title: Habitat selection during ungulate dispersal and exploratory movement at broad and fine scale with implications for conservation management.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dispersal has a critical influence on demography and gene flow and as such maintaining connectivity between populations is an essential element of modern conservation. Advances in satellite radiotelemetry are providing new opportunities to document dispersal, which previously has been difficult to study. This type of data also can be used as an empirical basis for defining landscapes in terms of resistance surfaces, enabling habitat corridors to be identified. However, despite the scale-dependent nature of habitat selection few studies have investigated selection specifically during dispersal. Here we investigate habitat selection during and around dispersal periods as well as the influence of age and sex on dispersal for a large ungulate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 158 elk (Cervus elaphus) tracked using GPS radiotelemetry almost all dispersers were males, with individuals dispersing up to 98 km. The dispersal period was distinct, with higher movement rates than before or after dispersal. At fine scale elk avoided the most rugged terrain in all time periods, but to a greater extent during and after dispersal, which we showed using step selection functions. In contrast, habitat selection by resident elk was less affected by ruggedness and more by an attraction to areas of higher forage availability. At the broad scale, however, movement corridors of dispersers were characterized by higher forage availability and slightly lower ruggedness then expected using correlated random walks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In one of the first examples of its kind we document complete long-distance dispersal events by an ungulate in detail. We find dispersal to be distinct in terms of movement rate and also find evidence that habitat selection during dispersal may differ from habitat selection in the home-range, with potential implications for the use of resistance surfaces to define conservation corridors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9 Canada ; Marine Evolution and Conservation Group, Centre of Evolutionary and Ecological Studies, University of Groningen, PO Box 11103 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Killeen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9 Canada.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thurfjell
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9 Canada ; Department of Biometry and Environmental System Analysis, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79106 Germany.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ciuti
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1 N4 Canada.
authors.forename: Dale
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paton
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1 N4 Canada.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Musiani
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9 Canada.
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Boyce
keywords: Alberta; Cervus elaphus; Dispersal; Elk; Habitat selection; Migration; Step selection functions