Olson Lucretia E, Sauder Joel D, Fekety Patrick A, Golding Jessie D, Lewis Carly W, Sadak Rema B, Schwartz Michael K
Rocky Mountain Research Station, United States Forest Service, Missoula, MT, USA.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Lewiston, ID, USA.
Mov Ecol. 2024 Jul 6;12(1):49. doi: 10.1186/s40462-024-00487-5.
Studies of animal habitat selection are important to identify and preserve the resources species depend on, yet often little attention is paid to how habitat needs vary depending on behavioral state. Fishers (Pekania pennanti) are known to be dependent on large, mature trees for resting and denning, but less is known about their habitat use when foraging or moving within a home range.
We used GPS locations collected during the energetically costly pre-denning season from 12 female fishers to determine fisher habitat selection during two critical behavioral activities: foraging (moving) or resting, with a focus on response to forest structure related to past forest management actions since this is a primary driver of fisher habitat configuration. We characterized behavior based on high-resolution GPS and collar accelerometer data and modeled fisher selection for these two behaviors within a home range (third-order selection). Additionally, we investigated whether fisher use of elements of forest structure or other important environmental characteristics changed as their availability changed, i.e., a functional response, for each behavior type.
We found that fishers exhibited specialist selection when resting and generalist selection when moving, with resting habitat characterized by riparian drainages with dense canopy cover and moving habitat primarily influenced by the presence of mesic montane mixed conifer forest. Fishers were more tolerant of forest openings and other early succession elements when moving than resting.
Our results emphasize the importance of considering the differing habitat needs of animals based on their movement behavior when performing habitat selection analyses. We found that resting fishers are more specialist in their habitat needs, while foraging fishers are more generalist and will tolerate greater forest heterogeneity from past disturbance.
动物栖息地选择研究对于识别和保护物种所依赖的资源至关重要，但人们往往很少关注栖息地需求如何因行为状态而异。渔貂（Pekania pennanti）已知依赖大型成熟树木进行休息和筑巢，但对于它们在觅食或在活动范围内移动时的栖息地利用情况了解较少。
我们使用了在能量消耗高昂的筑巢前季节收集的12只雌性渔貂的GPS位置数据，以确定渔貂在两种关键行为活动（觅食（移动）或休息）期间的栖息地选择情况，重点关注对与过去森林管理行动相关的森林结构的反应，因为这是渔貂栖息地配置的主要驱动因素。我们根据高分辨率GPS和项圈加速度计数据对行为进行了特征描述，并对活动范围内这两种行为的渔貂选择情况进行了建模（三阶选择）。此外，我们还研究了随着森林结构要素或其他重要环境特征的可用性变化，即功能反应，每种行为类型下渔貂对这些要素的利用情况是否发生变化。
我们发现，渔貂休息时表现出特化选择，移动时表现出泛化选择，休息栖息地的特征是河岸排水区域且树冠茂密，移动栖息地主要受中生山地混交针叶林的影响。与休息时相比，渔貂移动时对林中空地和其他早期演替要素的耐受性更强。
我们的研究结果强调了在进行栖息地选择分析时，根据动物的移动行为考虑其不同栖息地需求的重要性。我们发现，休息的渔貂对栖息地的需求更为特化，而觅食的渔貂则更为泛化，并且能够容忍过去干扰造成的更大的森林异质性。
