Bonnefond Laura, Pinaud David, Bollache Loïc, Schmidt Niels Martin, Lang Johannes, Hansen Lars Holst, Sittler Benoît, Moreau Jérôme, Gilg Olivier
Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372, CNRS & La Rochelle Université, Villiers-en-bois, 79360, France.
Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, 21078, France.
Mov Ecol. 2025 Mar 4;13(1):13. doi: 10.1186/s40462-024-00522-5.
In highly constrained ecosystems such as in the Arctic, animals must constantly adjust their movements to cope with the highly versatile environmental conditions. However, to date most studies have focused on interseasonal differences in spatial behaviour, while intraseasonal dynamics are less described.
To fill this knowledge gap, we studied the movement patterns of an Arctic predator, the arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) at the intraseasonal scale. To unravel temporal patterns in space use and movement metrics, we used GPS data collected on 20 individual foxes between 2017 and 2023 in North-East Greenland.
We showed that weekly full and core home range sizes (estimated by means of Autocorrelated Kernel Density Estimates), and daily mean relative turning angles stayed constant throughout the summer. Conversely, daily distance travelled, mean daily speed and daily proportion of 'active' time showed intraseasonal variations. These fine-scale metrics had a hump-shaped distribution, peaking in mid-July, with males and non-breeding foxes travelling longer distances and being faster. Site-specific patterns were also identified, with foxes having smaller territories in the two most productive sites but moving shorter distances and at lower speeds at the poorest site.
Our study provides novel insights into how predators adjust their space use and behaviour to intraseasonal variations in environmental conditions. Specifically, we show that different movement metrics show different intraseasonal patterns. We also underline the importance of considering small spatiotemporal scales to fully understand predators' spatial behaviour.
在北极等生态系统高度受限的地区，动物必须不断调整其活动，以应对高度多变的环境条件。然而，迄今为止，大多数研究都集中在空间行为的季节间差异上，而季节内动态的描述较少。
为了填补这一知识空白，我们在季节内尺度上研究了北极捕食者北极狐（Vulpes lagopus）的活动模式。为了揭示空间利用和活动指标的时间模式，我们使用了2017年至2023年期间在格陵兰岛东北部收集的20只个体狐狸的GPS数据。
我们发现，整个夏季，每周的完整和核心家域大小（通过自相关核密度估计法估算）以及每日平均相对转向角保持不变。相反，每日行进距离、平均每日速度和“活跃”时间的每日比例呈现出季节内变化。这些精细尺度的指标呈驼峰状分布，在7月中旬达到峰值，雄性狐狸和非繁殖期狐狸行进的距离更长，速度更快。还确定了特定地点的模式，在两个生产力最高的地点，狐狸的领地较小，但在最贫瘠的地点，它们移动的距离较短，速度较慢。
我们的研究为捕食者如何根据环境条件的季节内变化调整其空间利用和行为提供了新的见解。具体而言，我们表明不同的活动指标呈现出不同的季节内模式。我们还强调了考虑小时空尺度对于全面理解捕食者空间行为的重要性。
