Albert Michaud, Kevin S White, Sandra Hamel, Julien H Richard, Steeve D Côté
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Climate change disproportionately affects northern and alpine environments, with faster rates of warming than the global average. Because alpine and northern species are particularly well adapted to cool temperatures, most species must modify their behavior when temperatures exceed a critical threshold. Evaluating how temperature increases affect species inhabiting northern and alpine environments is therefore essential to understand the effects of projected climate change on these ecosystems. We analyzed the influence of temperature on the activity patterns and habitat selection of four populations of a cold-adapted, mountain specialist, the mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus). We collected GPS location and activity sensor data during 2010-2019 from 223 mountain goats from two distinct ecotypes: coastal and continental. Using a resource selection modeling approach, we determined that mountain goats of both ecotypes decreased selection for alpine meadows when temperatures increased. Reduced selection for open, forage rich habitat was associated with increased selection for habitat dominated by snow/ice patches in coastal areas, and by forests in continental sites. Mountain goats in continental environments selected higher elevation habitats only when temperature increased, whereas goats in coastal environments selected higher elevation habitat at all temperatures. Mountain goats of both ecotypes reduced the proportion of time spent active when temperatures increased during the middle of the day. Our study reveals that mountain goats use diverse tactics to mitigate thermal stress, and that these tactics vary between ecotypes, highlighting the need for considering adaptation to specific environments within a species when assessing climate change impacts on populations.
期刊介绍:
Oecologia publishes innovative ecological research of international interest. We seek reviews, advances in methodology, and original contributions, emphasizing the following areas:
Population ecology, Plant-microbe-animal interactions, Ecosystem ecology, Community ecology, Global change ecology, Conservation ecology,
Behavioral ecology and Physiological Ecology.
In general, studies that are purely descriptive, mathematical, documentary, and/or natural history will not be considered.