Under cover: The nuanced influence of functional properties of cover on resource selection by pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis)

Animals at risk of predation select habitat that enhances security from predators. Two properties of cover related to security are concealment (i.e., habitat structure that blocks an individual from detection by others) and visibility (i.e., visual information accessible relative to habitat structure). Although these properties are often negatively correlated, they are not always inverse; animals in habitat with heterogenous structure maybe be able to select for both. We investigated habitat use by pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis) at 2 scales (patch and microsite) to evaluate the influence of both structural properties of cover and visual properties (concealment and visibility) on habitat use by prey. We contrasted vegetation structure at paired used and unused patches. At each patch, we measured concealment and viewshed (i.e., visibility) in 3 orientations (i.e., aerial, terrestrial, and overall) and structural density using lidar. We also measured heights of the 3 tallest shrubs..., , , # Under cover: The nuanced influence of functional properties of cover on resource selection by pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis)

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b92h](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b92h)

## Description of the data and file structure

**File Descriptions and Folders:**

\- Concealment Photos: Contains all photographs taken for concealment analyses ordered by photo number (DSCN####). Note that not all numbers in the sequence are present because the camera was used for other purposes such as taking photos of the field site

\- Scans: Contains all lidar scans used for viewshed analysis. Most are named for the rabbit captured or, in the second year, mounds with evidence of activity (the rabbit numbering scheme continued). R# is the rabbit or mound number, u if the mound was used, nu if the mound was not used, then 1 or 2 or 3 for the position. There are scans from additional used mounds incorporated into the microsite analysis for this project. Those are name...