Vegetation influences wolf fine-scale habitat selection and movement rate in a logged coastal rainforest.

ABSTRACT: Vegetation and its modification by humans can shape wildlife habitat selection and movement. A better understanding of how wolves select and move through natural and human modified vegetative cover can be used to implement forest management that considers impacts on wolves and their prey. We analyzed fine-scale wolf habitat selection and movement in a coastal temperate rainforest (Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, USA) in relation to: (1) young (≤ 30 years) and old (> 30 years) logged areas, (2) continuous measures of vegetative cover (as estimated via LiDAR), and (3) distance to roads, using integrated step-selection analysis (iSSA). Wolves selected areas with less forest canopy and understory cover at the population level, although they switched to selecting understory when within logged f

SUBMITTER: Gregovich DP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11868358 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature