Home range size of consumers varies with food quality, but the many ways of defining food quality hamper comparisons across studies. Ecological stoichiometry studies the elemental balance of ecological processes and offers a uniquely quantitative, transferrable way to assess food quality using elemental ratios, e.g., carbon (C):nitrogen (N). Here, we test whether snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) vary their home range size in response to spatial patterns of C:N, C:phosphorus (P), and N:P ratios of two preferred boreal forage species, lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) and red maple (Acer rubrum), in summer months. Boreal forests are N- and P-limited ecosystems and access to N- and P-rich forage is paramount to snowshoe hares’ survival. Accordingly, we consider forage with higher C content relative to N and P to be lower quality than forage with lower relative C content. We combine elemental distribution models with summer home range size estimates to test the hypothesis that home range size will be smaller in areas with access to high, homogeneous food quality compared to areas of low, heterogeneous food quality. Our results show snowshoe hares had smaller home ranges in areas where lowbush blueberry foliage quality was higher or more spatially homogenous than in areas of lower, more heterogeneous food quality. By responding to spatial patterns of food quality, consumers may influence community and ecosystem processes by, for example, varying nutrient recycling rates. Our reductionist biogeochemical approach to viewing resources leads us to holistic insights into consumer spatial ecology.

消费者的家庭范围大小因食品质量而异，但定义食品质量的多种方式阻碍了跨研究的比较。生态化学计量学研究生态过程的元素平衡，并提供了一种独特的定量、可转移的方法来使用元素比率评估食品质量，例如碳 (C):氮 (N)。在这里，我们测试了雪兔( Lepus americanus )是否会根据 C:N、C:磷 (P) 和 N:P 比率的两种首选北方牧草物种、矮丛蓝莓 ( Vaccinium angustifolium ) 的空间模式改变它们的栖息地大小) 和红枫 ( Acer rubrum)，在夏季。北方森林是氮和磷有限的生态系统，获取富含氮和磷的草料对雪鞋野兔的生存至关重要。因此，我们认为相对于 N 和 P 而言，C 含量较高的牧草质量低于 C 相对较低的牧草。我们将元素分布模型与夏季家庭范围大小估计相结合，以检验以下假设：与低、异质食物质量低的区域相比，在可获得高、均质食物质量的区域中，家庭范围大小将更小。我们的结果表明，在低灌木蓝莓树叶质量更高或在空间上更均匀的地区，雪兔兔的家域范围比食物质量更低、更多样化的地区更小。通过对食品质量的空间模式做出反应，消费者可能会影响社区和生态系统过程，例如，养分回收率不同。我们查看资源的还原论生物地球化学方法使我们能够全面了解消费者空间生态。