Data from: Effects of home range size and burrow fidelity on survival and reproduction in eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) across different environmental contexts

Survival and reproductive success are greatly influenced by individual habitat selection and space use, which can both differ across spatial scales. To better understand habitat-fitness relationships of animals, it is essential to study space use at multiple spatial scales. Here we used 13 years of capture-mark-recapture and burrow location data to investigate how two different aspects of space use influence the survival and female reproduction in a wild population of eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) in southern Québec. We quantified home range size and site fidelity in a population experiencing massive inter-annual variations in food availability due to the masting of American beech trees (Fagus grandifolia). We found that site fidelity increased the probability of reproduction but that this effect was strongly dependent on the context of beech seed production: probability of reproduction was higher for females that were faithful from a mast year to the following non-mast year. Site fidelity was not related to survival and we found no significant effect of home range size on either fitness trait. Our results indicate that different aspects of space use do not affect fitness traits in the same way in our study system and highlight the importance of examining multiple spatial scales in related analyses.