Data from: Predator-prey space-use and landscape features influence movement behaviors in a large-mammal community

Predator hunting strategies, such as stalking versus coursing behaviors,
are hypothesized to influence antipredator behaviors of prey and can
describe the movement behaviors of predators themselves. Predators and
prey may alter their movement in relation to predator hunting modes, yet
few studies have evaluated how these strategies influence movement
behaviors of free-ranging animals in a multiple-predator, multiple-prey
system. We fit hidden Markov models (HMM) with movement data derived from
>400 GPS-collared ungulates and large predators in eastern
Washington, USA. We used these models to test our hypotheses that stalking
(cougars [Puma concolor]) and coursing (gray wolves [Canis lupus])
predators would exhibit different broad-scale movement behaviors
consistent with their respective hunting strategies in areas that
increased the likelihood of encountering or capturing ungulate prey (e.g.,
habitats selected by deer [Odocoileus spp.]). Similarly, we expected that
broad-scale movement behaviors of prey would change in response to
background levels of predation risk associated with each predator’s
hunting strategy. We found that predators and ungulate prey adjusted their
broad-scale movements in response to one another’s long-term patterns of
habitat selection but not based on differences in predator hunting
strategies. Predators changed their movement behaviors based on the type
of prey, whereas ungulates generally reduced movement in areas associated
with large predators, regardless of the predator’s hunting strategy. Both
predator and prey movements varied in response to landscape features but
not necessarily based on habitat that would facilitate specific hunting
behaviors. Our results suggest that predators and prey adjust their
movements at broad temporal scales in relation to long-term patterns of
risk and resource distributions, potentially influencing their encounter
rates with one another at finer spatiotemporal scales. Habitat features
further influenced changes in movement, resulting in a complex combination
of movement behaviors in multiple-predator, multiple-prey systems.