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Observed links between parasites, such as ticks, and climate change have aroused concern for human health, wildlife population dynamics, and broader ecosystem effects. The one-host life history of the winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) links each annual cohort to environmental conditions during three specific time periods when they are predictably vulnerable: spring detachment from hosts, summer larval stage, and fall questing for hosts. We used mixed-effects generalized linear models to investigate the drivers of tick loads carried by moose (Alces alces) relative to these time periods and across 750 moose, 10 years, and 16 study areas in the western United States. We tested for the effects of biotic factors (moose...
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Abstract (from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12772/full): The Green Wave Hypothesis posits that herbivore migration manifests in response to waves of spring green-up (i.e. green-wave surfing). Nonetheless, empirical support for the Green Wave Hypothesis is mixed, and a framework for understanding variation in surfing is lacking. In a population of migratory mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), 31% surfed plant phenology in spring as well as a theoretically perfect surfer, and 98% surfed better than random. Green-wave surfing varied among individuals and was unrelated to age or energetic state. Instead, the greenscape, which we define as the order, rate and duration of green-up along migratory routes,...
Categories: Publication;
Types: Citation;
Tags: Forage maturation hypothesis,
Mammals,
National CASC,
Odocoileus hemionus,
Plants, All tags...
Wildlife and Plants,
Wyoming,
green wave hypothesis,
migration,
mule deer,
normalised difference vegetation index,
phenology,
resource landscape,
ungulate, Fewer tags
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