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Observing the behavior of a species during its offspring-rearing period can provide valuable insights that improve our understanding of the habitat conditions required to support successful reproduction. We used GPS location data collected during a period of high snowshoe hare abundance from 2018 to 2020 to examine den use and investigate the capacity of Canada lynx ( Lynx canadensis Kerr, 1792) mothers to access prey resources around their den sites throughout the stages of kit development. We tested the hypothesis that mothers would be heavily restricted in movement during the first 2 months after parturition, at which point their behavior would return to pre-parturient baseline. At this high-latitude study site (∼67°N), parturition occurred approximately 3 weeks later compared to lynx in the south (∼47°N). Additionally, home ranges and core areas of females were greatly reduced (3–11x) following parturition. These observations, along with an estimation of activity budgets, suggest that there are both spatial and temporal restrictions affecting movement away from den sites even after kits are greater than 2 months old, indicating that females are limited to accessing prey resources within a constrained area (i.e., ≤10 km2) while caring for dependent kits.
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Seasonal changes in the movements rates and activity patterns of Canada lynx
In Subarctic and Arctic environments, daily patterns of activity and space-use are strongly influenced by interplay between seasonal abiotic factors and the corresponding responses of the biotic environment. Here we combined accelerometry with GPS telemetry of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis (Kerr, 1792), n=12) in northern Alaska to test the hypotheses that lynx activity would peak during twilight throughout the year, coinciding with activity of their preferred prey, and that individuals with larger home ranges would have greater spatial displacement and expend more energy on movement. Lynx activity occurred throughout the 24h day and peaked during twilight, but variation among individuals was high and diel rhythms were sometimes only detectable using the finer resolution accelerometer data. Surprisingly, home range size was not correlated with movement costs estimated via acceleration, but step length and acceleration were correlated in a positive curvilinear fashion. However, step length was sometimes disproportionately lower than predicted by acceleration. Such intervals of high activity with low spatial displacement were often followed by periods of rest, suggesting they may be indicative of hunting in a restricted patch of habitat. We conclude that accelerometers can provide additional information to supplement GPS data, providing a more complete picture of animal behavior.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2224776
- PAR ID:
- 10571096
- Publisher / Repository:
- Canadian Science Publishing
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Canadian Journal of Zoology
- ISSN:
- 0008-4301
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2023-0194
