Understanding predation risk and individual variation in risk avoidance for threatened boreal caribou.

ABSTRACT: Predation risk is a driver of species' distributions. Animals can increase risk avoidance in response to fluctuations in predation risk, but questions remain regarding individual variability and the capacity to respond to changes in spatial risk across human-altered landscapes. In northeast British Columbia, Canada, boreal caribou populations declined as roads and seismic lines have increased, which are theorized to increase gray wolf predation. Our goal was to model risk and to evaluate individual variability and the development of risk perception by examining individual risk avoidance in response to reproductive status and age. We used locations from collared caribou and wolves to identify landscape features associated with the risk of a potential wolf-caribou encounter and risk of being

SUBMITTER: Mumma MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5723594 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature