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A Functional Response in Resource Selection Links Multiscale Responses of a Large Carnivore to Human Mortality Risk

Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Theory suggests that animals make hierarchical, multiscale resource selection decisions to address the hierarchy of factors limiting their fitness. Ecologists have developed tools to link population-level resource selection across scales; yet, theoretical expectations about the relationship between coarse- and fine-scale selection decisions at the individual level remain elusive despite their importance to fitness. With GPS-telemetry data collected across California, USA, we evaluated resource selection of mountain lions (Puma concolor; n = 244) relative to spatial variation in human-caused mortality risk. With hierarchical resource selection, coarse-scale selection determines availability at finer scales. This simple relationship allowed us to demonstrate that functional responses in resource selection explicitly link individual-level resource selection decisions across scales. We show that individuals proactively avoiding risk when selecting home ranges are freed to relax this avoidance when making decisions within home ranges. However, individuals also exhibit reactive avoidance of risk at the finest scales along movement paths.
DOI: 10.1111/ele.70035
Authors: Kyle D. Dougherty, Justin A. Dellinger, Bogdan Cristescu, Daniel J. Gammons, David K. Garcelon, J. Mark Higley, Quinton E. Martins, Seth P. D. Riley, Jeff A. Sikich, Thomas R. Stephenson, T. Winston Vickers, Greta M. Wengert, Christopher C. Wilmers, Heiko U. Wittmer, John F. Benson
Institutions: University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Institute for Wildlife Studies, National Park Service, University of California, Davis, Victoria University of Wellington
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $5,250
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nature Conservancy, California Department of Parks and Recreation, Peninsula Open Space Trust, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Agricultural Research Service, San Diego Foundation
Awards: G1474665233, G2776311831, ANIMA (Accelerometer Network Integrator for Mobile Animals), a New Instrument Package for Integrating Behavior, Physiology and Ecology of Wild Mammals, G375843439, Energy Scavenging Collar for Animal Physiology and Ecology (ESCAPE), G5193356432, G5251026215, G5943425766, G7592440640, G812651989
OpenAlex ID: W4405924543
FWCI: 1.632
Cites: 75
Cited by: 6
Related to: 10