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Habitat functional response mitigates reduced foraging opportunity: implications for animal fitness and space use

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Abstract

Context

Animals selectively use landscapes to meet their energetic needs, and trade-offs in habitat use may depend on availability and environmental conditions. For example, habitat selection at high temperatures may favor thermal cover at the cost of reduced foraging efficiency under consistently warm conditions.

Objective

Our objective was to examine habitat selection and space use in distinct populations of moose (Alces alces). Hypothesizing that endotherm fitness is constrained by heat dissipation efficiency, we predicted that southerly populations would exhibit greater selection for thermal cover and reduced selection for foraging habitat.

Methods

We estimated individual step selection functions with shrinkage for 134 adult female moose in Minnesota, USA, and 64 in Ontario, Canada, to assess habitat selection with variation in temperature, time of day, and habitat availability. We averaged model coefficients within each site to quantify selection strength for habitats differing in forage availability and thermal cover.

Results

Moose in Ontario favored deciduous and mixedwood forest, indicating selection for foraging habitat across both diel and temperature. Habitat selection patterns of moose in Minnesota were more dynamic and indicated time- and temperature-dependent trade-offs between use of foraging habitat and thermal cover.

Conclusions

We detected a scale-dependent functional response in habitat selection driven by the trade-off between selection for foraging habitat and thermal cover. Landscape composition and internal state interact to produce complex patterns of space use, and animals exposed to increasingly high temperatures may mitigate fitness losses from reduced foraging efficiency by increasing selection for foraging habitat in sub-prime foraging landscapes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank E.J. Isaac and J. Hagens for arranging data availability. This work was funded by the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Mississippi State University, Box 9690, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA

    Garrett M. Street

  2. Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 2003 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN, 55117, USA

    John Fieberg & James D. Forester

  3. Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, Canada

    Arthur R. Rodgers

  4. Division of Fish and Wildlife, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 5463-C West Broadway, Forest Lake, MN, 55025, USA

    Michelle Carstensen

  5. Natural Resources Institute, University of Minnesota-Duluth, 5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN, 55811, USA

    Ron Moen

  6. Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 27 Store Road, Grand Portage, MN, 55605, USA

    Seth A. Moore

  7. National Park Service, Voyageurs National Park, 360 Highway 11 East, International Falls, MN, 56649, USA

    Steve K. Windels

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  1. Garrett M. Street
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  2. John Fieberg
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  3. Arthur R. Rodgers
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  4. Michelle Carstensen
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  8. James D. Forester
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Garrett M. Street.

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Street, G.M., Fieberg, J., Rodgers, A.R. et al. Habitat functional response mitigates reduced foraging opportunity: implications for animal fitness and space use. Landscape Ecol 31, 1939–1953 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-016-0372-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-016-0372-z

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