Occupational Patterns of Wildlife on a Major East Kootenay Winter-Spring Range

Abstract

Empirical descriptions of spatial overlap of coexisting herbivores are difficult to interpret in terms of functional interaction. In an attempt to obviate some of these difficulties, partial correlation analysis was applied to the study of habitat use behavior of whitetail deer, mule deer, elk, and bighorn sheep on an important wildlife winter-spring range in southeastern British Columbia. A probe was made of the basic determinants of habitat selection in order to isolate the response of represented species to the physical and vegetational environment and to summer grazing by cattle. Distinct patterns of habitat utilization were exhibited by each species. Whitetail and mule deer habitat preferences were distinguished from one another by elevation, ruggedness of terrain, and openness of forest and shrub vegetation. Elk were most widely distributed and showed the least apparent response to measured environmental parameters, whereas bighorn sheep were most localized and specific in their response to environment. Distributions of all species were only weakly influenced by the activities of grazing cattle at the level and pattern found on the study area. Partial correlation techniques appeared to offer some potential for analyzing resource division in mixed grazing systems. However, a number of technical and conceptual difficulties may limit their value in systems where reciprocal feedbacks, thresholds, and optima exist in the response of animals to environment.