Life Sciences Commons^™

Stable Isotope Analysis Of Two Mephitidae Species Reflects Population Trends And Landscape Structure, Amanda E. Cheeseman

Master's Theses

The eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius) is a small omnivorous Carnivora similar in much of its natural history to the commonly found striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis). Spilogale putorius has experienced drastic population declines over a large portion of its geographic range. Many hypotheses for the decline of S. putorius have been proposed. δ13C and δ15N isotope analysis provides a unique opportunity to examine diet over an expanded time span. Thus was used on hair sampled from natural history collections, teaching collections, and road kills to examine dietary change for both S. putorius and M. mephitis from 1852 to 2012. Because …