DOI: 10.5061/dryad.cc2fqz652
title: Habitat loss on seasonal migratory range imperils an endangered ungulate

description: Endangered species policies and their associated recovery documents and
 management actions do not always sufficiently address the importance of
 migratory behavior and seasonal ranges for imperiled populations. Using a
 telemetry location dataset spanning 1981 – 2018, we tested for changes in
 prevalence of migratory tactics (resident, migrant) over time, switching
 between tactics, shifts in seasonal space-use including migration
 corridors, and survival consequences of migrant and resident tactics for
 237 adult female endangered woodland mountain caribou in one population in
 western Canada. Over more than three decades, the proportion of
 individuals displaying annual migration to the low elevation forested
 winter range declined from nearly 100% to 38%. Correspondingly, there was
 a strong switch away from being migrant to being year-round residents at
 high elevation. These behavioral changes corresponded to abandonment of
 low elevation winter ranges in association with increasing levels of
 anthropogenic land uses, including forestry and oil and gas
 developments.  Furthermore, there were no identifiable migration
 corridors to target for migratory route protection. These shifts
 translated to lower survival rates, particularly for caribou demonstrating
 resident tactics, consistent with recent declines of the caribou
 population. That migrants switched to residency in their largely
 undisturbed summer range, despite lower survival, indicates maladaptive
 habitat selection consistent with recent patterns of mountain caribou
 extirpations. Globally, endangered species policies and their associated
 recovery plans and management actions often do not explicitly consider the
 challenge of protecting migratory species. Effective conservation of
 migratory species requires protecting critical habitats needed for the
 entire life history of the species, including all seasonal ranges and
 migratory habitat.
description: 1. "RRPC_migation_class.csv": migration tactic
 classification data for use in anlaysis of estimating probability of being
 migrant and probability of switching tactic VHF or GPS
 radio collar locations used to classify migratory tactic using net-squared
 displacement (NSD) models in the ‘migrateR’ package in the program R
 (Bunnefeld et al., 2011; R Core Team, 2019; Spitz, Hebblewhite, &
 Stephenson, 2017) using a single location/day for individuals that had
 &gt; 20 locations/year to ensure model convergence using NSD. Other
 individuals’ movement trajectories were not suitable for NSD models
 because of too few locations (e.g., VHF data) or lack of a complete annual
 cycle (e.g. mortalities, collar failures, etc.). To assess tactic for
 these latter individuals, we developed decision rules based on
 successfully NSD classified individuals who showed clear migration
 movements (Eggeman et al., 2016; see Supporting Information).
 <em>Decision rules for assigning migratory
 tactic:</em> First, we assumed all caribou spent
 summer (June – August) at high elevations because no monitored caribou
 summered in low elevation areas. Thus, the crucial test for migrant
 classification was whether we found even a single location of an
 individual in winter (Jan – March) in lower-elevation foothills. 
 Conversely, if all an individual’s locations during winter occurred in
 high-elevation range occupied during summer, we classified this individual
 to be a high-elevation resident. In cases where
 migratory tactic could not be determined, it was assigned as
 unknown.   2.
 "RRPC_capture.csv": capture date information per individual for
 use in survival analysis 3. "RRPC_fate.csv":
 fate information per individual-year for use in survival
 analysis