Abstract
As technology has improved, our ability to study cryptic animal behavior has increased. Bed site selection is one such example. Among prey species, bed site selection provides thermoregulatory benefits and mitigates predation risk, and may directly influence survival. We conducted research to test whether a subordinate carnivore also selected beds with similar characteristics in an ecosystem supporting a multi-species guild of competing predators. We employed a model comparison approach in which we tested whether cougar (Puma concolor) bed site attributes supported the thermoregulatory versus the predator avoidance hypotheses, or exhibited characteristics supporting both hypotheses. Between 2012–2016, we investigated 599 cougar bed sites in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and examined attributes at two scales: the landscape (second-order, n = 599) and the microsite (fourth order, n = 140). At the landscape scale, cougars selected bed sites in winter that supported both the thermoregulatory and predator avoidance hypotheses: bed sites were on steeper slopes but at lower elevations, closer to the forest edge, away from sagebrush and meadow habitat types, and on southern, eastern, and western-facing slopes. In the summer, bed attributes supported the predator avoidance hypothesis over the thermoregulation hypothesis: beds were closer to forest edges, away from sagebrush and meadow habitat classes, and on steeper slopes. At the microsite scale, cougar bed attributes in both the winter and summer supported both the predator avoidance and thermoregulatory hypotheses: they selected bed sites with high canopy cover, high vegetative concealment, and in a rugged habitat class characterized by cliff bands and talus fields. We found that just like prey species, a subordinate predator selected bed sites that facilitated both thermoregulatory and anti-predator functions. In conclusion, we believe that measuring bed site attributes may provide a novel means of measuring the use of refugia by subordinate predators, and ultimately provide new insights into the habitat requirements and energetics of subordinate carnivores.
Highlights
Interspecific competition contributes to the structure of ecological communities, including species assemblages (Gotelli & McCabe, 2002)
We devised a list of bed site attributes that would support the thermoregulation hypothesis versus the predator avoidance hypothesis, from which we developed a set of a priori models to test against each other
The results from the post-hoc combination model showed that cougars selected beds in the winter that were at lower elevations (p < 0.001; β = −0.006), on steeper slopes (p < 0.001; β = 0.097), and closer to forest edges (p < 0.001; β = −0.008; mean distance: 57.29 m ± 54.99 m)
Summary
Interspecific competition contributes to the structure of ecological communities, including species assemblages (Gotelli & McCabe, 2002). In such systems, dominant competitors can exclude or limit subordinate competitors (MacArthur & Levins, 1967); subordinate predators must balance energy expenditures associated with collecting critical resources with the costs associated with interactions with more dominant competitors (Creel, Spong & Creel, 2001; Vanak et al, 2013; Elbroch et al, 2015b). Such advances provide opportunities to explore previously understudied aspects of animal behavior, such as documenting locations where cryptic animals sleep
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