Moose at their bioclimatic edge alter their behavior based on weather, landscape, and predators.

ABSTRACT: Populations inhabiting the bioclimatic edges of a species' geographic range face an increasing amount of stress from alterations to their environment associated with climate change. Moose Alces alces are large-bodied ungulates that are sensitive to heat stress and have exhibited population declines and range contractions along their southern geographic extent. Using a hidden Markov model to analyze movement and accelerometer data, we assigned behaviors (rest, forage, or travel) to all locations of global positioning system-collared moose (n = 13, moose-years = 19) living near the southern edge of the species' range in and around Voyageurs National Park, MN, USA. We assessed how moose behavior changed relative to weather, landscape, and the presence of predators. Moose signifi

SUBMITTER: Ditmer MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6084617 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature