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Edelhoff H, Milleret C, Ebert C, Dupont P, Kudernatsch T, Zollner A, Bischof R, Peters W. Sexual segregation results in pronounced sex-specific density gradients in the mountain ungulate, Rupicapra rupicapra. Commun Biol 2023; 6:979. [PMID: 37749272 PMCID: PMC10520025 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05313-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Sex-specific differences in habitat selection and space use are common in ungulates. Yet, it is largely unknown how this behavioral dimorphism, ultimately leading to sexual segregation, translates to population-level patterns and density gradients across landscapes. Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra r.) predominantly occupy habitat above tree line, yet especially males may also take advantage of forested habitats. To estimate male and female chamois density and determinants thereof, we applied Bayesian spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models in two contrasting study areas in the Alps, Germany, during autumn. We fitted SCR models to non-invasive individual encounter data derived from genotyped feces. Sex-specific densities were modeled as a function of terrain ruggedness, forest canopy cover, proportion of barren ground, and site severity. We detected pronounced differences in male and female density patterns, driven primarily by terrain ruggedness, rather than by sex-specific effects of canopy cover. The positive effect of ruggedness on density was weaker for males which translated into a higher proportion of males occupying less variable terrain, frequently located in forests, compared to females. By estimating sex-specific variation in both detection probabilities and density, we were able to quantify and map how individual behavioral differences scale up and shape spatial patterns in population density.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hendrik Edelhoff
- Wildlife Biology and Management Research Unit, Bavarian State Institute of Forestry, Freising, Germany.
| | - Cyril Milleret
- Faculty of Environmental Management and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | - Cornelia Ebert
- Seq-IT GmbH & Co.KG, Department Wildlife Genetics, Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Pierre Dupont
- Faculty of Environmental Management and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | - Thomas Kudernatsch
- Department of Conservation and Biodiversity, Bavarian State Institute of Forestry, Freising, Germany
| | - Alois Zollner
- Department of Conservation and Biodiversity, Bavarian State Institute of Forestry, Freising, Germany
| | - Richard Bischof
- Faculty of Environmental Management and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | - Wibke Peters
- Wildlife Biology and Management Research Unit, Bavarian State Institute of Forestry, Freising, Germany
- Wildlife Biology and Management Unit, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany
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Milošević-Zlatanović S, Vukov T, Chovancová G, Anderwald P, Corlatti L, Tomašević Kolarov N. Cranial integration and modularity in chamois: The effects of subspecies and sex. J MAMM EVOL 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-022-09644-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/11/2023]
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Reiner R, Zedrosser A, Zeiler H, Hackländer K, Corlatti L. Habitat and climate shape growth patterns in a mountain ungulate. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8650. [PMID: 35309748 PMCID: PMC8901871 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Revised: 01/17/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Uptake and use of energy are of key importance for animals living in temperate environments that undergo strong seasonal changes in forage quality and quantity. In ungulates, energy intake strongly affects body mass gain, an important component of individual fitness. Energy allocation among life-history traits can be affected by internal and external factors. Here, we investigate large-scale variation in body growth patterns of Alpine chamois Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra, in relation to sex, age, temperature, and habitat variations across 31 (sub)populations in the Central European Alps. Taking advantage of an exceptionally large dataset (n = 178,175) of chamois hunted over 27 consecutive years between 1993 and 2019 in mountain ranges with different proportions of forest cover, we found that (i) patterns of body mass growth differ between mountain ranges, with lower body mass but faster mass growth with increasing proportion of forest cover and that (ii) the effect of spring and summer temperatures on changes in body growth patterns are larger in mountain ranges with lower forest cover compared to mountain ranges with higher forest cover. Our results show that patterns of body mass growth within a species are more plastic than expected and depend on environmental and climatic conditions. The recent decline in body mass observed in Alpine chamois populations may have greater impacts on populations living above the treeline than in forests, which may buffer against the effects of increasing temperatures on life-history traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rudolf Reiner
- Berchtesgaden National Park Berchtesgaden Germany.,Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna Vienna Austria
| | - Andreas Zedrosser
- Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna Vienna Austria.,Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health University of South-Eastern Norway Telemark Norway
| | - Hubert Zeiler
- Berchtesgaden National Park Berchtesgaden Germany.,Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna Vienna Austria.,Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health University of South-Eastern Norway Telemark Norway.,Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung (German Wildlife Foundation) Hamburg Germany.,Wildlife Ecology and Management University of Freiburg Freiburg Germany.,Stelvio National Park Bormio Italy
| | - Klaus Hackländer
- Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna Vienna Austria.,Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung (German Wildlife Foundation) Hamburg Germany
| | - Luca Corlatti
- Wildlife Ecology and Management University of Freiburg Freiburg Germany.,Stelvio National Park Bormio Italy
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Shakeri YN, White KS, Waite JN. Staying close to home: Ecological constraints on space use and range fidelity in a mountain ungulate. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:11051-11064. [PMID: 34429902 PMCID: PMC8366887 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2020] [Revised: 05/22/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding patterns of animal space use and range fidelity has important implications for species and habitat conservation. For species that live in highly seasonal environments, such as mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus), spatial use patterns are expected to vary in relation to seasonal changes in environmental conditions and sex- or age-specific selection pressures. To address hypotheses about sex, age, and seasonality influence on space-use ecology, we collected GPS location data from 263 radio-collared mountain goats (males, n = 140; females, n = 123) in coastal Alaska during 2005-2016. Location data were analyzed to derive seasonal and sex-specific fixed-kernel home range estimates and to quantify the degree of seasonal range and utilization distribution overlap. Overall, we determined that home range size was smallest during winter, expanded coincident with the onset of green-up and parturition, and was largest during summer. Home range size of males and females did not differ significantly during winter, but females had larger home ranges than males during summer, a relationship that was switched during the mating season. Pairwise comparisons involving individual females across subsequent years indicated home ranges were significantly smaller during years when they gave birth to offspring. Mountain goats exhibited a strong degree of range fidelity, and 99% (n = 138) of individual animals returned to their previous year's seasonal range with an average annual Bhattacharyya's affinity utilization distribution overlap index of 68%. Similarity of seasonal home range utilization distributions varied in relation to sex and season in some respects. Home range overlap was highest during the summer vegetation growing season, particularly among females. These findings advance our understanding about how environmental variation and sex- and age-related reproductive constraints influence space use and range fidelity among alpine ungulates. Documentation of the high degree of range fidelity among mountain goats has important conservation implications in landscapes increasingly altered by anthropogenic activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasaman N. Shakeri
- Division of Wildlife ConservationAlaska Department of Fish and GameJuneauAlaskaUSA
- Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research UnitDepartment of Zoology and PhysiologyUniversity of WyomingLaramieWyomingUSA
| | - Kevin S. White
- Division of Wildlife ConservationAlaska Department of Fish and GameJuneauAlaskaUSA
| | - Jason N. Waite
- Division of Wildlife ConservationAlaska Department of Fish and GameJuneauAlaskaUSA
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Corlatti L, Cotza A, Nelli L. Linking alternative reproductive tactics and habitat selection in Northern chamois. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:7057-7068. [PMID: 34141275 PMCID: PMC8207148 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2020] [Revised: 03/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
In polygynous ungulates, males may achieve fertilization through the use of alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs), discrete phenotypic variations evolved to maximize fitness. ARTs are often associated with different male spatial strategies during the rut, from territoriality to female-following. Although variation in space use patterns of rutting male ungulates is known to be largely affected by the spatial distribution of females, information on the year-round habitat selection of alternative reproductive types is scant. Here, we investigate the seasonal variation in habitat choice of a large mammal with ARTs (territoriality and nonterritoriality), the Northern chamois Rupicapra rupicapra. Global Positioning System (GPS) data on 28 adult males were collected between February 2010 and December 2013 in the Gran Paradiso National Park (Italy) and used to fit resource selection functions to explore the ART-specific use of key topographic features, such as elevation, aspect, and slope, and vegetation phenology expressed as NDVI values. Territorial and nonterritorial chamois profoundly differed in their habitat selection not only during the rutting season. Compared to nonterritorial males, territorial males used lower elevations in summer and autumn, preferred southern slopes in spring and summer, and used steeper areas in summer but not in winter. We found no difference in seasonal selection of NDVI values between males adopting ARTs. Our results suggest that territorial males tend to occupy warmer, lower-food-quality habitats in late spring and summer, whereas nonterritorial males are free to follow and exploit vegetation phenology and more favorable temperatures. Different patterns of habitat selection may reflect different trade-offs between the optimization of energy balances throughout the year and the increase of mating opportunities during the rut in males adopting alternative reproductive tactics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Corlatti
- Chair of Wildlife Ecology and ManagementUniversity of FreiburgFreiburgGermany
| | - Antonella Cotza
- Research Unit of Behavioural EcologyEthology and Wildlife ManagementUniversity of SienaSienaItaly
| | - Luca Nelli
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
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Crampe JP, Gerard JF, Goulard M, Milleret C, Gonzalez G, Bon R. Year-round sexual segregation in the Pyrenean chamois, a nearly monomorphic polygynous herbivore. Behav Processes 2021; 184:104300. [PMID: 33422643 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2020.104300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Revised: 12/01/2020] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Adult females and males live apart outside the mating period in many social vertebrates, but the causes of this phenomenon remain a matter of debate. Current prevailing hypotheses predict no sexual segregation outside the early period of maternal care in nearly monomorphic species such as the Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica). We examined sexual segregation in a population of the species, using data collected over 143 consecutive months on groups' location and composition, and extending statistical procedures introduced by Conradt (1998b) and Bonenfant et al. (2007). In addition, we analysed the social interactions recorded between group members. As expected, habitat segregation was low throughout the year, with a maximum during the early lactation period. However, social and spatial segregation was consistently high, contradicting the predictions of the current prevailing hypotheses, while suggesting social causes were predominant. The scarcity of social interactions outside the mating season makes unlikely the hypothesis that males segregate to improve their reproductive success. We rather suspect that higher social affinities within than between the two sexes are at work. However, this hypothesis alone is probably insufficient to account for spatial segregation. Our results should revive the debate regarding the causes of sexual segregation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Paul Crampe
- Parc National des Pyrénées, 2 rue du 4 septembre, 65000, Tarbes, France
| | - Jean-François Gerard
- INRAE, Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, B.P. 52627, 31326, Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France.
| | - Michel Goulard
- INRAE, UMR 1201 Dynamiques et Ecologie des Paysages Agriforestiers, B.P. 52627, 31326, Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France
| | - Cyril Milleret
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, NO-1432 Norway
| | - Georges Gonzalez
- INRAE, Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, B.P. 52627, 31326, Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France
| | - Richard Bon
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Centre de Biologie Intégrative, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, France.
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Balkan Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra balcanica) Avoids Roads, Settlements, and Hunting Grounds: An Ecological Overview from Timfi Mountain, Greece. DIVERSITY-BASEL 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/d12040124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Balkan chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra balcanica) is a protected species with an Inadequate-Bad (U2) conservation status in Greece. Our study explores its seasonal range use pattern, demography and habitat selection in a site of the Natura 2000 network, Timfi Mountain. To this aim, we examined 1168 observations obtained from six seasonal surveys (2002: four seasons, 2014 and 2017: autumn) and performed an ecological-niche factor analysis (ENFA), using 16 environmental and human-disturbance variables. The species had an annual range of 6491 ha (25% of the study area), followed the typical range-use pattern, and presented the minimum core area during the rutting season (autumn). Timfi Mt hosted 469 individuals in 2017 (the largest population in Greece), increasing by 3.55 times since 2002. The species selected higher altitudes during summer and autumn, pinewoods over broad-leaved woods as winter grounds, and it avoided south-facing slopes. Our results supported the anthropogenic risk avoidance hypothesis; the species always selected remote areas away from roads, human settlements, and hunting grounds. In Greece, 40% of its distribution area falls within hunting ban areas (16.5% of the country). A national conservation policy is needed towards maintaining and increasing roadless areas and hunting-ban areas within Balkan chamois range nationwide.
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Small-scale spatial genetic structure of Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) in Northern Dinarides. EUR J WILDLIFE RES 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10344-019-1259-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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10
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Roffler GH, Adams LG, Hebblewhite M. Summer habitat selection by Dall’s sheep in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. J Mammal 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyw135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Yan WB, Zeng ZG, Gong HS, He XB, Liu XY, Si KC, Song YL. Habitat use and selection by takin in the Qinling Mountains, China. WILDLIFE RESEARCH 2016. [DOI: 10.1071/wr16011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Context Understanding habitat use and selection by threatened ungulates is a crucial prerequisite to prioritise management areas and for developing effective conservation strategies. Aims The aim of our research was to determine the habitat use and selection of takins (Budorcas taxicolor) in the middle range of the Qinling Mountains, China. Methods The study was conducted from August 2013 to August 2015. Global positioning system (GPS) radio-tracking was used to monitor 10 collared takins to gain their location information. The Manly–Chesson selectivity index and Bonferroni-adjusted 95% confidence intervals were applied to determine which habitats were selected. Key results Habitat use and selection by takins showed obvious individual differences. At the landscape scale, all of the four most common habitat types were preferred by takins. However, all takins avoided artificially planted larch forest, and farmland and village. Available habitats within the home ranges also mostly included the four common habitat types. At the home-range scale, all individuals had significant habitat selectivity during the entire tracking period and each season. The habitat use and selection within the home range varied obviously with season and showed sexual differences to a certain extent. Conclusions The habitat selection by takins is scale-dependent. At the landscape scale, takins are most likely to occur at sites covered by forest. At both landscape and home-range scales, our results indicated that takins need more diverse forest habitats, but none of the four most common forest habitats is essential for survival of this species. Implications The present work has provided more insight into the habitat use and habitat selection of takins in mountainous forest landscapes. Many measures such as maintaining a diversity of forest habitats, avoiding habitat alteration by invasion of exotic plants, and increasing the area of available habitats by relocating the villages from within to outside of the reserve are recommended to conserve this large species.
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Corlatti L, Fattorini L, Nelli L. The use of block counts, mark-resight and distance sampling to estimate population size of a mountain-dwelling ungulate. POPUL ECOL 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s10144-015-0481-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Ferretti F, Costa A, Corazza M, Pietrocini V, Cesaretti G, Lovari S. Males are faster foragers than females: intersexual differences of foraging behaviour in the Apennine chamois. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-014-1744-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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