Patterns in disturbance severity and time since fire can drive landscape heterogeneity that is critical to conservation; however, there is limited understanding of how wildlife interact with the spatial–temporal complexities of disturbance outcomes and at what scales. We conducted multiscale modeling of habitat selection for male and female Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis) over an 8-year period. We aimed to identify the spatial scales at which bighorn sheep responded to various habitat features and determine how fire severity and time since fire can shape habitat selection by bighorn sheep over different seasons and between sexes. With the exception of litter cover, spatial scales that extended beyond the finest spatial grain (i.e., a 30-m pixel) to include the surrounding landscape were better at predicting habitat selection. Escape terrain, elevation, fire severity, year, perennial and annual forb and grass cover, and shrub cover occurred in every best-supported model. Associations with escape terrain, elevation, and perennial and annual forb and grass cover varied by sex and season. In contrast, bighorn sheep were consistently positively associated with low- and high-severity fire. Females increased use of low- and high-severity burned areas with greater time since fire, while males tended to decrease use of areas that burned at high severity with greater time since fire. Our results support the importance of landscape heterogeneity created by fire severity and time since fire for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and reinforces calls to integrate disturbance-driven heterogeneity into our assessments and management of wildlife.

中文翻译：

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火灾驱动的景观异质性塑造了大角羊的栖息地选择

火灾后干扰严重程度和时间的模式可以驱动对保护至关重要的景观异质性；然而，对于野生动物如何与干扰结果的时空复杂性以及在何种尺度上相互作用的了解有限。我们在 8 年期间对雄性和雌性落基山大角羊 (Ovis canadensis canadensis) 的栖息地选择进行了多尺度建模。我们旨在确定大角羊对各种栖息地特征做出反应的空间尺度，并确定火灾的严重程度和火灾发生后的时间如何影响大角羊在不同季节和性别之间的栖息地选择。除了枯枝落叶外，空间尺度超出了最精细的空间颗粒（即，一个 30 米的像素）包括周围的景观在预测栖息地选择方面做得更好。逃生地形、海拔、火灾严重程度、年份、多年生和一年生草本覆盖率和灌木覆盖率都出现在每个最佳支持模型中。与逃生地形、海拔、多年生和一年生草本植物的关联因性别和季节而异。相比之下，大角羊始终与低烈度和高烈度火灾呈正相关。女性在火灾后的时间较长的情况下增加了对低严重度和高严重度烧伤区域的使用，而男性则倾向于减少在火灾后较长时间的高度严重烧伤区域的使用。