Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA.
Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA.
Nat Commun. 2023 Apr 10;14(1):2008. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37750-z.
Billions of animals migrate to track seasonal pulses in resources. Optimally timing migration is a key strategy, yet the ability of animals to compensate for phenological mismatches en route is largely unknown. Using GPS movement data collected from 72 adult female deer over a 10-year duration, we study a population of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in Wyoming that lack reliable cues on their desert winter range, causing them to start migration 70 days ahead to 52 days behind the wave of spring green-up. We show that individual deer arrive at their summer range within an average 6-day window by adjusting movement speed and stopover use. Late migrants move 2.5 times faster and spend 72% less time on stopovers than early migrants, which allows them to catch the green wave. Our findings suggest that ungulates, and potentially other migratory species, possess cognitive abilities to recognize where they are in space and time relative to key resources. Such behavioral capacity may allow migratory taxa to maintain foraging benefits amid rapidly changing phenology.
数十亿的动物会迁徙以追踪资源的季节性脉冲。最优的迁徙时机是一种关键策略，但动物在迁徙途中补偿物候失配的能力在很大程度上是未知的。我们使用 GPS 运动数据，对怀俄明州的一个 72 头成年雌性骡鹿种群进行了为期 10 年的研究，这些鹿在沙漠冬季栖息地缺乏可靠的线索，导致它们提前 70 天开始迁徙，落后于春季植被返青的浪潮多达 52 天。我们发现，个体鹿通过调整移动速度和中途停留的使用，在平均 6 天的时间窗口内到达夏季栖息地。晚迁徙的鹿移动速度快 2.5 倍，中途停留的时间少 72%，这使它们能够赶上绿色浪潮。我们的研究结果表明，有蹄类动物，以及可能的其他迁徙物种，具有认知能力，可以识别它们相对于关键资源的空间和时间位置。这种行为能力可能使迁徙类群在快速变化的物候学中保持觅食优势。
