Patterns of resource selection are driven by the decision-making processes of animals occurring at multiple scales from where to establish a home range (i.e., second order selection) to which resource patches to use within the home range (i.e., third order selection). Elk (Cervus canadensis) were reintroduced to southwestern Virginia, USA, from 2012 to 2014 following successful translocations onto reclaimed surface coal mines in the region. We sought to understand how elk have acclimated following their translocation using location data from GPS-collared adult female elk (n = 33) collected from 2019 to 2022 along with remotely sensed terrain and land cover data. We utilized continuous-time movement models paired with generalized linear mixed-effects modeling to describe seasonal resource selection at second and third orders. At both scales of selection and throughout the year, female elk selected reclaimed surface mines, conifer forests, ridgetops, and areas with lower terrain roughness, while avoiding mixed hardwood and oak (Quercus spp.) forests. Unmined open land was only selected at the third order during periods of forage scarcity (i.e., winter) and increased metabolic requirements (i.e., late gestation). Although surface coal mining leaves legacy environmental impacts on the landscape, management of these sites provides benefits to elk and maintains open habitat that is otherwise limited.

Reintroductions of extirpated species are an important tool in wildlife conservation. Understanding how reintroduced populations acclimatize to novel environments can lend insight into social learning that in turn is valuable for assessing reintroduction success and maximizing efficacy of subsequent efforts. During 2012, 2013, and 2014, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources implemented soft releases of elk (Cervus canadensis) translocated to southwestern Virginia from eastern Kentucky. We investigated home range establishment and post-release movements of these reintroduced elk (n = 60). We found adults moved farther from the release site than either yearlings or calves (F = 6.93, p = 0.001). Elk released in 2012 and 2013 took similar amounts of time to establish home ranges (median 181 days, range 108-214 days; and median 189 days, range 147-209 days, respectively), but individuals released in 2013 remained closer to the release site (x¯ = 605.5 m, SD = 335.7 m, closer) presumably by joining established social groups. However, the 2014 cohort generally took longer to establish home ranges (median: 231 days; range: 56-258 days) and moved farthest from the release site (x¯ = 1360.2 m, SD = 293.9 m, farther than 2012 individuals) possibly due to the larger cohort size and resulting intraspecific competition, or the earlier release date that year. Our findings suggest the number of consecutively released cohorts, the timing of the release, and the composition of age classes for released individuals are important considerations for reintroductions.

Pronghorn Antilocapra americana occupy only a portion of their historical range and in Oklahoma occur at the eastern edge of the species' contemporary distribution. Monitoring has suggested pronghorn populations in Oklahoma have declined in recent years. We captured and collared 125 adult females across two winters, monitored them for signs of parturition during each subsequent spring, and then captured and radio-collared 70 fawns <= 4 days old. We assessed cause-specific mortality, estimated proportional survival, and visualized survival of fawns through 60 days of life with Kaplan-Meier curves. Nearly 87% of fawn mortalities were attributed to predation, with > 77% of predations attributed to coyotes Canis latrans. Our results indicated that fawn survival was lowest during the first 15 days of life, with 33% of fawns surviving to 15 days and 12% surviving to 60 days. We used known-fate models to evaluate the influence of biological factors (i.e. sex, mass, birth timing), environmental factors (i.e. ambient temperature, precipitation, vegetation), and temporal variation on the probability of early life (i.e. the first 15 days) survival. For each adult female with a collared fawn, we used female space-use patterns for 30 days before and 15 days after parturition to collect environmental covariates. Early life probability of survival was lower for larger fawns, those born earlier in the parturition period (i.e. earlier in the year relative to the range of parturition days), and those with higher pre-parturition temperatures; daily probability of survival decreased with time-since-parturition within the first 15 days of life. Our results indicate poor fawn survival, highlight a potential limitation of population growth, and can inform population management by identifying factors influencing early life fawn survival.

A growing number of experimental studies address whether the anti-predator trait responses of prey are associated with costs to prey fitness (non-consumptive effects) or to the fitness of other species (trait-mediated indirect effects). Because ecologists remain keen to determine when these risk effects matter, there is a need to know how much of this literature has also evaluated the context-dependence of risk effects. Such knowledge would identify both understudied research directions and richly investigated areas whose synthesis could advance general understanding of predation risk effects. As a guide for ecologists, we reviewed publications from 1990 to 2021 that experimentally manipulated both predation risk (presence/absence of risk) and another aspect of biotic or abiotic condition (context). We classified each experiment according to a common scheme: the manipulated context was assigned to a Focus (predator, prey, resource, or environment) and Category (community, population, or individual for biotic contexts; temperature, water, habitat, or anthropogenic disturbance for abiotic contexts). A finer categorization of Specific Context (e.g., predator identity, resource abundance) was assigned within each Focus and Category. We also identified the System (marine, freshwater, terrestrial) and Venue (laboratory or field) of each experiment. We classified 433 manipulations (339 publications) falling within 49 different Specific Contexts. Many experiments (63%) manipulated aspects of the predator and/or prey Foci, independently and factorially. Additionally, several Specific Contexts have many published papers and could be suitable for synthesis, including predator and prey identity, predator diversity, prey and resource abundance, habitat structure, and temperature. Meanwhile, manipulations of resources of the prey are relatively lacking. Because most experiments (51%) featured freshwater systems, more marine and terrestrial experiments are needed. Regardless, an imbalance between laboratory (69%) and field (31%) experiments highlights the need for more field investigations. We discuss potential contributors to biases in the literature and consider how understudied contexts should be prioritized. Consequently, our review undergirds future work on the context-dependency of predation risk effects. As many biotic and abiotic contexts are impacted by anthropogenic activities, optimizing the integration of experimental approaches with other research efforts is crucial to furthering the development and application of predation risk theory.

Sustainable human–wildlife coexistence requires a mechanistic understanding of the many ways that humans affect animals. However, progress is hampered by the lack of accessible data measuring the dynamic presence of people. Here, we leverage mobile-device data to disentangle how human presence and landscape modification differentially influence the use of geographic and environmental space for 37 mammal and bird species across the United States. Human presence affected more than 65% of species, with substantial variation across species. For ~60% of species that responded to human activities, the effects were interdependent—animals tended to react more strongly to human presence in less modified habitats. Our results demonstrate that human presence and landscape modification have complex combined effects on wildlife, which need to be considered for effective management.

Resource availability is a primary factor predicting population performance. Synchrony between resource availability and consumer requirements plays a critical role in reproduction, and mismatches in the timing of resource availability and consumer requirements can have negative implications for reproductive success. Our objective was to determine when mass of juvenile and yearling white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in semiarid rangelands is most negatively affected by limited forage availability. Thus, we determined the biological period when rainfall, a primary driver of resource availability, was most predictive of juvenile and yearling mass. Over 12 years, we captured 1,123 juveniles and yearlings across five distinct populations. We linked georeferenced capture records to rainfall data from biological seasons hypothesized to affect juvenile and yearling mass. We found that rainfall during the early growing season exhibited the strongest effect on mass. The resource pulse associated with early growing season rainfall is likely used to fuel fetal development during the critical final trimester of gestation. As environmental change continues to exacerbate the potential for mismatches in resource availability and consumer requirements to occur, it is important to identify when limited forage availability may most negatively affect reproduction to inform species conservation and support long-term sustainability.

Context Understanding a species' spatial and behavioral ecology informs conservation and management. Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a key prey for endangered Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi) yet are among the most damaging vertebrate pests in their nonnative range, impacting agriculture, ecological resources, and presenting zoonotic disease risks.Aims We evaluated how environmental factors influence wild pig home range size and movement behavior in southwest Florida. Specifically, we assessed how habitat composition, temperature, and season shape space use and activity patterns to identify ecological drivers that inform management.Methods We analyzed GPS collar data from 16 wild pigs (13 males, three females) collected during June 2019 to February 2021. Autocorrelated kernel density estimation quantified individual home range size. To test the habitat productivity hypothesis, we used stepwise linear regression to evaluate the effects of landcover composition, environmental variables, and individual traits on log-transformed home range size. Three-state hidden Markov models assessed how extrinsic factors influenced movement behavior and daily time budgets.Key results The overall inverse-variance weighted mean home range was 10.07 km2, with males averaging 13.5 km2 and females 4.10 km2. Seasonal analyses showed larger home ranges in the wet season (males 13.53 km2, females 5.49 km2) than the dry season (males 11.04 km2, females 2.69 km2). Home range decreased with increased herbaceous wetland cover and increased with forest cover. As temperature exceeded 32 degrees C, resting probability increased and traveling decreased. Resting occurred mainly during 7:30-16:00, while traveling during 18:00-7:00, indicating nocturnality. Traveling was most frequent during February-August, peaking in July.Conclusions Wild pigs maintained smaller ranges in wetland landscapes, suggesting these habitats provide core resources. Seasonal and thermal constraints shaped movement intensity and activity, with pigs expanding ranges during the wet season and exhibiting nocturnal activity and reduced daytime movement under higher temperatures.Implications Linking spatial and behavioral patterns to environmental conditions provides managers with actionable insight for control. Understanding when and where pigs move most extensively can inform trapping timing and placement, limit range expansion, reduce disease risk, and guide habitat management to mitigate ecological and agricultural impacts.

Given the importance of protected areas for biodiversity, the growth of visitation to many areas has raised concerns about the effects of humans on wildlife. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to temporary closure of national parks in the United States, offering a pseudonatural experiment to tease apart the effects of permanent infrastructure and transient human presence on animals. We compiled GPS tracking data from 229 individuals of 10 mammal species in 14 parks and used third-order hierarchical resource selection functions to evaluate the influence of the human footprint on animal space use in 2019 and 2020. Averaged across all parks and species, animals avoided the human footprint, whether the park was open or closed. However, although animals in remote areas showed consistent avoidance, on average those in more developed areas switched from avoidance to selection when protected areas were closed. Findings varied across species: some responded consistently negatively to the footprint (wolves, mountain goats), some positively (mule deer, red fox) and others had a strong exposure-mediated response (elk, mountain lion). Furthermore, some species responded more strongly to the park closure (black bear, moose). This study advances our understanding of complex interactions between recreation and wildlife in protected areas.

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have high value for research, conservation, agriculture, and recreation and might be key SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs. In November 2023, we sampled 15 female deer in a captive facility in Texas, USA. All deer had neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2; respiratory swab samples from 11 deer were SARS-CoV-2-positive by quantitative reverse transcription PCR, and 1 deer also had a positive rectal swab sample. Six of the 11 respiratory swab samples yielded infectious virus; replication kinetics of most samples displayed lower growth 24-48 hours postinfection in vitro than Omicron lineages isolated from humans in Texas in the same period. Virus growth was similar between groups by 72 hours, suggesting no strong attenuation of deer-derived virus. All deer viruses clustered in XBB Omicron clade and demonstrated more mutations than expected compared with contemporaneous viruses in humans, suggesting that crossing the species barrier was accompanied by a high substitution rate.

Aspects of early‐life movement, including dispersal and exploratory movement, are often poorly understood and are key to disease epidemiology. Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a terminal prion disease impacting cervids, is expanding geographically and presents one of the most important challenges in wildlife disease management. Epidemiological models are often used to guide surveillance and assess management, but knowledge gaps in early‐life movement may limit the reliability of model predictions. Filling this knowledge gap is a critical need for increasing understanding of an important life‐history behaviour that can inform disease modelling and management. We investigated early‐life movement of mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ) within a recently developed CWD zone in the Texas Panhandle. We identified excursive movements outside the natal range and categorized them as dispersal and exploratory movements. We examined whether mule deer altered path distances, movement rates and resource selection when on excursive movements. From April 2021 to mid‐February 2022, we observed 121 excursive movements (6 dispersals, 114 exploratory movements and 1 unclassified) in 29 juvenile mule deer. Dispersal was only observed in males, but most (63%) exploratory movements were conducted by females. All individuals moved faster when traversing outside the natal range. Relative to their natal range, male movement rates increased while on a dispersal but were not significantly different from the natal range while on an exploratory movement. Cumulative distances of excursive movement paths ranged from 1.27 to 617.47 km. Resource selection differed between the sexes, and both sexes altered resource selection during excursions. Males exhibited strong selection for proximity to shrubland during excursions and when within their range. For females, selection increased for higher elevation, steeper slopes and greater distance to water during an excursion compared to within range. Practical implication . Our findings suggest that early‐life movement varies greatly between individuals, with differing rates of excursive behaviour and resource selection. Furthermore, exploratory movements occurred 19 times more often than dispersal and occurred throughout all seasons. This study provides insight into the early‐life movement ecology of mule deer that is likely important for many population processes and disease dynamics.

Thermal conditions can influence animal behavior and predator–prey dynamics. Understanding the effects of temperature on animals and their interactions is of increasing importance given predictions for global warming. We determined how temperature influenced avoidance of risky areas and habitat selection in a climate generalist, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; hereafter “deer”), and how the effect varied between night and day in a system characterized by extreme heat and high predation risk from Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi). We collected GPS locations of 224 (79 M, 145F) deer from June through September 2015–2018 in southwestern Florida, USA. We fit step-selection functions with interactions between ambient temperature and covariates including landcover and a spatial model of predation risk informed by panther kill sites. Avoidance of high-risk areas decreased with rising temperatures during night and day, indicating deer were less predation risk averse when balancing higher thermoregulatory costs. As temperatures increased during the day, deer increased avoidance of marshes and hardwood hammocks. However, temperature had weaker effects on habitat selection at night with only a moderate increase in selection of marshes with increasing temperatures. In systems characterized by extreme heat, thermal conditions can have strong effects on animal behavior and species interactions. While climate generalists like deer have high tolerances to thermal stress, temperature still influenced predation risk tolerance and habitat selection of deer during both day and night periods. These responses are likely even stronger in species with narrower thermal tolerances (i.e., climate specialists). Thermal conditions are an important and potentially underappreciated driver of species interactions that is likely to become more significant with climate change.

Studies involving individually marked animals provide insights predicated on the assumption marked individuals are accurate models of their unmarked counterparts. Taxa-specific and marker-specific examinations are needed to determine if marked animals are suitable models for the parameter(s) being measured. Our objective was to determine if brightly colored ear tags influenced the probability of predation for neonatal ungulates. We captured 94 neonatal pronghorn (Antilocapra americana (Ord, 1815)), fitted each neonate with a tracking collar, and attached a yellow ear tag to 49 (52.1%) of the captured neonates. We monitored the survival of each neonate during 2023–2024 in Oklahoma, USA. Predation was the leading cause of mortality during our monitoring period and accounted for 29 (82.9%) of the 35 mortalities with a known cause. Coyotes (Canis latrans Say, 1823) were the predominant predator of neonatal pronghorn in our study area. Presence of a yellow ear tag seemingly did not influence the probability of predation, even though coyotes can distinguish yellow objects from most natural backgrounds. A larger sample size may be needed to validate our results, but neonatal ungulates with an ear tag appear to be accurate models of neonatal ungulates without an ear tag when examining predation risk.

Context There is a growing appreciation that wildlife behavioral responses to environmental conditions are scale-dependent and that identifying the scale where the effect of an environmental variable on a behavior is the strongest (i.e., scale of effect) can reveal how animals perceive and respond to their environment. In South Texas, brush management often optimizes agricultural and wildlife management objectives through the precise interspersion of vegetation types creating novel environments which likely affect animal behavior at multiple scales. There is a lack of understanding of how and at what scales this management regime and associated landscape patterns influence wildlife. Objectives Our objective was to examine the scale at which landscape patterns had the strongest effect on wildlife behavior. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) our model species, are one of the largest obligated carnivores in the system, and have strong associations with vegetation structure and prey density, two aspects likely to influenced by landscape patterns. We conducted a multiscale resource selection analysis to identify the characteristic scale where landscape patterns had the strongest effect on resource selection. Methods We examined resource selection within the home range for 9 bobcats monitored from 2021 to 2022 by fitting resource selection functions which included variables representing landcover, water, energy infrastructure, and landscape metrics (edge density, patch density, and contagion). We fit models using landscape metrics calculated at 10 different scales and compared model performance to identify the scale of effect of landscape metrics on resource selection. ResultsThe scale of effect of landscape metrics occurred at finer scales. The characteristic scale for edge density and patch density was 30 m (the finest scale examined), and the characteristic scale for contagion occurred at 100 m. Bobcats avoided locations with high woody patch density and selected for greater woody edge density and contagion. Bobcats selected areas closer to woody vegetation and water bodies while avoiding herbaceous cover and energy development infrastructure. Conclusions A key step in understanding the effect of human development and associated landscape patterns on animal behavior is the identifying the scale of effect. We found support for our hypothesis that resource selection would be most strongly affected by landscape configuration at finer scales. Our study demonstrates the importance of cross-scale comparisons when examining the effects of landscape attributes on animal behavior.

Past experiences may impart lasting effects on an individual despite temporal separation from the inciting event. Through an unmanipulated field study across 4 populations of free-living, white-tailed deer, we investigated the effect of variable summer rainfall on fecal glucocorticoid metabolites in adult females in autumn. We found evidence reduced summer rainfall imparted long-term effects on female glucocorticoid levels, but the effect of past environmental conditions depended on reproductive status. In the age of global climate change, extreme climatic events are expected to increase in frequency and severity. Animals will be forced to cope with these novel stressors in their environment. Glucocorticoids (i.e. 'stress' hormones) facilitate an animal's ability to cope with their environment. To date, most studies involving glucocorticoids focus on the immediate physiological effects of an environmental stressor on an individual, few studies have investigated the long-term physiological impacts of such stressors. Here, we tested the hypothesis that previous exposure to an environmental stressor will impart lasting consequences to an individual's glucocorticoid levels. In semi-arid environments, variable rainfall drives forage availability for herbivores. Reduced seasonal precipitation can present an extreme environmental stressor potentially imparting long-term impacts on an individual's glucocorticoid levels. We examined the effects of rainfall and environmental characteristics (i.e. soil and vegetation attributes) during fawn-rearing (i.e. summer) on subsequent glucocorticoid levels of female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in autumn. We captured 124 adult (>= 2.5-year-old) female deer via aerial net-gunning during autumn of 2015, 2016 and 2021 across four populations spanning a gradient of environmental characteristics and rainfall in the semi-arid environment of South Texas, USA. We found for every 1 cm decrease in summer rainfall, faecal glucocorticoid levels in autumn increased 6.9%, but only in lactating females. Glucocorticoid levels in non-lactating, female deer were relatively insensitive to environmental conditions. Our study demonstrates the long-lasting effects of environmental stressors on an individual's glucocorticoid levels. A better understanding of the long-term effects stressors impart on an individual's glucocorticoid levels will help to evaluate the totality of the cost of a stressor to an individual's welfare and predict the consequences of future climate scenarios.

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have high value for research, conservation, agriculture and recreation, and may be important SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs with unknown human health implications. In November 2023, we sampled 15 female deer in a captive facility in central Texas, USA. All individuals had neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and 11 had RT-qPCR-positive respiratory swabs; one also had a positive rectal swab. Six of 11 respiratory swabs yielded infectious virus with replication kinetics of most samples displaying lower growth 24-48 h post infection in vitro when compared to Omicron lineages isolated from humans in Texas in the same period. However, virus growth was similar between groups by 72 h, suggesting no strong attenuation of deer-derived virus. All deer viruses clustered in XBB Omicron clade, with more mutations than expected compared to contemporaneous viruses in humans, suggesting that crossing the species barrier to deer was accompanied by a high substitution rate. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

We document the presence of bobcats (Lynx rufus) that demonstrate melanism in the Greater Everglades. The South Florida landscape is driven by a myriad of disturbance regimes particularly that of short fire intervals. We monitored 180 camera traps for 3 years and obtained 9503 photographs of bobcats 25 (<0.5%) of these detections included melanistic individuals. Our observations and historical accounts suggest melanism is a phenotype that persists, albeit it at an exceedingly low frequency, in bobcats in the region. While we do not know if the expression of melanism conferred a fitness benefit in our system, the vegetation structure that was characterized by frequently burned uplands and low-light and densely vegetated swamps produced conditions that may render a benefit from melanism through enhanced crypsis. The investigation of rare phenomenon in ecology is important yet difficult within a given field study, but reporting novel observations, like melanism in bobcats, allows for science to gain insight across studies that would not be otherwise possible.

Understanding the role of recruitment in population dynamics of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is important for management. In the central Appalachian Mountains, deer are part of a largely forested ecosystem that supports 3 carnivore species thought to be capable of influencing white-tailed deer recruitment: black bears (Urus americanus), coyotes (Canis latrans), and bobcats (Lynx rufus). Yet little is known about predation, how other environmental factors influence recruitment, or the importance of neonate survival to white-tailed deer population performance in the region. Our objectives were to identify causes of mortality for neonates, analyze effects of landscape attributes on survival of neonates, estimate survival rates for neonates and adult female white-tailed deer, and to model population growth trends based on current vital rates and hypothetical harvest and neonate survival scenarios. During 2019-2020, we captured 57 neonate deer in Bath County, Virginia, USA, by monitoring 38 pregnant females equipped with global positioning system collars and vaginal implant transmitters and by conducting transect searches for recently born neonates. We observed 37 neonate mortalities and identified cause of death using field and genetic evidence. Mortalities included 28 predation events and 9 deaths from other causes (e.g., abandonment, malnutrition, disease). Black bears accounted for 48.6% of neonate mortalities, and 64.2% of predation events (n = 18), followed by bobcats (n = 5) and coyotes (n = 3). Annual survival for adult female deer was 0.871 and neonate survival to 12 weeks old was 0.310. Elevation was a significant predictor of neonate survival; mortality risk increased 20% for every 100-m increase in elevation. Models of annual population growth using observed vital rates predicted an increasing population (lambda = 1.10). A 10% increase in female harvest would still result in a potential population increase of 2% (lambda = 1.02), but a 20% increase in harvest rate would result in a potential 7% decline (lambda = 0.93). Neonate survival was higher near fertile valley bottoms and lower along forested ridges characterized by shallow, infertile soils and limited edge or early successional forests. While predation, largely influenced by black bears, was the leading cause of neonate mortality and contributed to low neonate survival, we observed little evidence of population decline, and suggest there is opportunity for a modest increase in harvest of female deer.

Defensive traits are hypothesized to benefit prey by reducing predation risk from a focal predator but come at a cost to the fitness of the prey. Variation in the expression of defensive traits is seen among individuals within the same population, and in the same individual in response to changes in the environment (i.e., phenotypically plastic responses). It is the relative magnitude of the cost and benefit of the defensive trait that underlies the defensive trait expression and its consequences to the community. However, whereas the cost has received much attention in ecological research, the benefit is seldom examined. Even in a defensive trait as extensively studied as vigilance, there are few studies of the purported benefit of the behavior, namely that vigilance enhances survival. We examined whether prey vigilance increased survival and quantified that benefit in a natural system, with white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) experiencing unmanipulated levels of predation risk from Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi). Deer that spent more time vigilant (as measured by head position using camera trap data) had a higher probability of survival. Indeed, an individual deer that was vigilant 75% of the time was more than three times as likely to be killed by panthers over the course of a year than a deer that was vigilant 95% of the time. Our results therefore show that within-population variation in the expression of a defensive trait has profound consequences for the benefit it confers. Our results provide empirical evidence supporting a long-held but seldom-tested hypothesis, that vigilance is a behavior that reduces the probability of predation and quantifies the benefit of this defensive trait. Our work furthers an understanding of the net effects of a trait on prey fitness and predator-prey interactions, within-population variation in traits, and predation risk effects.