Animals exhibit a diversity of movement tactics [1]. Tracking resources that change across space and time is predicted to be a fundamental driver of animal movement [2]. For example, some migratory ungulates (i.e., hooved mammals) closely track the progression of highly nutritious plant green-up, a phenomenon called "green-wave surfing" [3-5]. Yet general principles describing how the dynamic nature of resources determine movement tactics are lacking [6]. We tested an emerging theory that predicts surfing and the existence of migratory behavior will be favored in environments where green-up is fleeting and moves sequentially across large landscapes (i.e., wave-like green-up) [7]. Landscapes exhibiting wave-like patterns of green-up facilitated surfing and explained the existence of migratory behavior across 61 populations of four ungulate species on two continents (n = 1,696 individuals). At the species level, foraging benefits were equivalent between tactics, suggesting that each movement tactic is fine-tuned to local patterns of plant phenology. For decades, ecologists have sought to understand how animals move to select habitat, commonly defining habitat as a set of static patches [8, 9]. Our findings indicate that animal movement tactics emerge as a function of the flux of resources across space and time, underscoring the need to redefine habitat to include its dynamic attributes. As global habitats continue to be modified by anthropogenic disturbance and climate change [10], our synthesis provides a generalizable framework to understand how animal movement will be influenced by altered patterns of resource phenology.

British Columbia Ministry of Forests Lands Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Dawson Creek BC Canada

CEFS Université de Toulouse INRAE Castanet Tolosan France; LTSER ZA PYRénées GARonne 31320 Auzeville Tolosane France

Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis Department of Bioscience University of Oslo 0316 Oslo Norway

Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis Department of Bioscience University of Oslo 0316 Oslo Norway; Bayerische Landesanstalt für Wald und Forstwirtschaft Abteilung Biodiversität Naturschutz Jagd 85354 Freising Germany

Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionelle and Evolutive CNRS 34293 Montpellier France; Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich 8057 Zurich Switzerland

Département de l'Etude du Milieu Naturel et Agricole Service Public de Wallonie 5030 Gembloux Belgium

Department of Biodiversity and Molecular Ecology Research and Innovation Centre Fondazione Edmund Mach 38010 San Michele all'Adige Italy

Department of Biodiversity and Molecular Ecology Research and Innovation Centre Fondazione Edmund Mach 38010 San Michele all'Adige Italy; Department of Geography Ghent University 9000 Ghent Belgium

Department of Biodiversity Research Global Change Research Institute CAS Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Brno Czech Republic; Šumava National Park Vimperk Czech Republic

Department of Biological Sciences University of Alberta Edmonton AB T6G 2E9 Canada

Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management University of California Berkeley Berkeley CA 94709 USA

Department of Visitor Management and National Park Monitoring Bavarian Forest National Park 94481 Grafenau Germany; Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Management Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg 79106 Freiburg Germany

Department of Zoology and Physiology University of Wyoming Laramie WY 82071 USA

Ecosystem Science and Management University of Northern British Columbia Prince George BC V2N4Z9 Canada

Grimsö Wildlife Research Station Department of Ecology Swedish University of Agricultural Science 73091 Riddarhyttan Sweden

Halmstad University School of Business and Engineering 301 18 Halmstad Sweden

Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources University of Wyoming Laramie WY 82072 USA

Idaho Department of Fish and Game Boise ID 83707 USA

Jasper National Park Parks Canada Jasper AB Canada

LTSER ZA PYRénées GARonne 31320 Auzeville Tolosane France; Department of Wildlife Ecology Forest Research Institute Baden Wuerttemberg 79100 Freiburg Germany

Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Bozeman MT 59718 USA

Norwegian Institute for Nature Research 0349 Oslo Norway

Norwegian Institute for Nature Research 7485 Trondheim Norway

Office Français de la Biodiversité Montfort 01330 Birieux France

Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio Bormio Sondrio Italy

US Geological Survey Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Department of Zoology and Physiology University of Wyoming Laramie WY 82071 USA

Western Ecosystems Technology Inc Laramie WY 82070 USA

Wildlife Biology Program Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences W A Franke College of Forestry and Conservation University of Montana Missoula MT 59812 USA

Wildlife Sciences Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany

Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Department of Zoology and Physiology University of Wyoming Laramie WY 82071 USA

Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Department of Zoology and Physiology University of Wyoming Laramie WY 82071 USA; Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources University of Wyoming Laramie WY 82072 USA

Wyoming Game and Fish Department Pinedale WY 82941 USA

Curr Biol. 2020 Sep 7;30(17):R991-R993. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.088. PubMed

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