterns of Plant Phenology Determine Ungulate Movement Tactics

Cited by 62 publications

References 33 publications

Behavioural heat‐stress compensation in a cold‐adapted ungulate: Forage‐mediated responses to warming Alpine summers

Behavioural heat‐stress compensation in a cold‐adapted ungulate: Forage‐mediated responses to warming Alpine summers

Some Memories Never Fade: Inferring Multi-Scale Memory Effects on Habitat Selection of a Migratory Ungulate Using Step-Selection Functions

Seasonality, niche management, and vertical migration in landscapes of relief

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About