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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Spatiotemporal Interactions Between Deer And Cattle, Sydney Brewer Jan 2021

Spatiotemporal Interactions Between Deer And Cattle, Sydney Brewer

Honors Theses

Mule deer, white-tailed deer, and cattle are sympatric on the landscape throughout many portions of Nebraska and encounter each other in time and space. By considering variation in daily activity patterns and non-random patterns in the timing of passage through specific locations, we can better understand whether animals may be avoiding each other temporally when sharing space. I investigated temporal activity patterns and avoidance/attraction ratios to investigate if deer altered their activity patterns in the presence of cattle and if they exhibited avoidance at a study site near McCook, Nebraska, USA. We collected data from 19 game cameras that were …


Recolonizing Carnivores: Is Cougar Predation Behaviorally Mediated By Bears?, Kristin N. Engebretsen, Jon P. Beckmann, Carl W. Lackey, Alyson M. Andreasen, Cody Schroeder, Pat Jackson, Julie K. Young Jan 2021

Recolonizing Carnivores: Is Cougar Predation Behaviorally Mediated By Bears?, Kristin N. Engebretsen, Jon P. Beckmann, Carl W. Lackey, Alyson M. Andreasen, Cody Schroeder, Pat Jackson, Julie K. Young

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Conservation and management efforts have resulted in population increases and range expansions for some apex predators, potentially changing trophic cascades and foraging behavior. Changes in sympatric carnivore and dominant scavenger populations provide opportunities to assess how carnivores affect one another. Cougars (Puma concolor) were the apex predator in the Great Basin of Nevada, USA, for over 80 years. Black bears (Ursus americanus) have recently recolonized the area and are known to heavily scavenge on cougar kills. To evaluate the impacts of sympatric, recolonizing bears on cougar foraging behavior in the Great Basin, we investigated kill sites of 31 cougars between …


Beyond Capture: Development And Validation Of A Method To Assess Body Condition In Mule Deer (Odocoileus Hemionus) Using Camera Traps, Rachel A. Smiley 6820420 May 2017

Beyond Capture: Development And Validation Of A Method To Assess Body Condition In Mule Deer (Odocoileus Hemionus) Using Camera Traps, Rachel A. Smiley 6820420

University Scholar Projects

Advances in technology and availability associated with camera traps have resulted in a rapid rise in their use to monitor wildlife distribution, abundance, and behavior. We focus on assessing body condition, a new application of camera traps. Body condition indices must relate to the percent body fat if they are to be useful. To acquire measurements of body fat, most body condition indices require capture or mortality of animals to estimate, which has limitations when applied to free-ranging animals. We developed a non-invasive, visual body condition index (VBCI) to assess body condition of mule deer that can be applied …


Beyond Capture: Development And Validation Of A Method To Assess Body Condition In Mule Deer (Odocoileus Hemionus) Using Camera Traps, Rachel A. Smiley 6820420 May 2017

Beyond Capture: Development And Validation Of A Method To Assess Body Condition In Mule Deer (Odocoileus Hemionus) Using Camera Traps, Rachel A. Smiley 6820420

Honors Scholar Theses

Advances in technology and availability associated with camera traps have resulted in a rapid rise in their use to monitor wildlife distribution, abundance, and behavior. We focus on assessing body condition, a new application of camera traps. Body condition indices must relate to the percent body fat if they are to be useful. To acquire measurements of body fat, most body condition indices require capture or mortality of animals to estimate, which has limitations when applied to free-ranging animals. We developed a non-invasive, visual body condition index (VBCI) to assess body condition of mule deer that can be applied …


A Conceptual Framework For Understanding Effects Of Wildlife Water Developments In The Western United States, Randy T. Larsen Dec 2008

A Conceptual Framework For Understanding Effects Of Wildlife Water Developments In The Western United States, Randy T. Larsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Free water can be a limiting factor to wildlife in arid regions of the world. In the western United States, management agencies have installed numerous, expensive wildlife water developments (e.g. catchments, guzzlers, wells) to: 1) increase the distribution or density of target species, 2) influence animal movements, and 3) mitigate for the loss of available free water. Despite over 50 years as an active management practice, water developments have become controversial for several species. We lack an integrated understanding of the ways free water influences animal populations. In particular, we have not meshed understanding of evolutionary adaptations that reduce the …


Nebraska Deer, William Bailey Jr., George Schildman, Phillip Agee, C. G. Pritchard Jan 1957

Nebraska Deer, William Bailey Jr., George Schildman, Phillip Agee, C. G. Pritchard

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: Publications

IN COMMON with the experience of most states, Nebraska's deer herds were reduced to a very low level by excessive harvests in our early history. Most American big-game animals were overharvested in the early history of this nation because of commercialization. Buffalo were killed for their hides, deer for their meat. This slaughter continued as long as the hunter (or poacher) could sell his take at a profit. Modem game management and public opinion reversed this trend. Deer are on the way back all over America, and in some states the protection-complex was so strong that deer were restored to …