HABITAT SELECTION BY ELK BEFORE AND AFTER WOLF REINTRODUCTION IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

摘要: Abstract Prey species are thought to select habitats obtain necessary resources while also avoiding predation. We examined whether habitat selection by elk (Cervus elaphus) changed following the reintroduction of wolves (Canis lupus) into Yellowstone National Park in 1995. Using conditional fixed-effects logistic regression build habitat-selection models, we compared seasonal based on weekly radiolocations taken 1985–1990 (without wolves) and 2000–2002 (with wolves). Fire-related changes climate likely interacted with wolf avoidance shaping elk. In summer, when activity was centered around dens rendezvous sites, apparently avoided selecting higher elevations, less open habitat, more burned forest, and, areas high density, steeper slopes than they had before reintroduction. winter, did not spatially separate themselves from wolves. Compared pre-wolf period, selected h...