Explorers hunting s
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Previous work has shown that hunting has direct effects on hares’ dispersal. The European hare, Lepus europaeus, is a declining game mammal encountered in farmland habitats. In particular, in the context of harvested populations, evaluating the influence of recreational hunting activities on species dispersal is of prime importance, for both conservation and management. Identifying the factors that may affect the success or failure of settlement is crucial to our understanding of dispersal efficiency in a given species. predation pressure ) during the exploration stage may reduce the chance of permanent dispersal and compel the individual to remain philopatric. For instance, unavailable vacant places or sexual partners in the range of dispersal distances, frequent aggressive encounters with residents in high density patches (the so-called ‘social fence’ hypothesis ) or increasing disturbance (e.g. The conditions encountered during this exploratory stage are likely determinants in the animal’s decision to settle in a given place, pursue the transient-exploration stage, or abort dispersal. Exploration may help the animal gain cues about their surroundings, this in turn buffers the potential costs of dispersal. The cost/benefit ratio of dispersal depends mostly on the suitability of the settlement place relative to the place of origin. Dispersal across and into unfamiliar habitat may be costly owing to high energy expenditure, exposure to predators and ignorance of future settlement habitat quality. Dispersal consists of three inter-dependent stages: departure from the place of origin, exploration (the so-called transient stage) and settlement into a new place. Įxploration of surroundings is a key determinant step in realized dispersal. These movements are often related to foraging and/or mating activities, but also temporary escape into refuges due to increasing disturbance in the surroundings. Another well described extra home-range movement concerns non-permanent forays. the permanent movement of juveniles from their birth place to the place of their first breeding attempt (natal dispersal) or the movement of adults between two breeding places (breeding dispersal). Because of its strong implication in the evolutionary dynamics of populations, one of the most studied types of movement in ecology is dispersal, i.e. Movements of animals underly many biological processes from the individual level (e.g., home ranging, mating, foraging) to the population level (e.g., population persistence, population connectivity, invasion, disease spread). Overall, we emphasize the need to account for human-related predation risk as a factor driving space-use in harvested species. We suggest that explorations in hares are triggered by factors other than dispersal and that hares may respond to hunting disturbances. These movements were also more likely to occur during the hare hunting period and the mating season. This was the case both for philopatric movements and for movements occurring after dispersal and settlement. Exploration forays occurred less in juveniles than in adults and later in the season than natal dispersal. ResultsĬontrary to natal dispersal, we did not find strong male-bias in the propensity to engage in explorations. Herein, we investigate whether these non-permanent explorations are dispersal attempts/preludes or, in contrast, whether they are triggered by other factors such as disturbances related to hunting. However, the determinants of such behaviour have not yet been studied. In France, the timing of dispersal also overlaps with the hare hunting period. In the European hare, exploration forays occur predominantly in juveniles, the time at which most hares disperse. In addition, these forays are often preludes to permanent dispersal, because they may help individuals gain cues about their surroundings prior to settlement in a new place. However, these movements may occur in response to important biological processes such as mating or predation avoidance. In contrast, non-permanent extra home-range movements are often paid less attention. Due to its important implications in the evolutionary dynamics of populations, dispersal is one of the most studied types of movement. Movements of animals have important consequences, at both the individual and population levels.