The spatial structure of habitat selection: A caribou's-eye-view

Greater understanding of habitat selection requires investigation at the scales at which organisms perceive and respond to their environment. Such knowledge could reveal the relative importance of factors limiting populations and the extent of response to habitat changes, and so guide conservation initiatives. We conducted a novel, spatially explicit analysis of winter habitat selection by caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in Newfoundland, Canada, to elucidate the spatial scales of habitat selection. We combined conventional hierarchical habitat analysis with a newly developed geospatial approach that quantifies selection across scales as the difference in variance between available and used sites. We used both ordination and univariate analyses of lichen and plant cover, snow hardness and depth. This represents the first use of ordination with geostatistics for the assessment of habitat selection. Caribou habitat selection was driven by shallow, soft snow and high cover of Cladina lichens and was strongest at feeding microsites (craters) and broader feeding areas. Habitat selection was most evident at distance lags of up to 15 km, perhaps an indication of the perceptual abilities of caribou.

[1]  Vilis O. Nams,et al.  Determining the spatial scale for conservation purposes – an example with grizzly bears , 2006 .

[2]  J. A. Schaefer,et al.  Habitat selection as a hierarchy: the spatial scales of winter foraging by muskoxen , 1995 .

[3]  S. J. Mayor,et al.  The many faces of population density , 2005, Oecologia.

[4]  Kevin McGarigal,et al.  The influence of research scale on bald eagle habitat selection along the lower Hudson River, New York (USA) , 2002, Landscape Ecology.

[5]  Monica G. Turner,et al.  Landscape Heterogeneity and Ungulate Dynamics: What Spatial Scales are Important? , 1997 .

[6]  S. Mahoney,et al.  Hydroelectric development and the disruption of migration in caribou , 2002 .

[7]  Monica G. Turner,et al.  Scale and heterogeneity in habitat selection by elk in Yellowstone National Park , 2003 .

[8]  A. R. Johnson,et al.  A hierarchical framework for the analysis of scale , 1989, Landscape Ecology.

[9]  John A. Bissonette,et al.  Wildlife and Landscape Ecology , 1997, Springer New York.

[10]  David Turner,et al.  SPSS Version 14 , 2005 .

[11]  Dc Schneider,et al.  Patchiness of epibenthic megafauna on the outer Grand Banks of Newfoundland , 1987 .

[12]  B. Pond,et al.  Woodland Caribou Extirpation and Anthropogenic Landscape Disturbance in Ontario , 2007 .

[13]  Mark S. Boyce,et al.  A quantitative approach to conservation planning: using resource selection functions to map the distribution of mountain caribou at multiple spatial scales , 2004 .

[14]  Nicolas Morellet,et al.  The spatial scale of habitat selection by red deer , 2008 .

[15]  R. Courtois,et al.  Linking moose habitat selection to limiting factors , 2005 .

[16]  M. Boyce,et al.  Relating populations to habitats using resource selection functions. , 1999, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[17]  R. Cattell.  The Scree Test For The Number Of Factors. , 1966, Multivariate behavioral research.

[18]  Charles E. McCulloch,et al.  MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS IN ECOLOGY AND SYSTEMATICS: PANACEA OR PANDORA'S BOX? , 1990 .

[19]  A. Mysterud,et al.  Scale-dependent trade-offs in foraging by European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) during winter , 1999 .

[20]  S. J. Mayor,et al.  Geostatistics reveal the scale of habitat selection , 2007 .

[21]  Mark S. Boyce,et al.  Scale for resource selection functions , 2006 .

[22]  C. Nellemann,et al.  Cumulative Impacts of Tourist Resorts on Wild Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) during Winter , 2000 .

[23]  Douglas H. Johnson.  THE COMPARISON OF USAGE AND AVAILABILITY MEASUREMENTS FOR EVALUATING RESOURCE PREFERENCE , 1980 .

[24]  C. Gates,et al.  Limiting effects of snow on seasonal habitat use and diets of caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) on Coats Island, Northwest Territories, Canada , 1988 .

[25]  Monica G. Turner,et al.  Scale detection in real and artificial landscapes using semivariance analysis , 1998, Landscape Ecology.

[26]  Martin L. Cody,et al.  Habitat selection in birds , 1986 .

[27]  J. Wiens.  Population Responses to Patchy Environments , 1976 .

[28]  Derek W. Bailey,et al.  Large Herbivore Foraging and Ecological HierarchiesLandscape ecology can enhance traditional foraging theory , 1987 .

[29]  Laurance,et al.  Do edge effects occur over large spatial scales? , 2000, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[30]  S P Mahoney,et al.  Spectrum of selection: new approaches to detecting the scale-dependent response to habitat. , 2007, Ecology.

[31]  J. W. O. Pruitt.  Snow as a Factor in the Winter Ecology of the Barren Ground Caribou ( Rangifer arcticus ) , 1959 .

[32]  Graeme Caughley,et al.  Conservation Biology in Theory and Practice , 1996 .

[33]  G. Matheron.  Principles of geostatistics , 1963 .

[34]  R. William Mannan,et al.  Multiscaled habitat selection by elegant trogons in southeastern Arizona , 1999 .

[35]  G. Fry,et al.  The shared landscape: what does aesthetics have to do with ecology? , 2007, Landscape Ecology.

[36]  F. Messier,et al.  Hierarchical habitat selection by woodland caribou: its relationship to limiting factors , 2000 .

[37]  A. T. Bergerud.  Relative abundance of food in winter for Newfoundland caribou , 1974 .

[38]  Michael S. Rosenberg,et al.  Conceptual and Mathematical Relationships among Methods for Spatial Analysis , 2022 .

[39]  Marie-Josée Fortin,et al.  Spatial autocorrelation and sampling design in plant ecology , 1989, Vegetatio.

[40]  J. A. Schaefer,et al.  Fire and woodland caribou in southeastern Manitoba , 1991 .

[41]  O. Hildén,et al.  Habitat Selection in Birds , 1934, Nature.

[42]  Douglas W. Morris,et al.  Ecological Scale and Habitat Use , 1987 .

[43]  E. F. Galiano.  Detection of multi-species patterns in plant populations , 1983, Vegetatio.

[44]  Mark J. Whittingham,et al.  Habitat selection by yellowhammers Emberiza citrinella on lowland farmland at two spatial scales: implications for conservation management , 2005 .

[45]  J. A. Schaefer,et al.  Effects of Progressive Clearcut Logging on Newfoundland Caribou , 2007 .

[46]  J. Kie,et al.  Effects of scale on interpreting life‐history characteristics of ungulates and carnivores , 2006 .

[47]  Deborah A. Jenkins,et al.  Winter Resource Selection of Reintroduced Elk and Sympatric White-tailed Deer at Multiple Spatial Scales , 2007 .