The diel activity pattern of mountain hare (Lepus timidus) on managed heather moorland in Scotland

Abstract

The mountain hare (Lepus timidus) is a native species of the high alpine regions of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland (Watson, 2013).During the 19th century, animals were translocated from there onto heather moorland that was managed for game shooting (Flux, 1970).These open alpine and heather moorland habitats contrast with a preference for boreal habitat across much of the extensive range of the species in northern Europe and Asia (Flux, 1970) although mountain hares are also found on tundra and agricultural land (Angerbjörn & Flux, 1995). Mountain hares breed between February and September (Angerbjörn & Flux, 1995). They can be present at densities of up to 80 km −2 in their native alpine habitat in Scotland (Watson, 2013) and even higher densities of up to 245 km −2 on heather moorland (Watson & Hewson, 1973) where the encouragement of new heather growth and the control of predators are part of the management regime (Hesford et al., 2019). In recent years however, extensive culling of mountain hares on shooting estates has been associated with some local declines (Watson & Wilson, 2018).The hill habitats in Scotland can be unforgiving in winter with high winds, low temperatures, and lack of shelter. Mountain hares do not hibernate, nor burrow, and they spend their resting time in superficial depressions called forms usually in tall heather. These locations may afford some shelter during adverse weather conditions (Flux, 1970;Thirgood & Hewson, 1987). They have a thick white winter pelt that serves the dual purpose of insulation and camouflage

Altitude, latitude and climate zone as determinants of mountain hare (Lepus timidus) coat colour change

“…This makes it likely that some individuals were recorded in multiple years, increasing the probability of individual phenotypic plasticity influencing results. We obtained three times as many observations in spring compared to autumn (Appendix S4), which probably caused by increased hare activity patterns during the mating season(Pettigrew et al, 2021) and the spring dataset containing observations for 58 more days. This resulted in the intercept CIs (Figure5) being larger in autumn than in spring.Understanding the role that environmental characteristics have on moult timing is vital when assessing the impact that climate change may have on species that express a seasonal coat colour change.…”