Fig. 4

Comparing the ecological niches observed during the normal and heavy snowfall years for each mammal species (a boar, b hare, c raccoon dog, and d serow) in the Oguni region, northern Japan. Each panel shows response curves for the respective explanatory variables with the top 2 variable importance, determined by the total of “variable importance” of each variable in the normal and heavy snowfall years’ models. We omitted comparing the response curves for the species without significant differences in ecological niche, judged by the niche identity test (i.e., martens and macaques). EC: evergreen conifer [250 m²], E: elevation [m], SF: snowfield [250 m²], DBT: deciduous broadleaf tree [250 m²], and DDL: distance to dwelling land [m]