Regulation of space use in a solitary felid: population density or prey availability?

Benson, John F.; Chamberlain, Michael J.; Leopold, Bruce D.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.08.005

Cited by 63 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Many studies have considered individual space use (position, size, and utilization of home ranges, territoriality, e.g., McLoughlin et al 2000;Wauters et al 2005;Katajisto and Moilanen 2006), habitat use and selection (Aebischer et al 1993;Mitchell and Powell 2004), or movements in or along contrasting habitats (e.g., Desrochers et al 2003;Haughland and Larsen 2004). However, factors that affect annual or seasonal variation in individual space and/or habitat use within populations have received less interest, partly because of difficulties in obtaining reliable estimates of resource levels and/or confounding effects of changes in density (competition) on variation in access to resources (Joshi et al 1995;Dahle and Swenson 2003;Benson et al 2006). Space-use patterns and demographic processes of tree squirrels are strongly affected by spatiotemporal variation in the abundance of Communicated by C. Gortázar tree seeds, their major food source (e.g., Gurnell 1987;Wauters and Dhondt 1992;Kenward et al 1998;Lurz et al 2000;Wauters et al 2001Wauters et al , 2004Wauters et al , 2005Boutin et al 2006;Di Pierro et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The space and habitat use of individuals in a population is affected by variation in the distribution and abundance of food resources and in the density and spacing of other individuals (Ostfeld 1990;Wauters and Dhondt 1992;Lewis and Murray 1993;Benson et al 2006). Many studies have considered individual space use (position, size, and utilization of home ranges, territoriality, e.g., McLoughlin et al 2000;Wauters et al 2005;Katajisto and Moilanen 2006), habitat use and selection (Aebischer et al 1993;Mitchell and Powell 2004), or movements in or along contrasting habitats (e.g., Desrochers et al 2003;Haughland and Larsen 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of seed availability on habitat use by a specialist seed predator

et al. 2010

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Space-use patterns of seed predators are strongly affected by spatiotemporal variation in the abundance of different tree seeds, their major food source. However, most studies have measured relationships between overall food availability and space use, and there are few cases where effects of different food resources have been explored. We studied the effects of two food resources, Norway spruce and silver fir seeds, on space and habitat use in red squirrel in a subalpine conifer forest from 2000 to 2006. Fir seeds disperse in the autumn of the year they are produced, spruce the following spring. We estimated spruce and fir seed availability within individual home ranges and monitored home-range size using radiotelemetry. Males had larger home ranges than females and the sexes responded differently to variation in food and density. Spruce seed availability negatively affected home-range and core-area sizes of males in spring-summer. Space use was not affected by fir seed availability. Squirrels positively selected spruce for foraging and spruce was always preferred over fir. Our results showed that spruce, but not fir, affected space and habitat use of squirrels, suggesting they do not behaviourally respond to early seed dispersal in fir.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of seed availability on habitat use by a specialist seed predator

et al. 2010

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“…In a range of terrestrial predators, foraging movements and reproductive output are related to the distribution and abundance of prey (e.g. Herfindal et al 2005;Benson et al 2006;Fernández et al 2007;Mitchell and Powell 2007;Loveridge et al 2009), with individuals in food-rich habitats using comparatively smaller areas to acquire sufficient food for survival and reproduction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hunting behaviour and breeding performance of northern goshawks Accipiter gentilis, in relation to resource availability, sex, age and morphology

Penteriani

Rutz

Kenward

2013

Naturwissenschaften

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Animal territories that differ in the availability of food resources will require (all other things being equal) different levels of effort for successful reproduction. As a consequence, breeding performance may become most strongly dependent on factors that affect individual foraging where resources are poor. We investigated potential links between foraging behaviour, reproductive performance and morphology in a goshawk Accipiter gentilis population, which experienced markedly different resource levels in two different parts of the study area (rabbit-rich vs. rabbit-poor areas). Our analyses revealed (1) that rabbit abundance positively affected male reproductive output; (2) that age, size and rabbit abundance (during winter) positively affected different components of female reproductive output; (3) that foraging movements were inversely affected by rabbit abundance for both sexes (for females, this may mainly have reflected poor provisioning by males in the rabbit-poor area); (4) that younger breeders (both in males and females) tended to move over larger distances than older individuals (which may have reflected both a lack of hunting experience and mate searching); and (5) that male body size (wing length) showed some covariation with resource conditions (suggesting possible adaptations to hunting agile avian prey in the rabbit-poor area). Although we are unable to establish firm causal relationships with our observational data set, our results provide an example of how territory quality (here, food abundance) and individual features (here, age and morphology) may combine to shape a predator's foraging behaviour and, ultimately, its breeding performance.

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“…A central question when analysing animal movements is how the observed patterns of animal distribution are determined by the interactions between individuals and their environment (Börger 2006). A useful approach is to understand the dynamics of animal movements in relation to social and ecological factors (Benson et al 2006, Robbins & McNeilage 2003, Harvey et al 2008. As most animals use the same areas repeatedly over time, movement patterns are often defined using the home range concept.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling ranging behaviour of female orang-utans: a case study in Tuanan, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

2010

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Abstract:Quantification of the spatial needs of individuals and populations is vitally important for management and conservation. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have recently become important analysis tools in wildlife biology, improving our ability to understand animal movement patterns, especially where very large data sets are collected. This study aims at combining the field of GIS with primatology to model and analyse spaceuse patterns of wild orang-utans. Home ranges of female orang-utans in the Tuanan Mawas forest reserve in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia were modelled with kernel density estimation methods. Kernel results were compared to Minimum Convex Polygon estimates, and were found to perform better, as they were less sensitive to sample size and produced more reliable estimates. Furthermore, daily travel paths were calculated from 970 complete follow days. Annual ranges for the resident females were approximately 200 hectares and remained stable over several years; total home range size was estimated to be 275 ha. On average, each female shared a third of her home range with each neighbouring female. Orang-utan females in Tuanan built their night nest on average 414 metres away from the morning nest, whereas average daily travel path length was 777 metres. A significant influence of fruit availability on day path length was found. Sexually active females covered longer distances per day and may also temporarily expand their ranges.

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Regulation of space use in a solitary felid: population density or prey availability?

Cited by 63 publications

References 48 publications

The effects of seed availability on habitat use by a specialist seed predator

The effects of seed availability on habitat use by a specialist seed predator

Hunting behaviour and breeding performance of northern goshawks Accipiter gentilis, in relation to resource availability, sex, age and morphology

Modelling ranging behaviour of female orang-utans: a case study in Tuanan, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

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