Impact of habitat variables
Variations are found among individuals of the same species as well as among species. Overall, Dall's sheep were found mostly in higher elevation than grizzly bears or wolves, and tended to be slightly more south oriented.
Table 1. Average values of each habitat parameter for the three studied species and random sites
In our PCA, the ordination demonstrated that about half of the variation between observations can be described by two principal components: the aspect, the vegetation and elevation (31% of the variations), where elevation is logically opposed to vegetation, since vegetation is mostly found in valley bottoms; and the species and slope accounted for another 21% of the observed results.
Results from the CCA are displayed on the following two charts. The first CCA map represents the 904 sites that were analyzed in terms of habitat variables, and the second one displays the locations of the habitat variables in relation with the three species. Again, Dall's sheep seem associated with higher elevations and grizzly bears and wolves with more vegetated areas and more eastern or western aspects. The Pearsons' correlation matrix also revealed that species were mostly correlated with elevation and aspect values (p<0.05).
