Occupational Patterns of Wildlife on a Major East Kootenay Winter-Spring Range

Abstract

Empirical descriptions of spatial overlap of coexisting herbivores are difficult to interpret in terms of functional interaction. In an attempt to obviate some of these difficulties, partial correlation analysis was applied to the study of habitat use behavior of whitetail deer, mule deer, elk, and bighorn sheep on an important wildlife winter-spring range in southeastern British Columbia. A probe was made of the basic determinants of habitat selection in order to isolate the response of represented species to the physical and vegetational environment and to summer grazing by cattle. Distinct patterns of habitat utilization were exhibited by each species. Whitetail and mule deer habitat preferences were distinguished from one another by elevation, ruggedness of terrain, and openness of forest and shrub vegetation. Elk were most widely distributed and showed the least apparent response to measured environmental parameters, whereas bighorn sheep were most localized and specific in their response to environment. Distributions of all species were only weakly influenced by the activities of grazing cattle at the level and pattern found on the study area. Partial correlation techniques appeared to offer some potential for analyzing resource division in mixed grazing systems. However, a number of technical and conceptual difficulties may limit their value in systems where reciprocal feedbacks, thresholds, and optima exist in the response of animals to environment. Numerous studies have attempted to provide measures of competition or ecological overlap among coexisting herbivores. Generally, competition has been described in terms of the extent to which members of a multispecies assemblage graze common areas during the same season and the extent to which they utilize common forage species (Julander, 1958). These parameters, in certain situations, may adequately describe the basic elements of competition when they are interpreted in relation to existing levels of

Characteristics of Early-Winter Caribou, <em>Rangifer tarandus caribou</em>, Feeding Sites in the Southern Purcell Mountains, British Columbia

“…In our study area, arboreal hair lichen, Grouseberry and terrestrial lichen are available to varying degrees across a broad range of elevations. However, lower elevations are used in winter by Moose (Alces alces), Elk (Cervus elaphus), Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) (Edwards 1956;Hudson et al 1976) and therefore the Cougars (Felis concolor) and Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) that feed upon them. Predation has been a major limiting factor in several Mountain Caribou populations (Seip 1992;Kinley and Apps 2001).…”

Influence of prescribed fire on Stone's sheep and Rocky Mountain elk: Forage characteristics and resource separation.

“…Stone's sheep and elk for most o f the year selected for south-facing slopes, which are usually windswept and the first to become snow-free in the spring (Skovlin et al 1983). This is consistent with studies on Stone's sheep near Toad River, BC (Seip 1983), Dali sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) in interior Alaska (Rachlow and Bowyer 1998), and elk in other parts o f western North America (Mackie 1970, Hudson et al 1976, Pearson et al 1995, Poole and Mowat 2005. Both species also selected to be close to a bum in 4 o f the 5 seasons.…”

Habitat and Human Factors Associated with White-Tailed Deer Density in the Tropical Dry Forest of Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

“…Nevertheless, higher deer densities are associated with temperate and tropical deciduous forests, and scrublands. Livestock production affects deer directly in terms of competition for food and space and indirectly by modifying habitat quality, and this is reflected in deer population densities [16,[59][60][61]. Other human pressure variables, such as proximity of settlements and roads, have an effect on the presence of whitetailed deer.…”