{"title":"Mountain hares Lepus timidus follow the green-up wave in the pursuit of high-quality food","authors":"M. Rehnus, K. Bollmann","doi":"10.2981/wlb.00720","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Spatial patterns in animal behavior can provide insight into habitat quality and the distribution of resources. Understanding how, when, and why animals use certain areas is critical to their conservation and management. We investigated the distribution of pellets of mountain hares Lepus timidus in the Swiss Alps and compared differences between spring and autumn. 1515 pellet locations from 119 individuals (70 males, 49 females) were used. Pellets were collected from 2014 to 2019; individuals were determined using an established, non-invasive genetic technique. We found evidence of an altitudinal shift in the occurrence of pellets from lower elevations in spring to higher elevations in autumn. This seasonal pattern is also supported by altitudinal shifts of three individual core activity areas (2 males, 1 females) and by higher hare activities at the high plateau in autumn. We conclude that the annual ‘wave’ of greening from lower to higher elevations, which correlates with forage availability and quality, explains this shift.","PeriodicalId":54405,"journal":{"name":"Wildlife Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Wildlife Biology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.00720","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Spatial patterns in animal behavior can provide insight into habitat quality and the distribution of resources. Understanding how, when, and why animals use certain areas is critical to their conservation and management. We investigated the distribution of pellets of mountain hares Lepus timidus in the Swiss Alps and compared differences between spring and autumn. 1515 pellet locations from 119 individuals (70 males, 49 females) were used. Pellets were collected from 2014 to 2019; individuals were determined using an established, non-invasive genetic technique. We found evidence of an altitudinal shift in the occurrence of pellets from lower elevations in spring to higher elevations in autumn. This seasonal pattern is also supported by altitudinal shifts of three individual core activity areas (2 males, 1 females) and by higher hare activities at the high plateau in autumn. We conclude that the annual ‘wave’ of greening from lower to higher elevations, which correlates with forage availability and quality, explains this shift.
期刊介绍：
WILDLIFE BIOLOGY is a high-quality scientific forum directing concise and up-to-date information to scientists, administrators, wildlife managers and conservationists. The journal encourages and welcomes original papers, short communications and reviews written in English from throughout the world. The journal accepts theoretical, empirical, and practical articles of high standard from all areas of wildlife science with the primary task of creating the scientific basis for the enhancement of wildlife management practices. Our concept of ''wildlife'' mainly includes mammal and bird species, but studies on other species or phenomena relevant to wildlife management are also of great interest. We adopt a broad concept of wildlife management, including all structures and actions with the purpose of conservation, sustainable use, and/or control of wildlife and its habitats, in order to safeguard sustainable relationships between wildlife and other human interests.
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