DOI: 10.5061/dryad.mpg4f4r51
title: Scale-Dependence in Elk Habitat Selection for a Reintroduced Population in Wisconsin, USA.

description: Habitat selection is a critical aspect of a species’ ecology requiring
 complex decision-making that is both hierarchical and scale-dependent,
 since factors that influence selection may be nested or unequal across
 scales. Elk (Cervus canadensis) ranged widely across diverse habitats in
 North America prior to European settlement and subsequent eastern
 extirpation. Most habitat studies have occurred within their contemporary
 western range, even after eastern elk reintroductions began. As habitat
 selection can vary by geographic location, available cover, season, and
 diel period, it is important to understand how a non-migratory,
 reintroduced population in northern Wisconsin, USA is limited by the lack
 of variation in topography, elevation, and vegetation. We tested
 scale-dependent habitat selection on 79 adult elk from 2017–2020. We used
 resource selection functions across both temporal and spatial scales to
 understand differences in selection of topographic and environmental
 features. We found that selection varied both spatially and temporally and
 elk selected areas with the greatest potential to influence fitness at
 larger scales (i.e., landscape scale), meaning elk selected areas closer
 to escape cover and further from “risky” features (e.g., wolf territory
 centers, county roads and highways). We found stronger avoidance to wolf
 territory centers during spring, suggesting elk were selecting safer
 habitats during calving season. We found elk selected habitats with less
 canopy cover across both spatial scales and all seasons, suggesting that
 elk selected these areas for better access to forage as forest stands in
 early seral stages have greater nutritional value and forage biomass than
 closed-canopy forests and direct solar radiation to provide warmth in the
 cooler seasons. This study highlights how processes at different spatial
 and temporal scales influence species’ decision-making. It provides
 insight into the complexity of making informed decisions in which an
 individual is responding to their immediate environment while
 simultaneously making decisions in the context of the larger landscape.
 Scale-dependent behavior is crucial to understand within specific
 geographic regions as these decisions scale up to influence population
 dynamics. 
description: This README file was generated on 2023-08-30 by Jennifer Merems. GENERAL
 INFORMATION # 1. Title of Dataset: Fear before food: Scale-dependence in
 elk habitat selection 2. Author Information: A. Principal Investigator
 Contact Information Name: Timothy Van Deelen Institution: University of
 Wisconsin-Madison: Madison, WI USA Email: trvandeelen@wisc.edu B.
 Corresponding Author Contact Information Name: Jennifer Merems
 Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison: Madison, WI USA Email:
 merems@wisc.edu 3. Date of data collection (single date, range,
 approximate date): 2022-2023 4. Geographic location of data collection:
 Wisconsin, USA 5. Information about funding source that supported the
 collection of the data: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources #
 SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data:
 Coordinates could not be given because location information for elk in
 Wisconsin is protected information. Coordinates are not needed to run the
 resource selection function. Wolf territory centroid locations could not
 be given because location information for gray wolves in Wisconsin is
 protected information. Information is not needed to run the resource
 selection function. 2. Links to publications that cite or use the data:
 Coming soon. 3. Was data derived from another source? No A. If yes, list
 source(s): NA 4. Recommended citation for this dataset: Coming soon. #
 DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1. File List: A)
 SpatialScale\_Landscape\_RawData.csv Datasets used in modeling habitat use
 for elk at the landscape scale. B) SpatialScale\_HomeRange\_RawData.csv
 Datasets used in modeling habitat use for elk at the home range scale. C)
 TemporalScale\_Landscape\_RawData.csv Datasets used in modeling habitat
 use for elk at the landscape scale separated by season. D)
 TemporalScale\_HomeRange\_RawData.csv Datasets used in modeling habitat
 use for elk at the home range scale separated by season. 1. Relationship
 between files, if important: None 2. Additional related data collected
 that was not included in the current data package: None 3. Are there
 multiple versons of this dataset? No A. If yes, name of file(s) that was
 updated: NA i. Why was the file updated? NA ii. When was the file updated?
 NA # DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: SpatialScale\_Landscape\_RawData.csv
 1. Number of variables: 13 2. Number of cases/rows: 1048575 3. Variable
 List: * CollarID: Elk identification. * Used: 1 – cell occupied by an elk
 GPS location, 0 – randomly assigned location. * Year: Year of the study
 (2017-2020). * Elevation: Elevation (m) of cell. * Slope: Slope (m) of
 cell. * Cosine Aspect: Northness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360)
 to a continuous variable of northness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will
 be southwards and +1 will be northwards. * Sine Aspect: Eastness of cell;
 Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of eastness (-1
 to +1); values closer to -1 will be westwards and +1 will be eastwards. *
 Canopy Cover (%): Percent overstory canopy cover of cell. * Distance to
 Canopy Cover &lt; 40%: Distance pixel is to nearest cell with percent
 overstory canopy cover less than 40%. * Distance to County Roads: Distance
 cell is to nearest county road; km. * Distance to Main Roads: Distance
 cell is to nearest main road; km. * Distance to Wolf Territory Centers:
 Distance cell is to nearest wolf territory center; km. * Habitat Type:
 Habitat type classification of given cell. 1. Missing data codes: None 2.
 Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None DATA-SPECIFIC
 INFORMATION FOR: SpatialScale\_HomeRange\_RawData.csv 1. Number of
 variables: 13 2. Number of cases/rows: 96244 3. Variable List: * CollarID:
 Elk identification. * Used: 1 – cell occupied by an elk GPS location, 0 –
 randomly assigned location. * Year: Year of the study (2017-2020). *
 Elevation: Elevation (m) of cell. * Slope: Slope (m) of cell. * Cosine
 Aspect: Northness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a
 continuous variable of northness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will be
 southwards and +1 will be northwards. * Sine Aspect: Eastness of cell;
 Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of eastness (-1
 to +1); values closer to -1 will be westwards and +1 will be eastwards. *
 Canopy Cover (%): Percent overstory canopy cover of cell. * Distance to
 Canopy Cover &lt; 40%: Distance pixel is to nearest cell with percent
 overstory canopy cover less than 40%. * Distance to County Roads: Distance
 cell is to nearest county road; km. * Distance to Main Roads: Distance
 cell is to nearest main road; km. * Distance to Wolf Territory Centers:
 Distance cell is to nearest wolf territory center; km. * Habitat Type:
 Habitat type classification of given cell. 1. Missing data codes: None 2.
 Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None DATA-SPECIFIC
 INFORMATION FOR: TemporalScale\_Landscape\_RawData.csv 1. Number of
 variables: 13 2. Number of cases/rows: 1048576 3. Variable List: *
 CollarID: Elk identification. * Used: 1 – cell occupied by an elk GPS
 location, 0 – randomly assigned location. * Year: Year of the study
 (2017-2020). * Elevation: Elevation (m) of cell. * Slope: Slope (m) of
 cell. * Cosine Aspect: Northness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360)
 to a continuous variable of northness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will
 be southwards and +1 will be northwards. * Sine Aspect: Eastness of cell;
 Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of eastness (-1
 to +1); values closer to -1 will be westwards and +1 will be eastwards. *
 Canopy Cover (%): Percent overstory canopy cover of cell. * Distance to
 Canopy Cover &lt; 40%: Distance pixel is to nearest cell with percent
 overstory canopy cover less than 40%. * Distance to County Roads: Distance
 cell is to nearest county road; km. * Distance to Main Roads: Distance
 cell is to nearest main road; km. * Distance to Wolf Territory Centers:
 Distance cell is to nearest wolf territory center; km. * Habitat Type:
 Habitat type classification of given cell. 1. Missing data codes: None 2.
 Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None DATA-SPECIFIC
 INFORMATION FOR: TemporalScale\_HomeRange\_RawData.csv 1. Number of
 variables: 13 2. Number of cases/rows: 150866 3. Variable List: *
 CollarID: Elk identification. * Used: 1 – cell occupied by an elk GPS
 location, 0 – randomly assigned location. * Year: Year of the study
 (2017-2020). * Elevation: Elevation (m) of cell. * Slope: Slope (m) of
 cell. * Cosine Aspect: Northness of cell; Transformation of Aspect (0-360)
 to a continuous variable of northness (-1 to +1); values closer to -1 will
 be southwards and +1 will be northwards. * Sine Aspect: Eastness of cell;
 Transformation of Aspect (0-360) to a continuous variable of eastness (-1
 to +1); values closer to -1 will be westwards and +1 will be eastwards. *
 Canopy Cover (%): Percent overstory canopy cover of cell. * Distance to
 Canopy Cover &lt; 40%: Distance pixel is to nearest cell with percent
 overstory canopy cover less than 40%. * Distance to County Roads: Distance
 cell is to nearest county road; km. * Distance to Main Roads: Distance
 cell is to nearest main road; km. * Distance to Wolf Territory Centers:
 Distance cell is to nearest wolf territory center; km. * Habitat Type:
 Habitat type classification of given cell. 1. Missing data codes: None 2.
 Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None