Migration Dynamics of Terrestrial Ungulates

Terrestrial ungulates undertake some of the most extensive seasonal movements on the planet, spanning from short altitudinal shifts to continental‐scale treks. These migrations are typically driven by the need to synchronise reproduction and foraging with temporal pulses in resource availability and to minimise predation risk. Movement strategies range from obligate, round-trip migrations following ancestral corridors to facultative or partial migration, where only a fraction of the population relocates. Key determinants of migration dynamics include spatial heterogeneity in vegetation phenology, snow cover and water barriers, as well as intrinsic factors such as age, body condition and cognitive mapping. Anthropogenic pressures—land-use change, energy development, transport infrastructure and climate warming—can alter route fidelity, travel speed and stopover use, with implications for survival, fitness and ecosystem function. An integrated understanding of physiological capacity, behavioural plasticity and landscape connectivity is essential to delineate effective conservation corridors and to anticipate the cascading effects of disrupted migrations on plant communities and trophic interactions.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have revealed that migratory mule deer can compensate en route for mismatches between departure timing and emerging forage. By adjusting travel speed and stopover duration, individuals achieve arrival synchrony with peak vegetation green-up, demonstrating remarkable spatial cognitive abilities and behavioural flexibility. This finding suggests that some ungulates may buffer adverse phenological shifts brought about by climate change. In a complementary investigation, a global analysis of large-mammal movement trajectories identified caribou as exhibiting the longest terrestrial migrations and quantified total annual movement distances across guilds. These results confirm that migration length scales with trophic level and habitat productivity, and underline the necessity of cross-boundary conservation planning to maintain functional connectivity for wide-ranging herbivores and their predators.

Migration Dynamics of Terrestrial Ungulates publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in migration dynamics of terrestrial ungulates across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Phenological mismatch: Asynchrony between animal movement timing and peak resource availability.

Green wave: Progressive flush of vegetation growth that migratory herbivores track.

Stopover: Temporary feeding or resting site used during migration.

Movement expression: Quantitative measure of directionality and extent of animal trajectories relative to landscape context.

Partial migration: Occurrence of both migratory and resident tactics within a single population.

Connectivity corridor: Landscape linkage that facilitates uninterrupted animal movement between seasonal ranges.

References

1. Migrating mule deer compensate en route for phenological mismatches. Nature Communications (2023).
2. Wherever I may roam—Human activity alters movements of red deer (Cervus elaphus) and elk (Cervus canadensis) across two continents. Global Change Biology (2023).
3. Existing evidence on the effects of climate variability and climate change on ungulates in North America: a systematic map. Environmental Evidence (2024).
4. Longest terrestrial migrations and movements around the world. Scientific Reports (2019).