1. Partial migration in roe deer: migratory and resident tactics are end points of a behavioural gradient determined by ecological factors
- Author
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Petter Kjellander, Atle Mysterud, Federico Ossi, Markus Neteler, Anja Stache, Luca Delucchi, John D. C. Linnell, Stefano Focardi, Marco Heurich, A. J. Mark Hewison, Francesca Cagnacci, Nicolas Morellet, Ferdinando Urbano, Fondazione Edmund Mach - Edmund Mach Foundation [Italie] (FEM), Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive - UMR 5558 (LBBE), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Department of Research and Documentation, Bavarian Forest National Park, Unité de recherche Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage (CEFS), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)-Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), University of Oslo (UiO), Independent, and This paper was conceived and written within the collaborative EURODEER project (paper no. 001 of the EURODEER series
- Subjects
Capriolo ,0106 biological sciences ,Ungulate ,Range (biology) ,[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio] ,partialL migration ,population ,Distribution (economics) ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Ungulati ,Capreolus ,Settore BIO/07 - ECOLOGIA ,biology.animal ,Ecosystem ,GPS location data ,EURODEER ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,general phenomenon of migration ,biology ,Ecology ,business.industry ,Residence time ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,Facultative migration ,15. Life on land ,biology.organism_classification ,Habitat selection ,Roe deer ,Geography ,Habitat ,environmental sciences and ecology ,ecological factors ,Capreolus capreolus ,Residence ,ecology ,business ,Migrazione parziale - Abstract
International audience; Ungulate populations exhibiting partial migration present a unique opportunity to explore the causes of the general phenomenon of migration. The European roe deer Capreolus capreolus is particularly suited for such studies due to a wide distribution range and a high level of ecological plasticity. In this study we undertook a comparative analysis of roe deer GPS location data from a representative set of European ecosystems available within the EURODEER collaborative project. We aimed at evaluating the ecological factors affecting migration tactic (i.e. occurrence) and pattern (i.e. timing, residence time, number of migratory trips). Migration occurrence varied between and within populations and depended on winter severity and topographic variability. Spring migrations were highly synchronous, while the timing of autumn migrations varied widely between regions, individuals and sexes. Overall, roe deer were faithful to their summer ranges, especially males. In the absence of extreme and predictable winter conditions, roe deer seemed to migrate opportunistically, in response to a tradeoff between the costs of residence in spatially separated ranges and the costs of migratory movements. Animals performed numerous trips between winter and summer ranges which depended on factors influencing the costs of movement such as between-range distance, slope and habitat openness. Our results support the idea that migration encompasses a behavioural continuum, with one-trip migration and residence as its end points, while commuting and multi-trip migration with short residence times in seasonal ranges are intermediate tactics. We believe that a full understanding of the variation in tactics of temporal separation in habitat use will provide important insights on migration and the factors that influence its prevalence.
- Published
- 2011