Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada.
Oecologia. 2022 Dec;200(3-4):349-358. doi: 10.1007/s00442-022-05266-w. Epub 2022 Sep 29.
Wind speed can have multifaceted effects on organisms including altering thermoregulation, locomotion, and sensory reception. While forest cover can substantially reduce wind speed at ground level, it is not known if animals living in forests show any behavioural responses to changes in wind speed. Here, we explored how three boreal forest mammals, a predator and two prey, altered their behaviour in response to average daily wind speeds during winter. We collected accelerometer data to determine wind speed effects on activity patterns and kill rates of free-ranging red squirrels (n = 144), snowshoe hares (n = 101), and Canada lynx (n = 27) in Kluane, Yukon from 2015 to 2018. All 3 species responded to increasing wind speeds by changing the time they were active, but effects were strongest in hares, which reduced daily activity by 25%, and lynx, which increased daily activity by 25%. Lynx also increased the number of feeding events by 40% on windy days. These results highlight that wind speed is an important abiotic variable that can affect behaviour, even in forested environments.
风速对生物有多种影响，包括改变体温调节、运动和感觉接收。虽然森林覆盖可以大大降低地面的风速，但尚不清楚生活在森林中的动物是否会对风速的变化表现出任何行为反应。在这里，我们探讨了三种北方森林哺乳动物（一种捕食者和两种猎物）如何在冬季对平均每日风速做出行为反应。我们收集了加速度计数据，以确定活动模式和自由放养的红松鼠（n=144）、雪兔（n=101）和加拿大猞猁（n=27）在育空地区克卢恩的猎杀率对风速的影响，数据采集时间为 2015 年至 2018 年。所有 3 种物种都通过改变活动时间对风速增加做出了反应，但影响最大的是雪兔，它们的日常活动减少了 25%，猞猁的日常活动增加了 25%。在多风的日子里，猞猁的进食次数也增加了 40%。这些结果表明，风速是一个重要的非生物变量，即使在森林环境中也会影响行为。
