ArticleMovement ecology2021
Variation in movement patterns of mule deer: have we oversimplified migration?
Article in Movement ecology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Use of deep learning to predict chronic wasting disease status based on animal movement.Movement ecology · 2026Article
- Heart rate biologgers reveal individual-specific energy landscapes for mule deer.Movement ecology · 2026Article
- Drivers of seasonal space use and movements of mule deer in agriculturally modified landscapes of the Great Plains.Movement ecology · 2026Article
- A 50-year perspective on the use and potential of artiodactyl calcanei in bone adaptation studies.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- The role of spatiotemporal variation in resources in the diverse movement strategies of temperate ungulates.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Annual, seasonal, and daily space-use of Common Fallow Deer (Journal of mammalogy · 2025Article
- Hierarchy in Structuring of Resource Selection: Understanding Elk Selection Across Space, Time, and Movement Strategies.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Identifying signals of memory from observations of animal movements.Movement ecology · 2024Review
- Pursuit and escape drive fine-scale movement variation during migration in a temperate alpine ungulate.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Locating Nesting Sites for Critically Endangered Galápagos Pink Land Iguanas (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Migratory behaviours are risk-sensitive to physiological state in an elevational migrant.Conservation physiology · 2024Article
- Hidden Markov movement models reveal diverse seasonal movement patterns in two North American ungulates.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundConservation and management of migratory animals has gained attention in recent years, but the majority of research has focused on stereotypical 'migrant' and 'resident' behaviors, often failing to incorporate any atypical behaviors or characterize migratory behaviors beyond distance and timing of the migration. With migration threatened by anthropogenic development and climate change, it is crucial that we understand the full range of migratory behaviors. Our objective was to demonstrate and characterize the variation in migration strategies, including typical and atypical migratory behaviors for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in Utah, USA.
methodsBecause calculation of common metrics such as distance, timing, and use of stopovers during migration did not adequately describe the variation we observed in migratory behavior for this species-particularly when animals visited multiple (> 3) ranges for extended lengths of time-we developed additional methods and categories to describe observed variation in migratory behavior. We first categorized trajectories based on the number of discrete, separate ranges and range shifts between them. Then, we further characterized the variation in migration strategies by examining the timing, duration, and distance traveled within each of the categories. We also examined if and how frequently individual deer switched among categories from year to year.
resultsWe classified 1218 movement trajectories from 722 adult female mule deer, and found that 54.4% were dual-range migrants, who made one round-trip to one distinct range. Multi-range migrants (23.6%) made one round-trip during which they stayed at multiple discrete ranges. Commuters (1.0%) traveled to the same range multiple times, and poly migrants (1.5%) made multiple round-trips to different ranges. Gradual movers (2.5%) did not show a discrete range shift but moved gradually between ranges, whereas residents (12.6%) never left their home ranges, and dispersers (4.4%) left but never returned. Of the deer that we monitored for multiple years, 51.2% switched among categories.
conclusionWe conclude that the substantial number of atypical migratory strategies, as well as the number of deer that switched categories, underlines the importance of studying these less-stereotyped behaviors that may be exhibited by large proportions of populations. Acknowledging and investigating the full complexity and diversity in migratory strategies might uncover unknowns with respect to underlying factors and drivers of migration, and can help shape effective conservation strategies.
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