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Temperature constraints on foraging behaviour of male Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) in summer

  • Behavioral Ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

In arctic and alpine environments, warm summer temperatures may force a reduction in foraging time of large herbivores, whose tolerance for heat is lower than for species adapted to warmer weather. We constructed time budgets for marked ibex (Capra ibex) males over two summers to test whether warm temperatures constrained foraging behaviour and forced altitudinal migrations. As daily temperature and solar radiation increased, feeding activity was reduced at midday and evening, but increased in the early morning, probably to anticipate for an expected reduction in foraging later in the day. With increasing temperature and solar radiation, ibex moved to higher elevations where they spent very little time feeding. Changes in forage quality and availability could not explain altitudinal migration. Temperatures above 15–20°C apparently result in heat discomfort in male Alpine ibex. As temperature and solar radiation increased, older and larger ibex spent less time feeding during daylight and showed a steeper decrease in feeding time than younger and smaller ibex. Larger males may be more sensitive to temperature and solar radiation, or may have more flexibility in allocating time to different activities, given their lower relative energetic requirements.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Vincent Careau, Chantale Caux and Karine Gauthier Hétu for their invaluable help in the field and to Fanie Pelletier, Bill Shipley and Dany Garant for advice on statistical analyses. We thank the administration and the park wardens of the Gran Paradiso National Park for help and logistic support, in particular chief warden Luigino Jocollé and park biologist Achaz von Hardenberg. Our research on ibex ecology is supported by The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the GPNP. Financial support was provided to J.-F.A. by the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies and by the Ministère de l’Éducation du Québec. This study complied with the current laws of the country in which it was performed.

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  1. Jean-François Aublet

    Present address: Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 boul. de l’Université, Sherbrooke, QC, J1K2R1, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 boul. de l’Université, Sherbrooke, QC, J1K2R1, Canada

    Marco Festa-Bianchet

  2. Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Epidemiologia ed Ecologia, Università di Torino, Via Leonardo Da Vinci, 44, 10095, Grugliasco, Turin, Italy

    Domenico Bergero

  3. Servizio sanitario e della Ricerca scientifica, Alpine Wildlife Center, Via della Rocca 47, 10126, Turin, Italy

    Bruno Bassano

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  1. Jean-François Aublet
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Correspondence to Jean-François Aublet.

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Communicated by Jean-Michel Gaillard.

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Aublet, JF., Festa-Bianchet, M., Bergero, D. et al. Temperature constraints on foraging behaviour of male Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) in summer. Oecologia 159, 237–247 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1198-4

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