Joint effects of weather and interspecific competition on foraging behavior and survival of a mountain herbivore

Abstract Weather variations have the potential to influence species interactions, although effects on competitive interactions between species are poorly known. Both weather and competition can influence foraging behavior and survival of herbivores during nursing/weaning, a critical period in the herbivore life cycle. We evaluated the joint effects of weather and competition with red deer Cervus elaphus on the foraging behavior of adult female Apennine chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata in summer, and on winter survival of chamois kids. High temperature and low rainfall during the growing season of vegetation had negative effects on bite rate. Effects of weather were greater in forb patches, including cold-adapted, nutritious plants of key importance to chamois, than in graminoid ones. Our results confirm previous indications of a negative effect of competition on bite rate of female chamois and on kid survival. Furthermore, harsh weather conditions and competition with deer had additive, negative roles on foraging behavior and survival of chamois. Growing temperatures are expected to influence distribution, growth, and/or nutritional quality of plants; competition would reduce pasture quality and food availability through resource depletion. Both factors would limit food/energy intake rates during summer, reducing survival of the youngest cohorts in winter. We suggest that interspecific competition can be an important additive factor to the effects of weather changes on behavior and demography.

• Publication year

  2018

• Venue

  Current Zoology

• Publication date

  2018-05-14

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1093/cz/zoy032PMID 30936905PMCID 6430973
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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