Anthropization impacts the selection of resting sites and their centrality in movement networks: wild boar across Europe as an example

For many animal species, resting and activity happen at distinct sites. As animals are limited in how far they can travel between resting and foraging sites, the spatial layout of those sites may constrain animal movements across the landscape. In anthropized landscapes, suitable resting sites are often scarce and dispersed, and movements between them are generally more constrained than in natural landscapes. In this context, animals may not be able to travel between any pair of resting sites in one single phase of activity. Thus, it is likely that in anthropized landscapes, some resting sites have a central position in the movement patterns of animals, serving as ‘stepping-stones' allowing them to travel between different sectors of their home range. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the resting site selection and movement patterns of wild boars Sus scrofa along wide gradients of anthropization and forest cover across Europe. First, we characterized the dynamics of resting site utilization by the wild boar in response to anthropization, on a continental scale. Then, using network analysis applied to animal movements, and betweenness centrality as a metric, we investigated the relative contribution of resting and activity sites in connecting different parts of the home range. We found that the importance of resting sites in structuring movement patterns depended on the characteristics of the landscape, and notably on the level of anthropization. Our results suggest that in anthropized landscapes, where resting sites are sometimes a limiting resource for many animals, their spatial layout may play an often unnoticed yet important role in allowing animal movements across the landscape.