Sex-specific selection of agricultural farmland by a partially migratory ungulate
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
View abstract on PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.Resident red deer (Cervus elaphus) utilize farmland more than migrants, with sex differences in selection varying seasonally. Understanding these patterns is crucial for managing large herbivores and agricultural landscapes.
Area Of Science
- Ecology
- Wildlife Management
- Animal Behavior
Background
- Large herbivores at northern latitudes frequently forage on agricultural lands.
- Partial migration, involving both resident and migrant individuals, is common in these populations.
- Differences in farmland selection between resident and migrant herbivores, and between sexes, are not well understood.
Purpose Of The Study
- To quantify seasonal variation in farmland selection by partially migratory red deer (Cervus elaphus).
- To test predictions from partial migration and sexual segregation theories regarding farmland use.
- To investigate differences in farmland selection between residents and migrants, and between males and females.
Main Methods
- Utilized 16 years of data (2005-2020) from 329 females and 115 males in Norway.
- Applied resource selection functions to analyze farmland selection at broad (landscape) and fine (within-home range) scales.
- Quantified seasonal and diel (diurnal/nocturnal) variation in farmland use.
Main Results
- Farmland use was higher in winter (14%-18%) than in summer (8%-14%).
- Residents selected farmland more than migrants at the broad scale; differences were less consistent at the fine scale.
- Females showed higher broad-scale farmland selection in winter, while males showed higher selection in summer; fine-scale selection was higher in low-light conditions.
Conclusions
- Partial migration and sexual segregation theories provide valuable insights into ungulate farmland selection.
- Resident red deer's higher summer farmland use underscores the need for landscape connectivity.
- Management strategies should consider seasonal and sex-specific farmland use patterns of large herbivores.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Related Concept Videos
Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the world, is an adaptive response that typically corresponds to changes in an organism’s environment, like resource availability or climate. Migrations can involve huge groups of thousands of animals as well as single individuals traveling alone and can range from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.
Why Animals Migrate
Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.
Positive Frequency-Dependent Selection
In positive...
Mate choice—the decision about whom to mate with—is a type of natural selection, since animals must reproduce to pass down their genes. Mate choice is also called intersexual selection because the behavior occurs between the sexes.
In species with mate choice, one sex (usually, but not always, the female) is “choosy,” selecting a mate from individuals of the opposite sex based on appearance or behavioral characteristics. Often, females will choose “showier”...
Natural selection is an evolutionary process in which individuals with survival-promoting traits reproduce at higher rates. These favorable traits become more common within a population or species. Naturally selected traits initially arise via random genetic mutations. In order for selection to occur, there must be variation within a population, the trait controlling the variation must be heritable, and there must be an evolutionary advantage for variation in the trait.
The Theory of Natural...
Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.
Although predation is commonly associated with carnivory, for...