4.4 Article

Spatial acclimation of elk during population restoration to the Missouri Ozarks, USA

期刊

ANIMAL CONSERVATION
卷 -, 期 -, 页码 -

出版社

WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/acv.12866

关键词

acclimation; movement behavior; reintroduction; resource selection; restoration; space use; translocation; ungulate

向作者/读者索取更多资源

Wildlife translocations are important but challenging for animals. Understanding how animals acclimate to their release landscapes can improve monitoring and management of translocated populations.
Wildlife translocations are an important conservation tool but can be challenging for the animals. For translocations to be successful, animals must adjust to their release landscape. Investigating how animals acclimate to their release landscapes can improve post-release monitoring and inform about the management needs of translocated populations. We investigated movements and resource selection dynamics of 106 elk (Cervus canadensis) during the first 6-8 years following their release to Missouri, USA in 2011-2013. We observed evidence of spatial acclimation as determined by cessation of changes in resource selection together with monthly range sizes and fidelity of individual elk. Females showed faster evidence of acclimation in their movements following release than males. Although range fidelity for both sexes stabilized within approximately seven months, range size stabilized within approximately three months for females and stabilization began within approximately 11 months for males. Selection for multiple resources by elk also largely stabilized within their first year following release. A simple refuge-forage trade-off alone did not explain acclimation in resource selection. Elk selected for high-quality food plots across the temporal extent of restoration regardless of time since release, whereas their selection for cover resources during summer increased after elk acclimated. Together, spatial acclimation generally lagged behind physiological responses observed in this system, adding to the increasing evidence that translocated animals display acclimation patterns across trait-specific time periods. Our approach demonstrates the utility of accounting for acclimation effects across multiple spatial response metrics for improving post-release monitoring, evaluation, and management of restored wildlife populations.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.4
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据