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Abstract

Animals exist in landscape mosaics of high-quality and poor-quality habitat and evolution selects for behaviors that allow animals to occupy spaces that improve their fitness. Individuals employ innate and learned behaviors to select habitat over multiple spatial scales. Flammulated Owl (Psiloscops flammeolus) habitat selection has been studied with radio telemetry, but few studies have investigated Flammulated Owl habitat selection as a function of time. This investigation employed pinpoint GPS technology to identify changes in temporal/spatial habitat use by male Flammulated Owls 1) throughout a night of activity and 2) throughout a breeding season. During the 2017 summer breeding season, I deployed trackers on six territorial males in Pike National forest during their incubation and nestling stages, and I recorded GPS fixes during early and late-night activity. I compared understory and overstory characteristics between selected and available habitat, analyzed territory sizes based on temporal variables, and investigated patterns in their movement paths. Results suggested that Flammulated Owls select habitats with relatively high ground cover, but overstory was not significantly different between used and unused but available habitats. Results suggested that males employ different behavioral decisions based on the time of night and time during the breeding season. This study illustrated how Flammulated Owls shift their habitat use based on their energetic needs and resource availability as functions of time. In an increasingly unstable ecosystem, understanding how Flammulated Owls interact with their habitats is important in order to predict their responses to environmental disturbances and climate change.

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