Antipredator decisions involve an intrinsic trade‐off between safety and foraging efficiency (Brown & Kotler, 2004 Lima & Dill, 1990). Predators affect prey populations directly through lethal encounters and indirectly through behavioral modifications that reduce encounter rates (Peckarsky et al., 2008). These findings highlight the role wolves can play in determining moose behavior, whereby moose spend less time in areas with higher predicted likelihood of wolf resource selection. across seasons: −60.1%) than the Voyageurs National Park ecosystem (−30.4%). In northeastern Minnesota, where moose comprise a larger percentage of wolf diet, the relationship between moose FPT and wolf RSF was more pronounced (ave. Differences in FPT between low and high RSF values were greatest in winter (−82.1%) and spring (−57.6%) in northeastern Minnesota and similar for all seasons in the Voyageurs National Park ecosystem. The relationship between wolf RSF and moose FPT was nonlinear and varied seasonally. Moose FPTs were 45% lower in areas most selected for by wolves relative to those avoided. We found that the movements of moose and wolves peaked at similar times of day in both study areas.

Larger FPT values suggest rest/foraging, whereas shorter FPT values indicate travel/fleeing. We created seasonal resource selection functions (RSF) for wolves and modeled the relationship between moose first‐passage time (FPT), a method that discerns alterations in movement rates, and wolf RSF values.

We deployed GPS collars on both species at two sites in northern Minnesota.

We tested whether moose avoided areas with high predicted wolf resource use in two study areas with differing prey compositions, whether avoidance patterns varied seasonally, and whether daily activity budgets of moose and wolves aligned temporally. Our goal was to understand how movement and resource selection of a predator (wolves Canis lupus) influence the movement behavior of a prey species (moose Alces alces). Quantifying these indirect effects can be difficult even when it is possible to monitor individuals that regularly interact. Predators directly impact prey populations through lethal encounters, but understanding nonlethal, indirect effects is also critical because foraging animals often face trade‐offs between predator avoidance and energy intake.

Gw 2 2018 summer update pack