Table 3. Effect of spatial and temporal variation of human disturbance on elk vigilance levels.
Land-use/season variable | β | SE | |
High group vigilance | Public land – hunting | 0 | |
Public land – summer | −0.37 | 0.12 | |
PRIVATE LAND – hunting | −0.51 | 0.12 | |
PRIVATE LAND – summer | −0.55 | 0.12 | |
National Park – winter-spring | −0.72 | 0.15 | |
National Park – hunting | −0.72 | 0.15 | |
PRIVATE LAND – winter-spring | −0.76 | 0.12 | |
Low group vigilance | National Park – summer | −0.92 | 0.15 |
Land-use/season variable | β | SE | |
High scan frequency | Public land – hunting | 0 | |
Public land – summer | −0.20 | 0.08 | |
PRIVATE LAND – summer | −0.25 | 0.08 | |
PRIVATE LAND – hunting | −0.36 | 0.09 | |
National Park – hunting | −0.38 | 0.10 | |
National Park – winter-spring | −0.47 | 0.10 | |
National Park – summer | −0.50 | 0.10 | |
Low scan frequency | PRIVATE LAND – winter-spring | −0.51 | 0.08 |
Coefficients and standard errors (β±SE) estimated for the land-use/season variable by the best linear mixed effect models (see Table 2) predicting group vigilance in 424 elk groups (upper panel) and scan frequency (lower panel) in 870 focal elk observed in SW Alberta, Canada. The land-use/season dummy variable was derived from the combination of 3 seasons (summer, hunting, and winter-spring) with 3 different management strategies (public land, private land, and national park). No elk were observed in the Public land during winter-spring. All coefficients are in reference to the public land during the hunting season.