Sexual Segregation in Ungulates by R. Terry Bowyer;

Author:R. Terry Bowyer;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Are there examples where predation risk is minimized? Recall that predators need not be present to engender a response to risk in the environment. Moreover, females may engage in behaviors that reduce risk, such as seeking rugged and steep terrain to avoid predators or occurring on ranges where the number of predators is diminished. This outcome would reduce the steepness of the tradeoff line (Fig. 35) and potentially improve diet quality. Rachlow and Bowyer (1998) reported that parturient Dall’s sheep selected small level areas within rugged and steep terrain to give birth, and that those areas also were near high-elevation patches of Dryas, a preferred forage. Merrill et al. (2020) noted that North American elk exhibited tradeoffs between forage and predation risk and that those relationships were affected by population density. Gedir et al. (2000) noted that tradeoffs between forage and predation risk could be affected by drought in bighorn sheep. Heffelfinger et al. (2020) reported the absence of a tradeoff between forage and predation risk for mule deer, and Bowyer et al. (1998a) failed to find a tradeoff for neonatal black-tailed deer between forage and risk of predation. Bowyer et al. (1999b) noted that Alaskan moose selected dense patches of willow for birth sites that offered concealment cover for neonates but also provided females with high-quality forage. Nevertheless, those authors also reported that there were random sites with more willows than those selected by maternal moose, indicating that predation risk may still have been involved. Predation risk is pervasive for ungulates, but the absence of a tradeoff between forage and predation risk probably relates to specific environmental conditions. Predation risk has obvious importance for exploring the role of sexual segregation in evolutionary theory, and for the conservation of ungulates.

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