Dataset Information

Wild Steps in a semi-wild setting? Habitat selection and behavior of European bison reintroduced to an enclosure in an anthropogenic landscape.

ABSTRACT: Recently, several wild or semi-wild herds of European bison have been reintroduced across Europe. It is essential for future successful bison reintroductions to know how the European bison use different habitats, which environmental parameters drive their habitat selection, and whether their habitat use and behavioural patterns in new reintroduction sites differ from habitats where European bison have been roaming freely for a long time. Here, we address these questions for a 40-ha enclosed site that has been inhabited by semi-free ranging European bison since 2012. The site, Vorup Meadows, is adjacent to the Gudenå river in Denmark and consists of human-modified riparian meadows. During 2013 we monitored the behavioural pattern and spatial use of the 11 bison present and in parallel carried out floristic analyses to assess habitat structure and food quality in the enclosure. We tested habitat use and selection against environmental parameters such as habitat characteristics, plant community traits, topography, and management area (release area vs. meadow area) using linear regression and spatial models. The bison herd had comparable diurnal activity patterns as observed in previous studies on free-roaming bison herds. Topography emerged as the main predictor of the frequency of occurrence in our spatial models, with high-lying drier areas being used more. Bison did not prefer open areas over areas with tree cover when accounting for habitat availability. However, they spent significantly more time in the release area, a former agricultural field with supplementary fodder, than expected from availability compared to the rest of the enclosure, a meadow with tree patches. We wish to increase awareness of possible long-term ethological effects of the release site and the management protocols accomplished here that might reduce the ecological impact by the bison in the target habitat, and thereby compromise or even oppose the conservation goals of the conservation efforts.

SUBMITTER: Pedersen PBM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6837835 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Wild Steps in a semi-wild setting? Habitat selection and behavior of European bison reintroduced to an enclosure in an anthropogenic landscape.

Pedersen Pil Birkefeldt Møller PBM Olsen Joanna B JB Sandel Brody B Svenning Jens-Christian JC

PloS one 20191107 11

Recently, several wild or semi-wild herds of European bison have been reintroduced across Europe. It is essential for future successful bison reintroductions to know how the European bison use different habitats, which environmental parameters drive their habitat selection, and whether their habitat use and behavioural patterns in new reintroduction sites differ from habitats where European bison have been roaming freely for a long time. Here, we address these questions for a 40-ha enclosed site ...[more]

PMID: 31697680

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Project description:BackgroundThe intestinal tract harbours a complex and diverse microbial population that is important for health, yet has been poorly described in many species. This study explored the fecal microbiota of semi-free-ranging Wood bison (Bison bison athabascae).ResultsA total of 2081936 16S rRNA (V4) sequences from 40 bison were evaluated. CatchAll analysis of richness predicted a mean of 10685 species per sample (range 5428-24764, SD 4136). Diversity was high, with an average inverse Simpson's index of 31.78 (SD 15.3, range 8.55-86.7). Twenty-one different phyla were identified; however, only Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria accounted for >1% of sequences. Two distinct population clusters (Group A, n?=?19 and Group B, n?=?21) were evident based on both community membership and population structure. Group A had a significantly lower relative abundance of Actinobacteria (6.4 vs 11.8%, P?=?0.002), Chloroflexi (0.002 vs 0.013%, P?=?0.014), Gemmatimonadetes (0.007 vs 0.15%, P?=?0.038) and Proteobacteria (18.7 vs 42.5%, P?=?<0.0001) and a greater relative abundance of Firmicutes (70.9 vs 39.3%, P?<?0.0001) than Group B. Within Group B, Alphaproteobacteria was the most common class of Proteobacteria (28% of all sequences), while Caulobacteraceae (18.5%), Pseudomonadaceae (3.5%), Hyphomicrobiaceae (3.5%), Alcaligenaceae (3.1%) and Xanthomonadaceae (2.6%) were the most abundant families. The twenty (3.1%) most abundant genera accounted for 71% of sequences. No operational taxon units (OTUs) were found in all samples at a relative abundance of 1% or greater. One OTU (Clostridium cluster XI) was present at 1% or more in all Group A samples, with two other Clostridium cluster XI OTUs in 18/19 (95%) samples. No OTUs were found at that abundance in all Group B sample, but an unclassified Lachnospiraceae was present in 20/21 (95%) and Clostridium cluster XI and Brevundimonas were found in 19 (90%) samples.ConclusionsThe fecal microbiota of Wood bison is rich and diverse. The presence of two distinct populations not associated with housing, age or gender suggest that enterotypes, distinctly different microbial population compositions that can achieve the same ultimate function, might be present in bison, as has been suggested in humans.

Project description:Biodiversity is rapidly declining globally. One strategy to help to conserve species is to breed species in captivity and release them into suitable habitats. The way that reintroduced animals explore new habitats and/or disperse from the release site is rarely studied in detail and represents key information for the success of reintroduction projects. The European bison (Bison bonasus L. 1758) was the largest surviving herbivore of the post-glacial megafauna in Europe before it became extinct in the wild, surviving only in captivity since 1919. We investigated the exploration behavior of a herd of European bison reintroduced into the Rothaargebirge, a commercial forest in low range mountain intensively used and densely populated by humans, in the first six months after release. We focused on three questions: (1) how did the European bison move and utilize the habitat on a daily basis, (2) how did the animals explore the new environment, and (3) did their habitat preferences change over time. The European bison dispersed away from their previous enclosure at an average rate of 539 m/month, with their areas of daily use ranging from 70 to 173 ha, their movement ranging from 3.6 km to 5.2 km per day, and their day-to-day use of areas ranged between 389 and 900 m. We could identify three major exploration bouts, when the animals entered and explored areas previously unknown to them. During the birthing phase, the European bison reduced daily walking distances, and the adult bull segregated from the herd for 58 days. Around rut, roaming behavior of the herd increased slightly. The animals preferred spruce forest, wind thrown areas and grassland, all of which are food abundant habitat types, and they avoided beech forest. Habitat preference differed slightly between phases of the study period, probably due to phenological cycles. After six months, the complete summer home range was 42.5 km2. Our study shows that a small free-ranging herd of European bison can live in an area intensively used by humans and describes in detail the initial roaming behavior and habitat utilization of the animals.

Dataset Information

Wild Steps in a semi-wild setting? Habitat selection and behavior of European bison reintroduced to an enclosure in an anthropogenic landscape.

Publications

Wild Steps in a semi-wild setting? Habitat selection and behavior of European bison reintroduced to an enclosure in an anthropogenic landscape.

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