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Skip to Search Results- 12Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS), Faculty of
- 12Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS), Faculty of /Theses and Dissertations
- 5Biological Sciences, Department of
- 5Biological Sciences, Department of/Journal Articles (Biological Sciences)
- 2Roy Berg Kinsella Research Ranch
- 2Roy Berg Kinsella Research Ranch/Journal Articles (Kinsella Ranch)
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Spatial Predation Risk and Interactions Within a Predator Community on the Rocky Mountains East Slopes, Alberta
DownloadSpring 2019
Understanding how large carnivores spatially partition the landscape is essential for understanding how they collectively pose risk to their prey. Most research on predation risk focuses on how prey respond to a single predator species, but prey respond to a community of predators. Additionally,...
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Forest Succession and Nutritional Carrying Capacity of Elk since the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens
DownloadFall 2016
There has been increasing concern over declines in habitat quality for elk (Cervus elaphus) on industrial timber lands west of Mount St. Helens due to canopy closure and the loss of nutritional resources related to succession of early seral stands created by the 1980 eruption. Vegetative...
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Spring 2015
Personality has been documented in diverse taxa and growing attention is being directed towards the ecological implications of consistent variation in individual behaviour. These implications include the rise in habituation behaviour by wildlife living in human-disturbed areas, which has resulted...
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Succession, herbicides, forage nutrition and elk body condition at Mount St. Helens, Washington
DownloadSpring 2014
Concerns have been voiced over recent reductions in forest cutting, herbicide spraying, and past heavy grazing on nutritional resources for elk (Cervus elaphus) and their body condition in the Pacific Northwest. I evaluated the effects of herbicides and herbivory on elk forage in a paired,...
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Fall 2014
Stable home ranges can emerge in a generic forager using a two-part memory system and rules derived from optimal foraging theory. My objective was to evaluate the underlying assumptions of this promising theoretical model using data from two populations of elk. Using a spatiotemporal scan...
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Optimal use of resources: classic foraging theory, satisficing and smart foraging – modelling foraging behaviors of elk
DownloadSpring 2010
It is generally accepted that the Marginal Value Theorem (MVT) describes optimal foraging strategies. Some research findings, however, indicate that in natural conditions foragers not always behave according to the MVT. To address this inconsistency, in a series of computer simulations, I...
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Trade-offs between predation risk and forage differ between migrant strategies in a migratory ungulate
Download2009
Trade-offs between predation risk and forage fundamentally drive resource selection by animals. Among migratory ungulates, trade-offs can occur at large spatial scales through migration, which allows an \"escape'' from predation, but trade-offs can also occur at finer spatial scales. Previous...
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Foraging-predator avoidance trade-offs made by migrant and resident elk (Cervus elaphus) on their sympatric winter range
DownloadFall 2009
Migratory behaviour of the Ya Ha Tinda (YHT) elk population is diminishing while the number of residents remaining on the YHT winter range year-round is increasing. Previous research addressing the fitness consequences of each migratory strategy assumed there was no advantage to either segment...
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A multi-scale test of the forage maturation hypothesis in a partially migratory ungulate population
Download2008
McDermid, G., Hebblewhite, M., Merrill, E.
The forage maturation hypothesis (FMH) proposes that ungulate migration is driven by selection for high forage quality. Because quality declines with plant maturation, but intake declines at low biomass, ungulates are predicted to select for intermediate forage biomass to maximize energy intake...
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2007
Merrill, E., Varley, N., Boyce, M. S., Beyer, H. L.
Reintroduction of wolves (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park in 1995–1996 has been argued to promote a trophic cascade by altering elk (Cervus elaphus) density, habitat-selection patterns, and behavior that, in turn, could lead to changes within the plant communities used by elk. We...