The editor’s choice is the article by Burkholder et al. “Winter habitat selection by female moose in southwestern Montana and effects of snow and temperature”
This paper resulted from the MSc thesis of the first author. Master’s theses too often do not get published, even when the student has done a good job and the topic is interesting. Of course, due to the limited time frame provided by most MSc programmes, a thesis is a limited piece of work. The present paper by Burkholder et al. shows that thesis work nevertheless can add relevant case studies to the literature that add new nuances to our understanding of a wildlife issue.
Here, the issue addressed is the dynamic nature of habitat selection. Burkholder et al. confirm previous findings on moose habitat use, but also document that selection of habitat types changed in relation to snow and temperature.
The message to managers is that refugia from stressful environmental conditions may become more important if climate change continues to increase the frequency of weather extremes.
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