Vegetation characteristics influence fine-scale intensity of habitat use by wild turkey and white-tailed deer in a loblolly pine plantation

Influence of habitat on fine-scale space use by brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus) in the High Arctic

Space use by small mammals should mirror their immediate needs for food and predator shelters but can also be influenced by seasonal changes in biotic and abiotic factors. Lemmings are keystone species of the tundra food web, but information on their spatial distribution in relation to habitat heterogeneity is still scant, especially at a fine scale. In this study, we used spatially explicit capture-recapture methods to determine how topography, hydrology, vegetation, and soil characteristics influence the fine-scale spatial variations in summer density of brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus). Lemmings were monitored throughout the summer in wet and mesic tundra habitats and in a predator exclusion grid, which was also located in mesic tundra. We found that in wet tundra, lemming densities were higher at sites with a rugged topography dominated by hummocks, but only during snow melt. In both mesic tundra sites, lemming densities were higher in sites with poor drainage and low aspect throughout the summer. We found no clear association between lemming densities and any tested vegetation or soil variables. Overall, hydrology and topography appear to play a dominant role in small-scale space use of brown lemmings with a secondary role for predator avoidance and food plant abundance.

Diet selection of white-tailed deer supports the nutrient balance hypothesis

Herbivores must navigate a heterogeneous matrix of nutrients in plant communities to meet physiological requirements. Given that the only difference between an essential nutrient and a toxin is the concentration in the herbivores diet, heterogeneity of nutrient concentrations in plant communities likely force wild herbivores to balance intake of abundant nutrients that may reach toxic levels with the need to meet nutritional demands of rare nutrients (i.e., nutrient balance hypothesis). While this hypothesis has been demonstrated in controlled studies with captive herbivores, experiments testing the nutrient balance hypothesis with wild herbivores are rare. We designed a cafeteria-style experiment to measure use of forages with differing nutritional compositions by wild white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to test the nutrient balance hypothesis. We predicted deer diet selection would be explained by attraction to some nutrients and avoidance of others. Deer selected forages with low sulfur concentrations, a nutrient that commonly reaches toxic levels in herbivores. However, deer secondarily selected forages with greater digestibility and crude protein. Thus, our data indicate that the nutrient balance hypothesis may explain diet selection in wild herbivores where they avoid reaching toxicity of abundant nutrients while secondarily maximizing intake of limiting nutrients.