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Temperature shapes movement and habitat selection by a heat-sensitive ungulate

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Abstract

Context

Warmer weather caused by climate change poses increasingly serious threats to the persistence of many species, but animals can modify behavior to mitigate at least some of the threats posed by warmer temperatures. Identifying and characterizing how animals modify behavior to avoid the negative consequences of acute heat will be crucial for understanding how animals will respond to warmer temperatures in the future.

Objectives

We studied the extent to which moose (Alces alces), a species known to be sensitive to heat, mitigates heat on hot summer days via multiple different behaviors: (1) reduced movement, (2) increased visitation to shade, (3) increased visitation to water, or (4) a combination of these behaviors.

Methods

We used GPS telemetry and a step-selection function to analyze movement and habitat selection by moose in northeastern Minnesota, USA.

Results

Moose reduced movement, used areas of the landscape with more shade, and traveled nearer to mixed forests and bogs during periods of heat. Moose used shade far more than water to ameliorate heat, and the most pronounced changes in behavior occurred between 15 and 20 °C.

Conclusions

Research characterizing the behaviors animals use to facilitate thermoregulation will aid conservation of heat-sensitive species in a warming world. The modeling framework presented in this study is a promising method for evaluating the influence of temperature on movement and habitat selection.

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Data availability

Data and R scripts are archived on Zenodo at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3872407.

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks to B. Olson, W. Chen, and others who helped collect field data, as well as J. Rick, B. Brito, F. Molina, B. Maitland, S. Esmaeili, and J. Goheen for providing helpful comments on early drafts of this manuscript. This study was funded by Minnesota's Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund, the University of Minnesota-Duluth Integrated Biosciences graduate program, and the University of Wyoming Department of Zoology and Physiology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Ecology and Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

    Jesse M. Alston

  2. Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota –Duluth, Duluth, MN, USA

    Michael J. Joyce

  3. Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

    Jerod A. Merkle

  4. Department of Biology and Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota –Duluth, Duluth, MN, USA

    Ron A. Moen

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  1. Jesse M. Alston
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JA and RM conceived and designed the study; RM collected the data; JA, MJ, and JM analyzed the data; JA led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to manuscript drafts and gave final approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Jesse M. Alston.

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Alston, J.M., Joyce, M.J., Merkle, J.A. et al. Temperature shapes movement and habitat selection by a heat-sensitive ungulate. Landscape Ecol 35, 1961–1973 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01072-y

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