INVESTIGADORES
MORALES juan manuel
artículos
Título:
Multiple movement modes by large herbivores at multiple spatio-temporal scales
Autor/es:
FRYXELL, J. M.; HAZELL, M.; BÖRGER, L.; DALZIEL, B; HAYDON, D. T.; MORALES, J. M.; MCINTOSH, T.; ROSSATE, R.
Revista:
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Editorial:
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
Referencias:
Año: 2008 vol. 105 p. 19114 - 19119
ISSN:
0027-8424
Resumen:
Recent theory suggests that animals should switch facultatively among canonical movement modes as a complex function of internal state, landscape characteristics, and navigational capacity. We tested the generality of this paradigm for free-ranging elk (Cervus elaphus) over 5 orders of magnitude in time [minutes to years] and space [m to 100km]. At the coarsest spatio-temporal scale, elk shifted from a dispersive to a home-ranging phase over the course of 2-3 years following introduction into a novel environment. At intermediate spatio-temporal scales elk continued to alternate between movement modes. During the dispersive phase, elk alternated between encamped and exploratory modes, possibly linked to changes in motivational goals from foraging to social bonding. During the home-ranging phase, elk movements were characterized by a complex interplay between attraction to preferred habitat types and memory of previous movements across the home-range. At the finest temporal and spatial scale, elk employed area-restricted search while browsing, interspersed with less sinuous paths when not browsing.  Encountering a patch of high quality food plants triggered the switch from one mode to the next, creating bi-phasic movement dynamics that were reinforced by local resource heterogeneity.  These patterns suggest that multi-phasic movement is fundamental to the movement patterns of elk at all temporal and spatial scales tested.