Animals exhibit a diversity of movement tactics [1]. Tracking resources that change across space and time is predicted to be a fundamental driver of animal movement [2]. For example, some migratory ungulates (i.e., hooved mammals) closely track the progression of highly nutritious plant green-up, a phenomenon called “green-wave surfing” [3, 4, 5]. Yet general principles describing how the dynamic nature of resources determine movement tactics are lacking [6]. We tested an emerging theory that predicts surfing and the existence of migratory behavior will be favored in environments where green-up is fleeting and moves sequentially across large landscapes (i.e., wave-like green-up) [7]. Landscapes exhibiting wave-like patterns of green-up facilitated surfing and explained the existence of migratory behavior across 61 populations of four ungulate species on two continents (n = 1,696 individuals). At the species level, foraging benefits were equivalent between tactics, suggesting that each movement tactic is fine-tuned to local patterns of plant phenology. For decades, ecologists have sought to understand how animals move to select habitat, commonly defining habitat as a set of static patches [8, 9]. Our findings indicate that animal movement tactics emerge as a function of the flux of resources across space and time, underscoring the need to redefine habitat to include its dynamic attributes. As global habitats continue to be modified by anthropogenic disturbance and climate change [10], our synthesis provides a generalizable framework to understand how animal movement will be influenced by altered patterns of resource phenology.

动物表现出多种运动策略[1]。跟踪跨空间和时间变化的资源预计将成为动物运动的基本驱动因素 [2]。例如，一些迁徙的有蹄类动物（即有蹄类哺乳动物）密切跟踪高营养植物绿化的进程，这种现象称为“绿浪冲浪”[3, 4, 5]。然而，缺乏描述资源的动态性质如何决定移动策略的一般原则 [6]。我们测试了一种新兴理论，该理论预测冲浪和迁徙行为的存在将在绿化转瞬即逝并在大型景观中顺序移动的环境中受到青睐（即波浪状绿化）[7]。呈现波浪状绿化模式的景观促进了冲浪，并解释了两大洲 4 种有蹄类动物的 61 个种群（n = 1,696 个体）的迁徙行为的存在。在物种水平上，不同策略之间的觅食收益是相同的，这表明每种运动策略都针对当地的植物物候模式进行了微调。几十年来，生态学家一直试图了解动物如何移动以选择栖息地，通常将栖息地定义为一组静态斑块 [8, 9]。我们的研究结果表明，动物运动策略是作为跨空间和时间资源流动的函数而出现的，强调需要重新定义栖息地以包括其动态属性。随着全球栖息地继续受到人为干扰和气候变化的改变 [10]，