title: How far to go? Determinants of migration distance in land mammals.
abstract: Animal migration is a global phenomenon, but few studies have examined the substantial within- and between-species variation in migration distances. We built a global database of 94 land migrations of large mammalian herbivore populations ranging from 10 to 1638 km. We examined how resource availability, spatial scale of resource variability and body size affect migration distance among populations. Resource availability measured as normalised difference vegetation index had a strong negative effect, predicting a tenfold difference in migration distances between low- and high-resource areas and explaining 23% of the variation in migration distances. We found a weak, positive effect of the spatial scale of resource variability but no effect of body size. Resource-poor environments are known to increase the size of mammalian home ranges and territories. Here, we demonstrate that for migratory populations as well, animals living in resource-poor environments travel farther to fulfil their resource needs.
authors: Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt (Main), Germany.|Department of Biological Sciences, Goethe University, Max-von-Laue-Straße 9, 60438, Frankfurt (Main), Germany.|Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
authors: Claire S
authors: CS
authors: Teitelbaum
authors: Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
authors: William F
authors: WF
authors: Fagan
authors: Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, VA, 22630, USA.
authors: Chris H
authors: CH
authors: Fleming
authors: Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
authors: Gunnar
authors: G
authors: Dressler
authors: Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, VA, 22630, USA.
authors: Justin M
authors: JM
authors: Calabrese
authors: Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, VA, 22630, USA.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Leimgruber
authors: Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt (Main), Germany.|Department of Biological Sciences, Goethe University, Max-von-Laue-Straße 9, 60438, Frankfurt (Main), Germany.|Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.|Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, VA, 22630, USA.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Mueller
mesh_terms: D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D017753:Ecosystem; D060434:Herbivory; D006702:Homing Behavior; D016014:Linear Models; D008322:Mammals; D010944:Plants; D062206:Spatial Analysis
keywords: Foraging resources; land migrations; mammalian herbivores; migration distance; normalised difference vegetation index; scaling relationships; ungulates