Figure 3
From: Drivers of habitat quality for a reintroduced elk herd
Prediction plots of individual top model parameters explaining the relationship between female elk home range size in hectares (ha) and proportions of land cover within the home range during late gestation (a), calving (b), harems (c), and mid-gestation (d) seasons and year-round (e) in southwestern Virginia, USA from June 2012–February 2017 and March 2019–February 2022. The top model for each season and year-round included two land cover types as the best predictors of home range size except for harems season. Proportions of mixed hardwood and non-mined (NM) open land were the strongest predictors during late-gestation and calving seasons and year-round. In addition to mixed hardwood and NM open land, proportion of oak was also included in the best model during harems. The top model for mid-gestation included the proportions of mines and NM open land.
