Coping with strong variations in winter severity: plastic habitat selection of deer at high density

Nicolas Courbin, Christian Dussault, Alexandre Veillette, Marie-Andrée Giroux and Steeve D. Côté

Behavioral Ecology, 2017, vol. 28, issue 4, 1037-1046

Abstract: Lay SummaryThe capacity of animals to alter their foraging strategy is essential to cope with changing environmental conditions and survive at high population densities. White-tailed deer used different foraging tactics between mild and harsh winters. As winter severity increased, deer decreased their exposure to cold temperature, and traded-off the costs associated with locomotion in deep snow cover with the benefits of forage acquisition. Ultimately, they selected different foraging areas between harsh and mild winters.

Keywords: behavioral plasticity; cold-stress; foraging tactic; Odocoileus virginianus; overbrowsed landscape; snow condition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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