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article

Dynamic balancing of risks and rewards in a large herbivore: Further extending predator–prey concepts to road ecology

Marie‐Pier Poulin, Seth G. Cherry, Jerod A. Merkle

Journal of Animal Ecology > 92 > 10 > 1954 - 1965

Animal behaviour is shaped by the ability to identify risks and profitably balance the levels of risks encountered with the payoffs experienced. Anthropogenic disturbances like roads generate novel risks and opportunities that wildlife must accurately perceive and respond to. Basic concepts in predator–prey ecology are often used to understand responses of animals to roads (e.g. increased vigilance,...

article

Does variation in plant diversity and abundance influence browsing intensity in black rhinos?

Emanuel S. Sisya, Francis Moyo, Emanuel H. Martin, Linus K. Munishi

African Journal of Ecology > 61 > 3 > 606 - 616

Variations in forage availability, selection and preferences can lead to intense foraging competition and depletion of food consequently lowering diet quality and population performance of black rhino species. This study investigated seasonal variations in rhino diet, foraging, preference and browsing intensity and how this is influenced by plant diversity and availability in Mkomazi National Park...

article

Effects of foraging tunnels created by plateau zokors on plant above‐ground biomass and species richness of graminoids and forbs in alpine grasslands

Huan Yang, Yuan‐Yuan Duan, Jie Li, Qian Wang, more

Applied Vegetation Science > 26 > 3 > n/a - n/a

Question Foraging‐tunnel disturbances created by herbivorous mammals can influence the above‐ground plant biomass of grassland communities. The plateau zokor (Eospalax baileyi) was considered a focal animal for investigating the effect of foraging‐tunnel disturbances created by herbivorous mammals on the above‐ground biomass and species richness of graminoids and forbs. Here, we ask how foraging‐tunnel...

article

Dancing bees evaluate central urban forage resources as superior to agricultural land

Ash E. Samuelson, Roger Schürch, Ellouise Leadbeater

Journal of Applied Ecology > 59 > 1 > 79 - 88

Recent evidence suggests that flower‐rich areas within cities could play an important role in pollinator conservation, but direct comparison of floral resources within agricultural and urban areas has proved challenging to perform over large scales. Here we use the waggle dances of honeybees Apis mellifera L. to perform large‐scale landscape surveys at heavily urban or agricultural sites for a...

article

Contrasting Effects of Climate Change on Alpine Chamois

Roberta Chirichella, Philip A. Stephens, Tom H. E. Mason, Marco Apollonio

The Journal of Wildlife Management > 85 > 1 > 109 - 120

Global climate change can affect animal ecology in numerous ways, but researchers usually emphasize undesirable consequences. Temperature increases, for instance, can induce direct physiological costs and indirect effects via mismatches in resource needs and availability. Species living in mountainous regions, however, could experience beneficial effects because winters might become less severe. We...

article

Nutritional carrying capacity for cervids following disturbance in hardwood forests

Jordan S. Nanney, Craig A. Harper, David A. Buehler, Gary E. Bates

The Journal of Wildlife Management > 82 > 6 > 1219 - 1228

Closed‐canopy forests dominate the landscape across much of the eastern United States and often lack a well‐developed understory, which limits nutrition available for cervids. We evaluated the influence of timber harvest combined with prescribed fire, herbicide treatment, or fire and herbicide treatment in young mixed‐hardwood forests on forage availability and nutritional carrying capacity (NCC)...

article

Spatial factors of white-tailed deer herbivory assessment in the central Appalachian Mountains

Andrew B. Kniowski, W. Mark Ford

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment > 2018 > 190 > 4 > 1-13

Because moderate to over-abundant white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) herbivory impacts biodiversity and can alter community function, ecological benchmarks of herbivory impact are needed to assess deer impacts. We evaluated spatial patterns of deer herbivory and their relation to herbivory assessment by evaluating woody vegetation along 20 transects at each of 30 sites spread across a wide...

article

Forage intake and weight gain of ewes is affected by roughage mixes during winter in northeastern China

Zhiming Yang, Yunbo Wang, Xia Yuan, Ling Wang, more

Animal Science Journal > 88 > 8 > 1058 - 1065

We studied the effect of dietary roughage species and their combinations on forage intake and growth rate of ewes during winter in a pastoral‐farming area of northeast China. Twenty‐five Northeast crossbred ewes (fine‐wool sheep × Small‐tailed Han sheep) were randomly selected and divided into five groups (G1, G2, G3, G4 and G5). During a 30 day feeding trial, each group of ewes were offered the same...

article

Moose winter diet components from feces and field feeding signs: consistency and variability related to forage availability and nutritional requirements

Heng Bao, Hongliang Dou, Yingjie Ma, Hui Liu, more

Ecological Research > 2017 > 32 > 5 > 685-692

Diet composition detection of herbivores, relating to feeding strategies, might be influenced by forage availability, geographical variation, and the results of diet estimation also varied in some extent by the different research methods. Therefore, it is difficult to assess how effective various methods of identifying herbivores diet components and their nutritional requirements are. In order to...

article

Grazing behavior, forage selection and diet composition of goats in a Mediterranean woody rangeland

T. Manousidis, A.P. Kyriazopoulos, Z.M. Parissi, E.M. Abraham, more

Small Ruminant Research > 2016 > 145 > C > 142-153

The grazing behavior and the diet selection of goats are affected by numerous factors associated with animal characteristics, climate conditions and rangeland features as well as their interactions. Moreover, the special feeding behavior of goats due to their particular anatomic and physiologic characteristics, allow them to be highly selective, to consume lignified forages and to utilize woody plant...

article

Effects of feeding management and group composition on agonistic behaviour of group-housed horses

Joan-Bryce Burla, Anic Ostertag, Antonia Patt, Iris Bachmann, more

Applied Animal Behaviour Science > 2016 > 176 > C > 32-42

Under natural conditions, horses spend 12–18h of a day with synchronous grazing, but for stabled horses, the amount of forage and thus duration of feed intake usually are restricted. In group-housed horses, therefore, feeding times are often situations with increased levels of agonistic behaviour. Our aim was to evaluate how forage provision, feeding duration and group composition influence agonistic...

article

Home sweet home: fitness consequences of site familiarity in female black-tailed deer

Tavis D. Forrester, David S. Casady, Heiko U. Wittmer

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology > 2015 > 69 > 4 > 603-612

Individual animals strive to maximize fitness by gaining access to food while minimizing predation risk, and spatial knowledge of both forage resources and predation risks has long been presumed to be advantageous. Actual fitness benefits of site familiarity, however, have rarely been demonstrated. We placed GPS collars on 57 female black-tailed deer in coastal California over 4 years to track seasonal...

article

Honey bee foraging distance depends on month and forage type

Margaret J. Couvillon, Fiona C. Riddell Pearce, Christopher Accleton, Katherine A. Fensome, more

Apidologie > 2015 > 46 > 1 > 61-70

To investigate the distances at which honey bee foragers collect nectar and pollen, we analysed 5,484 decoded waggle dances made to natural forage sites to determine monthly foraging distance for each forage type. Firstly, we found significantly fewer overall dances made for pollen (16.8 %) than for non-pollen, presumably nectar (83.2 %; P < 2.2 × 10⁻²³). When we analysed distance against month...

article

Economic and Social Impacts of Wildfires and Invasive Plants in American Deserts: Lessons From the Great Basin

Mark W. Brunson, John Tanaka

Rangeland Ecology & Management > 2011 > 64 > 5 > 463-470

Research on the impacts of wildfire and invasive plants in rangelands has focused on biophysical rather than human dimensions of these environmental processes. We offer a synthetic perspective on economic and social aspects of wildfire and invasive plants in American deserts, focusing on the Great Basin because greater research attention has been given to the effects of cheatgrass expansion than to...

article

Influences of grassland degradation on forage availability by sheep in the Inner Mongolian steppes of China

Chengjie WANG, Shiping WANG, He ZHOU, Zhiqiang Li, more

Animal Science Journal > 82 > 4 > 537 - 542

In China and throughout the world, evaluation of the nutrient values of forages has always lagged behind research regarding the nutrient requirements of animals. In this study, the effective degradability and availability of forages were evaluated on undegraded and degraded grassland using a technique where nylon bags were incubated in sheep rumen. We found that the concentrations of organic matter...

article

What determines variation in home range size across spatiotemporal scales in a large browsing herbivore?

Floris M. van Beest, Inger M. Rivrud, Leif E. Loe, Jos M. Milner, more

Journal of Animal Ecology > 80 > 4 > 771 - 785

1. Most studies of intraspecific variation in home range size have investigated only a single or a few factors and often at one specific scale. However, considering multiple spatial and temporal scales when defining a home range is important as mechanisms that affect variation in home range size may differ depending on the scale under investigation. 2. We aim to quantify the relative effect of various...

article

Argali food habits and dietary overlap with domestic livestock in Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, Mongolia

G.J. Wingard, R.B. Harris, D.H. Pletscher, D.J. Bedunah, more

Journal of Arid Environments > 2011 > 75 > 2 > 138-145

The argali (Ovis ammon) is a species of great conservation concern throughout its range in central Asia, and is particularly sensitive to human disturbance and habitat degradation. Recent increases in livestock numbers have potentially reduced the capacity of habitats to sustain argali because of forage or interference competition. We studied the potential for forage competition between argali and...

article

Resource partitioning between large herbivores in Hustai National Park, Mongolia

David J. Sietses, Gregory Faupin, Willem F. de Boer, Christine B. de Jong, more

Mammalian Biology > 2009 > 74 > 5 > 381-393

Re-introduced Przewalski horses in Hustai National Park, Mongolia could suffer from food competition with other herbivore species through food resource depletion. Diet composition of the Przewalski horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and four livestock species (sheep, goat, cattle and horse) were studied, using micro histological analysis of faecal samples in the summer of 2005...

article

Behavioural patterns of heifers under intensive and extensive continuous grazing on species-rich pasture in the Czech Republic

Pavla Hejcmanová, Michaela Stejskalová, Vilém Pavlů, Michal Hejcman

Applied Animal Behaviour Science > 2009 > 117 > 3-4 > 137-143

This study examines the effects of season and of two grazing intensities, namely extensive grazing (EG) and intensive grazing (IG), on the grazing behaviour of heifers on species-rich upland pasture in the Czech Republic. Ten or eight (IG), and six or four (EG) heifers were continuously stocked in two completely randomized blocks from June to late September in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006 and 2007. Swards...

article

Interannual variation in the adrenal responsiveness of black-legged kittiwake chicks (Rissa tridactyla)

John H. Brewer, Kathleen M. O’Reilly, S. Dean Kildaw, C. Loren Buck

General and Comparative Endocrinology > 2008 > 156 > 2 > 361-368

Over the last decade, field endocrinologists have explored the efficacy of using plasma corticosterone concentrations of breeding seabirds as an indicator of food availability and predictor of breeding success. However, studies have been predominately confined to adults and the results have been inconsistent. We examined the relationship between the productivity of black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla)...

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Search results

Dynamic balancing of risks and rewards in a large herbivore: Further extending predator–prey concepts to road ecology

Does variation in plant diversity and abundance influence browsing intensity in black rhinos?

Effects of foraging tunnels created by plateau zokors on plant above‐ground biomass and species richness of graminoids and forbs in alpine grasslands

Dancing bees evaluate central urban forage resources as superior to agricultural land

Contrasting Effects of Climate Change on Alpine Chamois

Nutritional carrying capacity for cervids following disturbance in hardwood forests

Spatial factors of white-tailed deer herbivory assessment in the central Appalachian Mountains

Forage intake and weight gain of ewes is affected by roughage mixes during winter in northeastern China

Moose winter diet components from feces and field feeding signs: consistency and variability related to forage availability and nutritional requirements

Grazing behavior, forage selection and diet composition of goats in a Mediterranean woody rangeland

Effects of feeding management and group composition on agonistic behaviour of group-housed horses

Home sweet home: fitness consequences of site familiarity in female black-tailed deer

Honey bee foraging distance depends on month and forage type

Economic and Social Impacts of Wildfires and Invasive Plants in American Deserts: Lessons From the Great Basin

Influences of grassland degradation on forage availability by sheep in the Inner Mongolian steppes of China

What determines variation in home range size across spatiotemporal scales in a large browsing herbivore?

Argali food habits and dietary overlap with domestic livestock in Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, Mongolia

Resource partitioning between large herbivores in Hustai National Park, Mongolia

Behavioural patterns of heifers under intensive and extensive continuous grazing on species-rich pasture in the Czech Republic

Interannual variation in the adrenal responsiveness of black-legged kittiwake chicks (Rissa tridactyla)

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