顶级捕食者利用有利的雪地条件在各种狩猎模式中发挥作用
Benjamin K Sullender1, Taylor R Ganz1,2, Ross Mower3,4
1School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
The Journal of animal ecology
|October 28, 2025
概括
雪地条件极大地影响了美洲狮和狼的狩猎行为. 气候变化引起的雪地减少可能会减少大型食肉动物狩猎的成功,改变生态系统的动态.
科学领域:
- 生态学和野生动物生物学
- 气候变化对生态系统的影响
- 捕食者-猎物的动态.
背景情况:
- 顶级捕食者依靠功能特征和息地特征来提高狩猎效率.
- 气候变化改变了雪地覆盖,可能会影响捕食者与猎物的相互作用和整个生态系统的影响.
- 狩猎模式是影响不同环境中的捕食者有效性的关键功能特征.
研究的目的:
- 调查雪深度和密度对美洲狮 (跟踪捕食者) 和狼 (走路捕食者) 运动和杀戮地点选择的影响.
- 了解不同的狩猎策略如何与雪地条件相互作用.
- 预测气候变化对大食肉动物狩猎成功和掠食者-猎物动态的潜在影响.
主要方法:
- 结合了基于物理的雪地模型与遥测数据和杀戮现场调查.
- 利用了华盛顿州50只美洲狮,14只狼,142只鹿和90只白尾鹿 (2017-2021) 的数据.
- 生成了步骤选择功能,包括鹿的分布,雪的特性和景观特征.
主要成果:
- 雪的深度和密度强烈影响了美洲狮的运动和杀戮地点的选择,人们更喜欢厚厚的,中等深度的雪.
- 狼对浅,低密度的雪的选择较弱,除非雪非常密集,否则避免更深的雪.
- 无论狩猎策略如何,雪的特性都是这两种捕食者运动的关键驱动因素.
结论:
- 雪是大型食肉动物运动和狩猎成功的关键因素,无论它们的狩猎模式如何.
- 由于气候变暖而减少的雪地可能会减少对多种大型食肉动物物种的狩猎成功.
- 由于雪地减少而导致的捕食者-猎物动态变化可能导致整个生态系统的级联效应.
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