Eric Vander Wal
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View article: Northern Riches and Rangifer Risks: A review of the Impacts of Resource Extraction for Caribou and Reindeer
Northern Riches and Rangifer Risks: A review of the Impacts of Resource Extraction for Caribou and Reindeer Open
As the global demand for energy continues to rise rapidly, northern ecosystems—i.e. Arctic, subarctic, and boreal regions—are especially at risk due to their rich mineral and hydrocarbon potential. The expansion of infrastructure associate…
View article: Not so scary after all? Decoding the landscape of fear through hormonal responses to risky times and places
Not so scary after all? Decoding the landscape of fear through hormonal responses to risky times and places Open
Prey must balance the energetic benefits of foraging with avoiding predation risk. This risk-reward trade-off, a cornerstone of behavioural ecology, hinges not only on realized predation risk but also on how prey perceive that risk. We oft…
View article: Social tethers: density-dependent social tethers inhibit fitness
Social tethers: density-dependent social tethers inhibit fitness Open
Putative mechanisms affecting fitness that underlie why animals occupy a particular place are often in tension. A tension amplified in social animals, where individuals are often not free to make independent habitat selection or foraging d…
View article: Movement‐integrated habitat selection reveals wolves balance ease of travel with human avoidance in a risk–reward trade‐off
Movement‐integrated habitat selection reveals wolves balance ease of travel with human avoidance in a risk–reward trade‐off Open
Anthropogenic linear features often alter wildlife behaviour and movement. Landscape features, such as habitat, can have important mediating effects on wildlife response to disturbance and yet are rarely explicitly considered in how habita…
View article: Remote inferences and direct observations provide complementary insights into foraging behavior
Remote inferences and direct observations provide complementary insights into foraging behavior Open
Behaviorists sometimes view askance studies where researchers indirectly observe animals, consequently challenging whether remotely inferred behavior is true behavioral research. Alternatively, others purport that technological advancement…
View article: Consistent Individual Differences and Plasticity in Migration Behaviour of Three North American Ungulates
Consistent Individual Differences and Plasticity in Migration Behaviour of Three North American Ungulates Open
Migratory herbivores often time spring migration to coincide with the green‐up of plants. When the timing of green‐up changes across years, herbivores can respond directly and be plastic to changing conditions or populations may adapt via …
View article: One size does not fit all: A novel approach for determining the Realised Viewshed Size for remote camera traps
One size does not fit all: A novel approach for determining the Realised Viewshed Size for remote camera traps Open
Camera traps (CTs) have become cemented as an important tool of wildlife research, yet their utility is now extending beyond academics, as CTs can contribute to inclusive place‐based wildlife management. From advances in analytics and tech…
View article: Spatial environment drives land-based social associations in a central-place foraging seabird
Spatial environment drives land-based social associations in a central-place foraging seabird Open
1. Social and spatial environments shape the way individuals associate and thus impact their social network structure. However, nowhere are social and spatial mechanisms more likely to be simultaneously entangled and potentially misinterpr…
View article: Sociality and movement change through space and time: implications for anti-predator strategies in caribou
Sociality and movement change through space and time: implications for anti-predator strategies in caribou Open
Risk could vary temporally with predator activity levels or as animals age. While risk could vary spatially as a function of habitat complexity, where open habitats are risky because prey are more visible to predators. Prey, such as caribo…
View article: Intrinsic and environmental drivers of pairwise cohesion in wild <i>Canis</i> social groups
Intrinsic and environmental drivers of pairwise cohesion in wild <i>Canis</i> social groups Open
Animals within social groups respond to costs and benefits of sociality by adjusting the proportion of time they spend in close proximity to other individuals in the group (cohesion). Variation in cohesion between individuals, in turn, sha…
View article: Social facilitation of risky habitats in woodland caribou: responses to fire and roads
Social facilitation of risky habitats in woodland caribou: responses to fire and roads Open
Habitat change and subsequent trophic effects remain the dominant hypothesis for woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus) population declines. Boreal forests are undergoing rapid changes, including expanding linear features and climate-induced…
View article: Effects of the social environment on movement-integrated habitat selection
Effects of the social environment on movement-integrated habitat selection Open
Our study demonstrates that social preference is context-dependent based on habitat selection and foraging behaviour. We therefore surmise that habitat selection and social association are drivers of collective movement, such that movement…
View article: Friends because of foes: synchronous movement within predator–prey domains
Friends because of foes: synchronous movement within predator–prey domains Open
For prey, movement synchrony represents a potent antipredator strategy. Prey, however, must balance the costs and benefits of using conspecifics to mediate risk. Thus, the emergent patterns of risk-driven sociality depend on variation in s…
View article: Faithful pals and familiar locales: differentiating social and spatial site fidelity during reproduction
Faithful pals and familiar locales: differentiating social and spatial site fidelity during reproduction Open
Site fidelity—the tendency to reuse familiar spaces—is expected to improve fitness. Familiarity with the local environment is particularly crucial when resource demands or predation risk are high. Consequently, site fidelity often peaks du…
View article: Expanding theory, methodology and empirical systems at the spatial–social interface
Expanding theory, methodology and empirical systems at the spatial–social interface Open
All animals exhibit some combination of spatial and social behaviours. A diversity of interactions occurs between such behaviours, producing emergent phenomena at the spatial–social interface . Untangling and interrogating these complex, i…
View article: Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems
Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems Open
High population density should drive individuals to more frequently share space and interact, producing better-connected spatial and social networks [1-4]. Although this theory is fundamental to our understanding of disease dynamics [2,5-8…
View article: Evidence for optimal behavior of predators from parallel field investigations in two distinct wolf-prey systems
Evidence for optimal behavior of predators from parallel field investigations in two distinct wolf-prey systems Open
Animals behave ‘optimally’ when they minimize their costs while maximizing their energetic gain. Optimal foraging theory predicts that with decreasing resource abundance, animals will increase 1) niche breadth, 2) territory size and moveme…
View article: One size does not fit all: a novel approach for determining the Realised Viewshed Size for remote camera traps
One size does not fit all: a novel approach for determining the Realised Viewshed Size for remote camera traps Open
1. Camera traps (CTs) have become cemented as an important tool of wildlife research, yet, their utility is now extending beyond academics, as CTs can contribute to more inclusive place-based wildlife management. From advances in analytics…
View article: Coat colour mismatch improves survival: energetic advantages exceed lost camouflage
Coat colour mismatch improves survival: energetic advantages exceed lost camouflage Open
Climate warming is causing asynchronies between animal phenology and environments. Mismatched traits, like coat colour change mismatched with snow, typically decrease survival. However, coat change does not serve a singular adaptive benefi…
View article: Movement-integrated habitat selection reveals wolves balance ease of travel with human avoidance in a risk-reward trade-off
Movement-integrated habitat selection reveals wolves balance ease of travel with human avoidance in a risk-reward trade-off Open
Anthropogenic linear features are often linked to alterations in wildlife behaviour and movement. Landscape features such as habitat can have important mediating effects on wildlife response to disturbance and yet is rarely explicitly cons…
View article: HUNGER DRIVES SWITCHING AND SEARCHING RESPONSE IN A SOCIAL PREDATOR
HUNGER DRIVES SWITCHING AND SEARCHING RESPONSE IN A SOCIAL PREDATOR Open
A bstract Hunger is a frequent state for many predators and increasing hunger is likely to motivate costly behaviour to acquire necessary resources. Generalist predators must balance the costs and gains of hunting different prey, including…
View article: Studying the spatial structuring of chemical elements through the prism of community and landscape ecology
Studying the spatial structuring of chemical elements through the prism of community and landscape ecology Open
Approximatively 25 chemical elements are essential for the maintenance, growth and reproduction of all living organisms. Hence, the movement, distribution, and relative proportions of those elements on the landscape should have significant…
View article: Uncertainty during migration: the role of predictable resources in unpredictable conditions in determining movement in Woodland Caribou (<i>Rangifer tarandus</i>)
Uncertainty during migration: the role of predictable resources in unpredictable conditions in determining movement in Woodland Caribou (<i>Rangifer tarandus</i>) Open
Environmental and climatic variation drive animal migration. Animals must adjust their behavioral strategies, for example, habitat selection, to match best variation in resources whose value likely varies with conditions such as weather. F…
View article: JWTurn/WolfDeathComing: release with data
JWTurn/WolfDeathComing: release with data Open
final release prior to publication, including data