Content area
Abstract
One of the principal challenges free-ranging animals face is acquiring information about earth’s resources, which are generally patchily distributed and seasonal in nature. In learning about the environment, animals reduce uncertainty and can make informed behavioral decisions about where to find resources and mates, how to evade predation, and move and forage efficiently; manifesting as the spatial behavior of the individual. To date, however, the process of spatial learning in free-ranging populations is not well understood and has rarely been evaluated through the lens of conservation. In chapter 1, I evaluate how the spatial learning process unfolds over time and which behaviors are refined first in a population of bison (Bison bison) reintroduced into Banff National Park, Canada. In chapter 2, I conceptualize how push versus pull factors might influence movement leading up to and during exploration and test the framework using GPS data from reintroduced bison. In chapter 3, I develop a framework to test factors that influence patch discovery and space use refinement in a novel environment. I conceptualize the settlement process of home range formation as the discovery of new patches and subsequent decision to return to them. I then test how forage quality and landscape structure influence this process using data from reintroduced bison. Finally, in chapter 4, I integrate the fields of conservation biology and animal learning to evaluate how a range of management techniques influenced learning in a reintroduced population of bison in Banff National Park, Canada.
