The impact of human disturbance on habitat selection and social behaviour in Manitoba elk

全球野生动物日益受到人类活动的干扰，如栖息地丧失和土地利用变化。一些物种能够应对这些变化，而另一些则不能，导致物种减少和灭绝。动物应对人类干扰的最重要方式之一是在干扰产生的新情况下采用灵活的应对策略。群居是动物根据它们所处的环境而适应的一种策略。任何动物的目标都是最大限度地增加食物摄入量，同时降低死亡风险，这样你就可以把你的基因传给下一代。群居动物可以通过分享寻找危险的时间来降低死亡风险，但它们也需要与其他群体成员分享食物。在你的群体规模上保持灵活，可以让你在你的情况下最大化群体生活的好处，最小化成本。例如，动物可以在有许多捕食者的地区聚集在一起，这样它们就可以在分享寻找危险的时间的同时吃东西，而在低风险的地区分散开来，以减少与其他群体成员争夺食物的竞争。同样，动物们也会在一天或一年中遇到捕食者的几率更高的时候聚集在一起。随着越来越多的栖息地丧失或退化，动物被迫在遇到人类捕食者的风险更高的地方觅食，比如农田。能够在危险的栖息地灵活地聚集在一起，在低风险的栖息地分开，可能使物种更好地应对人类引起的变化。在这个项目中，我们的目标是调查聚集在一起对动物选择觅食的地点和时间的影响。我将用生活在马尼托巴省以农业为主的一群麋鹿中的18头雌性麋鹿来解决这个问题。这些麋鹿戴着全球定位系统（GPS）项圈，这些项圈在两年的时间里定期收集它们的位置数据。我将使用组合测试来调查是什么驱使麋鹿选择特定的栖息地，以及每只动物和它最近的邻居之间的距离是否在更危险的地区（如农田）和更危险的时间（如狩猎季节和人类更活跃的白天）发生变化。这项研究将使我们更好地理解动物是如何应对栖息地干扰的，以及社会群体作为一种应对策略的潜力。曼尼托巴省的麋鹿数量普遍在下降，这可能对依赖狩猎业的人们的生计产生负面影响。本研究获得的信息将有助于当地利益相关者做出土地利用变化和狩猎配额的决策，以促进麋鹿种群的可持续增长，支持当地生计。

NERC : Zoe Melvin : NE/L002604/1Global wildlife is increasingly subject to human-induced disturbance, such as habitat loss and land-use changes. Some species are able to cope with these changes while others are not, leading to species declines and extinctions. One of the most important ways that animals cope with human disturbance is by using flexible coping strategies in new situations created by disturbance. Social grouping is one strategy that animals adapt according to the situation that they are in. The goal for any animal is to maximise the amount of food you eat while reducing your risk of death so that you can pass on your genes to the next generation. Group-living animals can reduce their risk of death by sharing the time spent looking for danger, but they also need to share food with other group members. Being flexible in the size of your group would allow you to maximise the benefits and minimise the costs of group-living given your situation. For example, animals could group together in areas with many predators to allow them to eat while sharing the time spent looking for danger and split apart in areas of low risk to reduce competition for food with other group members. Similarly, animals could group together more at times of the day or the year when their chances of encountering a predator is higher. As more and more habitat is lost or degraded, animals are forced to feed in areas that present a higher risk of encountering human predators, such a farmland. Being able to group together flexibly in risky habitats and split up in low-risk habitats may allow species to cope better with human induced-change. In this project, we aim to investigate the effect that grouping together has on where and when animals choose to feed. I will address this question using 18 female elk in one herd in Manitoba that lives in a mostly agricultural landscape. These elk wear Global Positioning System (GPS) collars that have been collecting data on their locations at regular intervals for two years. I will use a combination of tests to investigate what is driving elk to choose certain habitats and whether the distance between each animal and its closest neighbour changes in more in risky areas (i.e. agricultural land) and more risky times of day (i.e. hunting season and daytime when humans are more active). This research will give us a better understanding of how animals cope with habitat disturbance and the potential for social grouping to be used as a coping strategy. Elk populations in Manitoba are generally in decline which could have negative impacts on livelihoods of people that depend on the hunting industry. The information gained in this study will help local stakeholders to make decisions about land-use changes and hunting quotas in their area to promote the sustainable population growth of elk and support local livelihoods.