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Abstract <p>Animals regularly experience periods of food uncertainty due to seasonal changes and environmental variability. Further, the changing climate is leading to more variable weather patterns, which alter environmental conditions, and can result in resource distributions being less predictable in space and time. How animals respond to uncertain conditions, and in particular a changing distribution of food resources, remains largely unclear and is an important question in the field of movement and animal ecology. We used an experimental approach to study how Merino sheep (<i>Ovis aries</i>) respond to different levels of food location uncertainty in a drought-impacted region of the Australian arid zone. Sheep were unfamiliar with the experimental food locations at the start and progressively decreased their uncertainty (i.e., increased their environmental knowledge) when discovering an increasing number of foraging patches. We tracked 50 sheep with GPS collars (1 location every 15&#xa0;s) and deduced their movement and space use behaviour. When food uncertainty decreased, individuals moved more directionally (greater step length, smaller turn angles) and moved greater distances per day. They also had larger daily ranges. Displacement (distance between first and last location of the day) increased once and otherwise remained similar across levels of uncertainty. Our study demonstrates how an arid zone ungulate, in a large 600&#xa0;ha enclosed paddock, adjusted its movement and space use behaviour as it gained environmental information on food distribution. Our study provides important insights into how animals cope with variable environments in order to forage efficiently during periods of uncertainty.</p> Significance statement <p>Food distributions are often unpredictable over time, with climate change exacerbating variability. Understanding how animals respond to periods of environmental uncertainty is crucial to predict animal movement in space and time. We used an experimental approach and investigated how different levels of food location uncertainty affected the movement and space-use behaviour in sheep freely moving in a large 600 ha paddock. We used the number of discovered experimental food patches as a proxy for environmental knowledge (inverse of uncertainty). Movement was faster and more directional, and daily range size increased as food uncertainty decreased and sheep gained knowledge about the food locations. Our study demonstrates how an arid zone ungulate adjusted its movement and space use behaviour as it gained environmental information about food patch distributions.</p>

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Environmental uncertainty affects movement and space-use in sheep

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月11日

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  • Sarah T. Bartsch,
  • William H. E. J. van Wettere,
  • Simon C. Griffith,
  • Stephan T. Leu

摘要

Abstract

Animals regularly experience periods of food uncertainty due to seasonal changes and environmental variability. Further, the changing climate is leading to more variable weather patterns, which alter environmental conditions, and can result in resource distributions being less predictable in space and time. How animals respond to uncertain conditions, and in particular a changing distribution of food resources, remains largely unclear and is an important question in the field of movement and animal ecology. We used an experimental approach to study how Merino sheep (Ovis aries) respond to different levels of food location uncertainty in a drought-impacted region of the Australian arid zone. Sheep were unfamiliar with the experimental food locations at the start and progressively decreased their uncertainty (i.e., increased their environmental knowledge) when discovering an increasing number of foraging patches. We tracked 50 sheep with GPS collars (1 location every 15 s) and deduced their movement and space use behaviour. When food uncertainty decreased, individuals moved more directionally (greater step length, smaller turn angles) and moved greater distances per day. They also had larger daily ranges. Displacement (distance between first and last location of the day) increased once and otherwise remained similar across levels of uncertainty. Our study demonstrates how an arid zone ungulate, in a large 600 ha enclosed paddock, adjusted its movement and space use behaviour as it gained environmental information on food distribution. Our study provides important insights into how animals cope with variable environments in order to forage efficiently during periods of uncertainty.

Significance statement

Food distributions are often unpredictable over time, with climate change exacerbating variability. Understanding how animals respond to periods of environmental uncertainty is crucial to predict animal movement in space and time. We used an experimental approach and investigated how different levels of food location uncertainty affected the movement and space-use behaviour in sheep freely moving in a large 600 ha paddock. We used the number of discovered experimental food patches as a proxy for environmental knowledge (inverse of uncertainty). Movement was faster and more directional, and daily range size increased as food uncertainty decreased and sheep gained knowledge about the food locations. Our study demonstrates how an arid zone ungulate adjusted its movement and space use behaviour as it gained environmental information about food patch distributions.