Are latrine sites an accurate predictor of seasonal habitat selection by river otters (Lontra canadensis) in freshwater systems?

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• 作者：Shannon M. Crowley ; Chris J. Johnson ; Dexter P. Hodder
• 关键词：Habitat selection ; Latrine site ; Lontra canadensis ; River otter ; Telemetry ; British Columbia
• 刊名：Mammal Research
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：62
• 期：1
• 页码：37-45
• 全文大小：
• 刊物主题：Zoology; Fish & Wildlife Biology & Management; Animal Ecology; Evolutionary Biology;
• 出版者：Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• ISSN：2199-241X
• 卷排序：62

文摘

Temporal variation in the availability of food resources is a likely driving factor influencing the distribution and habitat use of river otters (Lontra canadensis). Although latrine sites are commonly used to determine habitat selection, it is unclear if latrine sites are an accurate predictor or even a useful indicator of the seasonal habitat use and distribution of river otters. We apply resource selection functions (RSF) to both latrine and telemetry locations to investigate whether latrine sites identified along lake shorelines during the ice-free season are appropriate predictors of otter habitat selection along shorelines during the ice-free and ice-cover seasons in central British Columbia, Canada. We found that the top models describing otter latrine sites and telemetry locations during the ice-free season were similar. The top RSF models and associated coefficients for the ice-cover season differed, however, with otter presence being positively influenced by shallower water depths. For the spatial extrapolation of averaged RSF coefficients, we found that 21.4 and 69.3 % of predicted latrine habitat along lake shorelines overlapped with ice-cover and ice-free habitat generated from telemetry locations, respectively. The location and activity at latrine sites appear to be a useful method for monitoring otter distribution and habitat use during the ice-free, but not during the ice-cover season. The results of our RSF analyses as well as home range measurements of otters in our study area suggest that cold temperatures and ice cover may be a limiting factor for the distribution of otter populations at northern latitudes.