Rutting and rambling: Movement characteristics reveal partial migration in adult male white‐tailed deer at a latitude void of chronic and severe environmental fluctuations
Abstract White‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are generally considered a home‐ranging species, although northern populations may migrate between summer and winter ranges to balance resource requirements with environmental stressors. We evaluated annual home range characteristics of adult bucks...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10875 |
| _version_ | 1797290878014849024 |
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| author | Luke Resop Stephen Demarais Bronson K. Strickland William T. McKinley Garrett Street |
| author_facet | Luke Resop Stephen Demarais Bronson K. Strickland William T. McKinley Garrett Street |
| author_sort | Luke Resop |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract White‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are generally considered a home‐ranging species, although northern populations may migrate between summer and winter ranges to balance resource requirements with environmental stressors. We evaluated annual home range characteristics of adult bucks (n = 30) fitted with GPS collars from 2017 to 2021 in central Mississippi with time series segmentation and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) to determine if individuals employed varying movement strategies. We found 67% of bucks displayed a “sedentary” strategy characterized by a single KDE home range polygon with a mean size of 361 ha. The remaining 33% of bucks employed a “mobile” strategy characterized by multiple home range segments with a mean size of 6530 ha. Sedentary bucks went on an average of 5.9 excursions annually while mobile bucks went on 0.8. Excursion timing for both strategies peaked in breeding season and early spring. Mobile buck home ranges were separated by a mean distance of 7.1 km and mean duration in one home range segment before traveling to another was 78 days. Our study provides the first evidence that partial migration may apply to a larger proportion of lower‐latitude deer populations than originally thought, though the environmental justification for this partial migration is not clear. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T19:28:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-11d8b6c9e91442f9ab724d619a94f871 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T19:28:37Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-11d8b6c9e91442f9ab724d619a94f8712024-02-29T08:56:40ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582024-02-01142n/an/a10.1002/ece3.10875Rutting and rambling: Movement characteristics reveal partial migration in adult male white‐tailed deer at a latitude void of chronic and severe environmental fluctuationsLuke Resop0Stephen Demarais1Bronson K. Strickland2William T. McKinley3Garrett Street4Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Mississippi State University Mississippi State Mississippi USADepartment of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Mississippi State University Mississippi State Mississippi USADepartment of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Mississippi State University Mississippi State Mississippi USAMississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries, and Parks Jackson Mississippi USADepartment of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Mississippi State University Mississippi State Mississippi USAAbstract White‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are generally considered a home‐ranging species, although northern populations may migrate between summer and winter ranges to balance resource requirements with environmental stressors. We evaluated annual home range characteristics of adult bucks (n = 30) fitted with GPS collars from 2017 to 2021 in central Mississippi with time series segmentation and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) to determine if individuals employed varying movement strategies. We found 67% of bucks displayed a “sedentary” strategy characterized by a single KDE home range polygon with a mean size of 361 ha. The remaining 33% of bucks employed a “mobile” strategy characterized by multiple home range segments with a mean size of 6530 ha. Sedentary bucks went on an average of 5.9 excursions annually while mobile bucks went on 0.8. Excursion timing for both strategies peaked in breeding season and early spring. Mobile buck home ranges were separated by a mean distance of 7.1 km and mean duration in one home range segment before traveling to another was 78 days. Our study provides the first evidence that partial migration may apply to a larger proportion of lower‐latitude deer populations than originally thought, though the environmental justification for this partial migration is not clear.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10875excursionshome rangemigrationmovement strategypartial migrationwhite‐tailed deer |
| spellingShingle | Luke Resop Stephen Demarais Bronson K. Strickland William T. McKinley Garrett Street Rutting and rambling: Movement characteristics reveal partial migration in adult male white‐tailed deer at a latitude void of chronic and severe environmental fluctuations Ecology and Evolution excursions home range migration movement strategy partial migration white‐tailed deer |
| title | Rutting and rambling: Movement characteristics reveal partial migration in adult male white‐tailed deer at a latitude void of chronic and severe environmental fluctuations |
| title_full | Rutting and rambling: Movement characteristics reveal partial migration in adult male white‐tailed deer at a latitude void of chronic and severe environmental fluctuations |
| title_fullStr | Rutting and rambling: Movement characteristics reveal partial migration in adult male white‐tailed deer at a latitude void of chronic and severe environmental fluctuations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rutting and rambling: Movement characteristics reveal partial migration in adult male white‐tailed deer at a latitude void of chronic and severe environmental fluctuations |
| title_short | Rutting and rambling: Movement characteristics reveal partial migration in adult male white‐tailed deer at a latitude void of chronic and severe environmental fluctuations |
| title_sort | rutting and rambling movement characteristics reveal partial migration in adult male white tailed deer at a latitude void of chronic and severe environmental fluctuations |
| topic | excursions home range migration movement strategy partial migration white‐tailed deer |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10875 |
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