Ecological dynamics in habitat selection of reindeer: an interplay of spatial scale, time, and individual animal's choice

Abstract

While striving for “global” species models of habitat selection, spatiotemporal variation in utilization patterns within a particular habitat and intraspecies variation in space use are still poorly understood. We addressed these challenges by exploring habitat use of domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus), focusing on factors that underlie ecological dynamics in habitat selection. We analyzed habitat selection of 15 (±2) female reindeer in southern Norway separately for (a) region and home range, (b) seasonality, and (c) each Global Positioning System (GPS)-collared reindeer. We explicitly evaluated spatiotemporal and intraspecies variability in habitat selection by applying multivariate ordination techniques based on the niche concept. In contrast to global assumptions, our results reveal a considerable and partly unpredictable amount of variation in habitat selection resulting from the interplay of spatial scale, time, and individual animal choice. Thus, we conclude that across-scale approaches describing animal space use facilitate better understanding of habitat selection instead of finding a single “best” model that indicates the strongest species–habitat relationships.