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Altitude, latitude, and climate zone as determinants of mountain hare (Lepus timidus) coat colour change
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  • Allan Stokes,
  • Tim Hofmeester,
  • Neri Thorsen,
  • John Odden,
  • John Linnell,
  • Simen Pedersen
Allan Stokes
Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences - Evenstad Campus

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Tim Hofmeester
Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet Fakulteten for Skogsvetenskap
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Neri Thorsen
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research Oslo
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John Odden
Norwegian Institute for Natural Research
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John Linnell
Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences - Evenstad Campus
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Simen Pedersen
Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences - Evenstad Campus
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Abstract

Local adaptation to annually changing environments has evolved in numerous species. Seasonal coat colour change is an adaptation that has evolved in multiple mammal and bird species occupying areas that experience seasonal snow cover. It has a critical impact on fitness as predation risk may increase when an individual is mismatched against its habitat’s background colour. In this paper we investigate the impact of landscape covariates on moult timing in a native winter-adapted herbivore, the mountain hare (Lepus timidus), throughout Norway. Data was collected between 2011 and 2019 at 678 camera trap locations deployed across an environmental gradient. Based on this data, we created a Bayesian multinomial logistic regression model that quantified the correlations between landscape covariates and coat colour phenology and analysed among season and year moult timing variation. Our results demonstrate that mountain hare moult timing is strongly correlated with altitude and latitude with hares that live at higher latitudes and altitudes keeping their winter white coats for longer than their conspecifics that inhabit lower latitudes and altitudes. Moult timing was also weakly correlated with climate zone with hares that live in coastal climates keeping their winter white coats for longer than hares that live in continental climates. We found evidence of some among year moult timing variation in spring, but not in autumn. We conclude that mountain hare moult timing has adapted to local environmental conditions throughout Norway.
04 Apr 2023Submitted to Ecology and Evolution
06 Apr 2023Submission Checks Completed
06 Apr 2023Assigned to Editor
17 Apr 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
18 May 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
25 May 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
13 Jun 20231st Revision Received
14 Jun 2023Submission Checks Completed
14 Jun 2023Assigned to Editor
14 Jun 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
15 Jun 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
19 Jul 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
26 Jul 20232nd Revision Received
26 Jul 2023Assigned to Editor
26 Jul 2023Submission Checks Completed
26 Jul 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
15 Aug 2023Editorial Decision: Accept