Preference and familiarity mediate spatial responses of a large herbivore to experimental manipulation of resource availability.

Scientific Reports
Nathan RancFrancesca Cagnacci

Abstract

The link between spatio-temporal resource patterns and animal movement behaviour is a key ecological process, however, limited experimental support for this connection has been produced at the home range scale. In this study, we analysed the spatial responses of a resident large herbivore (roe deer Capreolus capreolus) using an in situ manipulation of a concentrated food resource. Specifically, we experimentally altered feeding site accessibility to roe deer and recorded (for 25 animal-years) individual responses by GPS tracking. We found that, following the loss of their preferred resource, roe deer actively tracked resource dynamics leading to more exploratory movements, and larger, spatially-shifted home ranges. Then, we showed, for the first time experimentally, the importance of site fidelity in the maintenance of large mammal home ranges by demonstrating the return of individuals to their familiar, preferred resource despite the presence of alternate, equally-valuable food resources. This behaviour was modulated at the individual level, where roe deer characterised by a high preference for feeding sites exhibited more pronounced behavioural adjustments during the manipulation. Together, our results establish the connectio...Continue Reading

References

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Citations

Oct 24, 2020·Journal of Medical Entomology·Maria A Diuk-WasserMaria P Fernandez
Feb 23, 2021·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Nathan RancPaul R Moorcroft
Apr 11, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Nathan RancFrancesca Cagnacci
May 7, 2021·PeerJ·Johannes Signer, John R Fieberg

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