Scale-Dependence in Elk Habitat Selection for a Reintroduced Population in Wisconsin, USA.
Data files
Aug 30, 2023 version files 937.89 MB
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README.md
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SpatialScale_HomeRange_RawData.csv
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SpatialScale_Landscape_RawData.csv
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TemporalScale_HomeRange_RawData.csv
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TemporalScale_Landscape_RawData.csv
Abstract
- Habitat selection is a critical aspect of a species’ ecology requiring complex decision-making that is both hierarchical and scale-dependent, since factors that influence selection may be nested or unequal across scales.
- Elk (Cervus canadensis) ranged widely across diverse habitats in North America prior to European settlement and subsequent eastern extirpation. Most habitat studies have occurred within their contemporary western range, even after eastern elk reintroductions began. As habitat selection can vary by geographic location, available cover, season, and diel period, it is important to understand how a non-migratory, reintroduced population in northern Wisconsin, USA is limited by the lack of variation in topography, elevation, and vegetation.
- We tested scale-dependent habitat selection on 79 adult elk from 2017–2020. We used resource selection functions across both temporal and spatial scales to understand differences in selection of topographic and environmental features.
- We found that selection varied both spatially and temporally and elk selected areas with the greatest potential to influence fitness at larger scales (i.e., landscape scale), meaning elk selected areas closer to escape cover and further from “risky” features (e.g., wolf territory centers, county roads and highways). We found stronger avoidance to wolf territory centers during spring, suggesting elk were selecting safer habitats during calving season. We found elk selected habitats with less canopy cover across both spatial scales and all seasons, suggesting that elk selected these areas for better access to forage as forest stands in early seral stages have greater nutritional value and forage biomass than closed-canopy forests and direct solar radiation to provide warmth in the cooler seasons.
- This study highlights how processes at different spatial and temporal scales influence species’ decision-making. It provides insight into the complexity of making informed decisions in which an individual is responding to their immediate environment while simultaneously making decisions in the context of the larger landscape. Scale-dependent behavior is crucial to understand within specific geographic regions as these decisions scale up to influence population dynamics.
README:
This README file was generated on 2023-08-30 by Jennifer Merems.
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Title of Dataset: Fear before food: Scale-dependence in elk habitat selection
- Author Information: A. Principal Investigator Contact Information Name: Timothy Van Deelen Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison: Madison, WI USA Email: trvandeelen@wisc.edu
B. Corresponding Author Contact Information Name: Jennifer Merems Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison: Madison, WI USA Email: merems@wisc.edu
- Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date): 2022-2023
- Geographic location of data collection: Wisconsin, USA
- Information about funding source that supported the collection of the data: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION
- Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: Coordinates could not be given because location information for elk in Wisconsin is protected information. Coordinates are not needed to run the resource selection function. Wolf territory centroid locations could not be given because location information for gray wolves in Wisconsin is protected information. Information is not needed to run the resource selection function.
- Links to publications that cite or use the data: Coming soon.
- Was data derived from another source? No A. If yes, list source(s): NA
- Recommended citation for this dataset: Coming soon.
DATA & FILE OVERVIEW
- File List: A) SpatialScale_Landscape_RawData.csv Datasets used in modeling habitat use for elk at the landscape scale.
B) SpatialScale_HomeRange_RawData.csv Datasets used in modeling habitat use for elk at the home range scale.
C) TemporalScale_Landscape_RawData.csv Datasets used in modeling habitat use for elk at the landscape scale separated by season.
D) TemporalScale_HomeRange_RawData.csv Datasets used in modeling habitat use for elk at the home range scale separated by season.
- Relationship between files, if important: None
- Additional related data collected that was not included in the current data package: None
- Are there multiple versons of this dataset? No A. If yes, name of file(s) that was updated: NA i. Why was the file updated? NA ii. When was the file updated? NA
DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR:
SpatialScale_Landscape_RawData.csv
- Number of variables: 13
- Number of cases/rows: 1048575
- Variable List:
- CollarID: Elk identification.
- Used: 1 – cell occupied by an elk GPS location, 0 – randomly assigned location.
- Year: Year of the study (2017-2020).
- Elevation: Elevation (m) of cell.
- Slope: Slope (m) of cell.
- Cosine Aspect: Northness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of northness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will be southwards and +1 will be northwards.
- Sine Aspect: Eastness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of eastness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will be westwards and +1 will be eastwards.
- Canopy Cover (%): Percent overstory canopy cover of cell.
- Distance to Canopy Cover < 40%: Distance pixel is to nearest cell with percent overstory canopy cover less than 40%.
- Distance to County Roads: Distance cell is to nearest county road; km.
- Distance to Main Roads: Distance cell is to nearest main road; km.
- Distance to Wolf Territory Centers: Distance cell is to nearest wolf territory center; km.
- Habitat Type: Habitat type classification of given cell.
- Missing data codes: None
- Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR:
SpatialScale_HomeRange_RawData.csv
- Number of variables: 13
- Number of cases/rows: 96244
- Variable List:
- CollarID: Elk identification.
- Used: 1 – cell occupied by an elk GPS location, 0 – randomly assigned location.
- Year: Year of the study (2017-2020).
- Elevation: Elevation (m) of cell.
- Slope: Slope (m) of cell.
- Cosine Aspect: Northness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of northness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will be southwards and +1 will be northwards.
- Sine Aspect: Eastness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of eastness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will be westwards and +1 will be eastwards.
- Canopy Cover (%): Percent overstory canopy cover of cell.
- Distance to Canopy Cover < 40%: Distance pixel is to nearest cell with percent overstory canopy cover less than 40%.
- Distance to County Roads: Distance cell is to nearest county road; km.
- Distance to Main Roads: Distance cell is to nearest main road; km.
- Distance to Wolf Territory Centers: Distance cell is to nearest wolf territory center; km.
- Habitat Type: Habitat type classification of given cell.
- Missing data codes: None
- Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR:
TemporalScale_Landscape_RawData.csv
- Number of variables: 13
- Number of cases/rows: 1048576
- Variable List:
- CollarID: Elk identification.
- Used: 1 – cell occupied by an elk GPS location, 0 – randomly assigned location.
- Year: Year of the study (2017-2020).
- Elevation: Elevation (m) of cell.
- Slope: Slope (m) of cell.
- Cosine Aspect: Northness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of northness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will be southwards and +1 will be northwards.
- Sine Aspect: Eastness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of eastness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will be westwards and +1 will be eastwards.
- Canopy Cover (%): Percent overstory canopy cover of cell.
- Distance to Canopy Cover < 40%: Distance pixel is to nearest cell with percent overstory canopy cover less than 40%.
- Distance to County Roads: Distance cell is to nearest county road; km.
- Distance to Main Roads: Distance cell is to nearest main road; km.
- Distance to Wolf Territory Centers: Distance cell is to nearest wolf territory center; km.
- Habitat Type: Habitat type classification of given cell.
- Missing data codes: None
- Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR:
TemporalScale_HomeRange_RawData.csv
- Number of variables: 13
- Number of cases/rows: 150866
- Variable List:
- CollarID: Elk identification.
- Used: 1 – cell occupied by an elk GPS location, 0 – randomly assigned location.
- Year: Year of the study (2017-2020).
- Elevation: Elevation (m) of cell.
- Slope: Slope (m) of cell.
- Cosine Aspect: Northness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of northness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will be southwards and +1 will be northwards.
- Sine Aspect: Eastness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of eastness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will be westwards and +1 will be eastwards.
- Canopy Cover (%): Percent overstory canopy cover of cell.
- Distance to Canopy Cover < 40%: Distance pixel is to nearest cell with percent overstory canopy cover less than 40%.
- Distance to County Roads: Distance cell is to nearest county road; km.
- Distance to Main Roads: Distance cell is to nearest main road; km.
- Distance to Wolf Territory Centers: Distance cell is to nearest wolf territory center; km.
- Habitat Type: Habitat type classification of given cell.
- Missing data codes: None
- Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None