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- Climate change (8)
- Mule deer (4)
- Canis lupus (3)
- Centrocercus urophasianus (3)
- Functional response (3)
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- Greater sage-grouse (3)
- Habitat selection (3)
- Herbivory (3)
- Odocoileus hemionus (3)
- Abundance (2)
- Alces alces (2)
- Canis latrans (2)
- Chronic wasting disease (CWD) (2)
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- Dispersal (2)
- Diversity (2)
- Grazing (2)
- Home range (2)
- Invasive species (2)
- Meta-analysis (2)
- Model selection (2)
- Movement (2)
- Movement ecology (2)
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- Plant invasion (2)
- Prion (2)
- Random walk (2)
- Rangifer tarandus caribou (2)
- Resource selection function (2)
Articles 31 - 60 of 78
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Relative Selection Strength: Quantifying Effectsize In Habitat- And Step-Selection Inference, Tal Avgar, Subhash R. Lele, Jonah L. Keim, Mark S. Boyce
Relative Selection Strength: Quantifying Effectsize In Habitat- And Step-Selection Inference, Tal Avgar, Subhash R. Lele, Jonah L. Keim, Mark S. Boyce
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Habitat-selection analysis lacks an appropriate measure of the ecological significance of the statistical estimates-a practical interpretation of the magnitude of the selection coefficients. There is a need for a standard approach that allows relating the strength of selection to a change in habitat conditions across space, a quantification of the estimated effect size that can be compared both within and across studies. We offer a solution, based on the epidemiological risk ratio, which we term the relative selection strength (RSS). For a "used-available" design with an exponential selection function, the RSS provides an appropriate interpretation of the magnitude of the …
The Relationship Between Species Richness And Ecosystem Variability Is Shaped By The Mechanism Of Coexistence, Andrew T. Tredennick, Peter B. Adler, Frederick R. Adler
The Relationship Between Species Richness And Ecosystem Variability Is Shaped By The Mechanism Of Coexistence, Andrew T. Tredennick, Peter B. Adler, Frederick R. Adler
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Theory relating species richness to ecosystem variability typically ignores the potential for environmental variability to promote species coexistence. Failure to account for fluctuation-dependent coexistence may explain deviations from the expected negative diversity–ecosystem variability relationship, and limits our ability to predict the consequences of increases in environmental variability. We use a consumer-resource model to explore how coexistence via the temporal storage effect and relative nonlinearity affects ecosystem variability. We show that a positive, rather than negative, diversity–ecosystem variability relationship is possible when ecosystem function is sampled across a natural gradient in environmental variability and diversity. We also show how fluctuation-dependent coexistence …
Landscape-Level Wolf Space Use Is Correlated With Prey Abundance, Ease Of Mobility And The Distribution Of Prey Habitat, Andrew M. Kittle, Morgan Anderson, Tal Avgar, James A. Baker, Glen S. Brown, Jevon Hagens, Ed Iwachewski, Scott Moffatt, Anna Mosser, Brent R. Patterson, Douglas E. B. Reid, Arthur R. Rodgers, Jen Shuter, Garrett M. Street, Ian D. Thompson, Lucas M. Vander Vennen, John M. Fryxell
Landscape-Level Wolf Space Use Is Correlated With Prey Abundance, Ease Of Mobility And The Distribution Of Prey Habitat, Andrew M. Kittle, Morgan Anderson, Tal Avgar, James A. Baker, Glen S. Brown, Jevon Hagens, Ed Iwachewski, Scott Moffatt, Anna Mosser, Brent R. Patterson, Douglas E. B. Reid, Arthur R. Rodgers, Jen Shuter, Garrett M. Street, Ian D. Thompson, Lucas M. Vander Vennen, John M. Fryxell
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Predator space use influences ecosystem dynamics, and a fundamental goal assumed for a foraging predator is to maximize encounter rate with prey. This can be achieved by disproportionately utilizing areas of high prey density or, where prey are mobile and therefore spatially unpredictable, utilizing patches of their prey's preferred resources. A third, potentially complementary strategy is to increase mobility by using linear features like roads and/or frozen waterways. Here, we used novel population-level predator utilization distributions (termed "localized density distributions") in a single-predator (Wolf), two-prey (moose and caribou) system to evaluate these space-use hypotheses. The study was conducted in contrasting …
Estimating Utilization Distributions From Fitted Step-Selectionfunctions, Johannes Signer, John Fieberg, Tal Avgar
Estimating Utilization Distributions From Fitted Step-Selectionfunctions, Johannes Signer, John Fieberg, Tal Avgar
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Habitat-selection analyses are often used to link environmental covariates, measured within some spatial domain of assumed availability, to animal location data that are assumed to be independent. Step-selection functions (SSFs) relax this independence assumption, by using a conditional model that explicitly acknowledges the spatiotemporal dynamics of the availability domain and hence the temporal dependence among successive locations. However, it is not clear how to produce an SSF-based map of the expected utilization distribution. Here, we used SSFs to analyze virtual animal movement data generated at a fine spatiotemporal scale and then rarefied to emulate realistic telemetry data. We then compared …
Shrub Communities, Spatial Patterns, And Shrub-Mediated Tree Mortality Following Reintroduced Fire In Yosemite National Park, California, Usa, James A. Lutz, Tucker J. Furniss, Sara J. Germain, Kendall M. L. Becker, Erika M. Blomdahl, Sean M. A. Jeronimo, C. Alina Cansler, James A. Freund, Mark E. Swanson, Andrew J. Larson
Shrub Communities, Spatial Patterns, And Shrub-Mediated Tree Mortality Following Reintroduced Fire In Yosemite National Park, California, Usa, James A. Lutz, Tucker J. Furniss, Sara J. Germain, Kendall M. L. Becker, Erika M. Blomdahl, Sean M. A. Jeronimo, C. Alina Cansler, James A. Freund, Mark E. Swanson, Andrew J. Larson
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Shrubs contribute to the forest fuel load; their distribution is important to tree mortality and regeneration, and vertebrate occupancy. We used a method new to fire ecology—extensive continuous mapping of trees and shrub patches within a single large (25.6 ha) study site—to identify changes in shrub area, biomass, and spatial pattern due to fire reintroduction by a backfire following a century of fire exclusion in lower montane forests of the Sierra Nevada, California, USA. We examined whether trees in close proximity to shrubs prior to fire experienced higher mortality rates than trees in areas without shrubs. We calculated shrub biomass …
Patterns In Greater Sage-Grouse Population Dynamics Correspond With Public Grazing Records At Broad Scales, Adrian P. Monroe, Cameron L. Aldridge, Timothy J. Assal, Kari E. Veblen, David A. Pyke, Michael L. Casazza
Patterns In Greater Sage-Grouse Population Dynamics Correspond With Public Grazing Records At Broad Scales, Adrian P. Monroe, Cameron L. Aldridge, Timothy J. Assal, Kari E. Veblen, David A. Pyke, Michael L. Casazza
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Human land use, such as livestock grazing, can have profound yet varied effects on wildlife interacting within common ecosystems, yet our understanding of land-use effects is often generalized from short-term, local studies that may not correspond with trends at broader scales. Here we used public land records to characterize livestock grazing across Wyoming, USA, and we used Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) as a model organism to evaluate responses to livestock management. With annual counts of male Sage-grouse from 743 leks (breeding display sites) during 2004-2014, we modeled population trends in response to grazing level (represented by a relative grazing index) …
Climate Drives Fire Synchrony But Local Factors Control Fire Regime Change In Northern Mexico, Larissa L. Yocom Kent, Peter Z. Fule, J. Brown, E. Cerano, E. Cornejo-Oviedo, C. Cortés Montaño, S. A. Drury, D. A. Falk, J. Meunier, H. M. Poulos, C. N. Skinner, S. L. Stephens, J. Villanueva-Diaz
Climate Drives Fire Synchrony But Local Factors Control Fire Regime Change In Northern Mexico, Larissa L. Yocom Kent, Peter Z. Fule, J. Brown, E. Cerano, E. Cornejo-Oviedo, C. Cortés Montaño, S. A. Drury, D. A. Falk, J. Meunier, H. M. Poulos, C. N. Skinner, S. L. Stephens, J. Villanueva-Diaz
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
The occurrence of wildfire is influenced by a suite of factors ranging from “top-down” influences (e.g., climate) to “bottom-up” localized influences (e.g., ignitions, fuels, and land use). We carried out the first broad-scale assessment of wildland fire patterns in northern Mexico to assess the relative influence of top-down and bottom-up drivers of fire in a region where frequent fire regimes continued well into the 20th century. Using a network of 67 sites, we assessed (1) fire synchrony and the scales at which synchrony is evident, (2) climate drivers of fire, and (3) asynchrony in fire regime changes. We found high …
Daphnia Inhibits The Emergence Of Spatial Pattern In A Simple Consumer-Resource System, Gustavo S. Betini, Tal Avgar, Kevin S. Mccann, John M. Fryxell
Daphnia Inhibits The Emergence Of Spatial Pattern In A Simple Consumer-Resource System, Gustavo S. Betini, Tal Avgar, Kevin S. Mccann, John M. Fryxell
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Spatial self-organization can occur in many ecosystems with important effects on food web dynamics and the maintenance of biodiversity. The consumer-resource interaction is known to generate spatial patterning, but only a few empirical studies have investigated the effect of the consumer on resource distribution. Here we report results from a large aquatic mesocosm experiment used to investigate the effect of the consumer Daphnia magna on the distribution of its resource, the green algae Chlorella vulgaris. We maintained large tanks with capacity for 26 ,000 L with either algae or both algae and Daphnia in different temperature conditions. We found that …
Greater Sage-Grouse Resource Selection Drives Reproductive Fitness Under A Conifer Removal Strategy, Charles P. Sandford, Michel T. Kohl, Terry A. Messmer, David K. Dahlgren, Avery Cook, Brian R. Wing
Greater Sage-Grouse Resource Selection Drives Reproductive Fitness Under A Conifer Removal Strategy, Charles P. Sandford, Michel T. Kohl, Terry A. Messmer, David K. Dahlgren, Avery Cook, Brian R. Wing
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
The link between individual variation in resource selection (e.g., functional response) and fitness creates a foundation for understanding wildlife-habitat relationships. Although many anthropogenic activities adversely affect these relationships, it is largely unknown whether projects implemented to benefit wildlife populations actually achieve this outcome. For sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) obligate species such as the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse), expansion of juniper (Juniperus spp.) and pinyon-pine (Pinus spp.; conifers) woodlands into sagebrush ecosystems has been identified as a conservation threat. This threat is intensified when a sagebrush ecosystem is bounded by naturally unsuitable habitats. As such, federal, state, …
Why Are We Not Evaluating Multiple Competinghypotheses In Ecology And Evolution?, Gustavo S. Betini, Tal Avgar, John M. Fryxell
Why Are We Not Evaluating Multiple Competinghypotheses In Ecology And Evolution?, Gustavo S. Betini, Tal Avgar, John M. Fryxell
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
The use of multiple working hypotheses to gain strong inference is widely promoted as a means to enhance the effectiveness of scientific investigation. Only 21 of 100 randomly selected studies from the ecological and evolutionary literature tested more than one hypothesis and only eight tested more than two hypotheses. The surprising rarity of application of multiple working hypotheses suggests that this gap between theory and practice might reflect some fundamental issues. Here, we identify several intellectual and practical barriers that discourage us from using multiple hypotheses in our scientific investigation. While scientists have developed a number of ways to avoid …
Temporal Foraging Patterns Of Nonnative Frogs (Eleutherodactylus Coqui) In Hawaii, Arthur C. Wallis, Robyn L. Smith, Karen H. Beard
Temporal Foraging Patterns Of Nonnative Frogs (Eleutherodactylus Coqui) In Hawaii, Arthur C. Wallis, Robyn L. Smith, Karen H. Beard
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
The Puerto Rican Coqui Frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) is a nocturnal, invasive species that was introduced into Hawaii in the 1980s. Because they reach extremely high densities (up to 90,000 frogs/ha), they have the potential to affect invertebrate prey communities. Previously, researchers used frogs collected only at night to characterize their prey. Because Coquis use retreat sites near the forest floor during the day and understory perch sites at night, frogs collected at night might show different amounts and types of prey than would frogs collected in the morning. We analyzed stomach contents of 435 frogs collected in the morning (0300–0600 …
Geolocator Tracking Of Great Reed-Warblers (Acrocephalus Arundinaceus) Identifies Key Regions For Migratory Wetland Specialists In The Middle East And Sub-Saharan East Africa, Joshua J. Horns, Evam Buechley, Mark William Chynoweth, Lale Aktay, Emrah Çoban, Mehmet Sli Kırpık, Jordan M. Herman, Yakup Şaşmaz, Çağan H. Şekercioğlu
Geolocator Tracking Of Great Reed-Warblers (Acrocephalus Arundinaceus) Identifies Key Regions For Migratory Wetland Specialists In The Middle East And Sub-Saharan East Africa, Joshua J. Horns, Evam Buechley, Mark William Chynoweth, Lale Aktay, Emrah Çoban, Mehmet Sli Kırpık, Jordan M. Herman, Yakup Şaşmaz, Çağan H. Şekercioğlu
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Wetland-dependent migratory songbirds represent one of the most vulnerable groups of birds on the planet, with >67% of wetland-obligate species threatened with extinction. One of the major hurdles for conservation efforts is determining the migration routes, stopover sites, and wintering sites of these species. We describe an annual migration cycle revealed by geolocator tracking of Great Reed-Warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) breeding in the Aras River wetlands of eastern Turkey. Because of its relatively large size and breeding ground fidelity, the Great ReedWarbler is an excellent candidate for geolocator studies and can serve as an indicator species for other wetland songbirds, many …
The Persistence And Characteristics Of Chinook Salmon Migrations To The Upper Klamath River Prior To Exclusion By Dams, John B. Hamilton, Dennis W. Rondorf, William R. Tinniswood, Ryan J. Leary, Tim Mayer, Charleen Gavette, Lynne A. Casal
The Persistence And Characteristics Of Chinook Salmon Migrations To The Upper Klamath River Prior To Exclusion By Dams, John B. Hamilton, Dennis W. Rondorf, William R. Tinniswood, Ryan J. Leary, Tim Mayer, Charleen Gavette, Lynne A. Casal
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
In this research article, John Hamilton and his co-authors present extensive new research and information gathered since a 2005 publication on the historical evidence of anadromomous fish distribution in the Upper Klamath River watershed. Using historical accounts from early explorers and ethnographers to early-twentieth-century photographs, newspaper accounts, and government reports, the authors provide a more complete record of past salmon migrations. The updated record “substantiate[s] the historical persistence of salmon, their migration characteristics, and the broad population baseline that will be key to future commercial, recreational, and Tribal fisheries in the Klamath River and beyond.” During a time when salmon …
Long-Term Landscape Changes In A Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest In Central Utah, Usa, Jesse L. Morris, R. Justin Derose, Andrea R. Brunelle
Long-Term Landscape Changes In A Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest In Central Utah, Usa, Jesse L. Morris, R. Justin Derose, Andrea R. Brunelle
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Background: In Western North America, increasing wildfire and outbreaks of native bark beetles have been mediated by warming climate conditions. Bioclimatic models forecast the loss of key high elevation species throughout the region. This study uses retrospective vegetation and fire history data to reconstruct the drivers of past disturbance and environmental change. Understanding the relationship among climate, antecedent disturbances, and the legacy effects of settlement-era logging can help identify the patterns and processes that create landscapes susceptible to bark beetle epidemics. Methods: Our analysis uses data from lake sediment cores, stand inventories, and historical records. Sediment cores were dated with …
Selection For Forage And Avoidance Of Risk By Woodland Caribou (Rangifer Tarandus Caribou) At Coarse Andlocal Scales, Madeleine T. Mcgreer, Erin E. Mallon, Lucas M. Vander Vennen, Philip A. Wiebe, James A. Baker, Glen S. Brown, Tal Avgar, Jevon Hagens, Andrew M. Kittle, Anna Mosser, Garrett M. Street, Doug E. B. Reid, Arthur R. Rodgers, Jennifer Shuter, Ian D. Thompson, Et Al.
Selection For Forage And Avoidance Of Risk By Woodland Caribou (Rangifer Tarandus Caribou) At Coarse Andlocal Scales, Madeleine T. Mcgreer, Erin E. Mallon, Lucas M. Vander Vennen, Philip A. Wiebe, James A. Baker, Glen S. Brown, Tal Avgar, Jevon Hagens, Andrew M. Kittle, Anna Mosser, Garrett M. Street, Doug E. B. Reid, Arthur R. Rodgers, Jennifer Shuter, Ian D. Thompson, Et Al.
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
The relationship between selection at coarse and fine spatiotemporal spatial scales is still poorly understood. Some authors claim that, to accommodate different needs at different scales, individuals should have contrasting selection patterns at different scales of selection, while others claim that coarse scale selection patterns should reflect fine scale selection decisions. Here we examine site selection by 110 woodland caribou equipped with GPS radio‐collars with respect to forage availability and predation risk across a broad gradient in availability of both variables in boreal forests of Northern Ontario. We tested whether caribou selection for forage and avoidance of risk was consistent …
Genetic Analysis Of The Henry Mountains Bison Herd, Dustin H. Ranglack, Lauren K. Dobson, Johan T. Du Toit, James Derr
Genetic Analysis Of The Henry Mountains Bison Herd, Dustin H. Ranglack, Lauren K. Dobson, Johan T. Du Toit, James Derr
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Wild American plains bison (Bison bison) populations virtually disappeared in the late 1800s, with some remnant animals retained in what would become Yellowstone National Park and on private ranches. Some of these private bison were intentionally crossbred with cattle for commercial purposes. This forced hybridization resulted in both mitochondrial and nuclear introgression of cattle genes into some of the extant bison genome. As the private populations grew, excess animals, along with their history of cattle genetics, provided founders for newly established public bison populations. Of the US public bison herds, only those in Yellowstone and Wind Cave National Parks (YNP …
Integrated Step Selection Analysis: Bridgingthe Gap Between Resource Selection And Animal Movement, Tal Avgar, Jonathan R. Potts, Mark A. Lewis, Mark S. Boyce
Integrated Step Selection Analysis: Bridgingthe Gap Between Resource Selection And Animal Movement, Tal Avgar, Jonathan R. Potts, Mark A. Lewis, Mark S. Boyce
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
A resource selection function is a model of the likelihood that an available spatial unit will be used by an animal, given its resource value. But how do we appropriately define availability? Step selection analysis deals with this problem at the scale of the observed positional data, by matching each ‘used step’ (connecting two consecutive observed positions of the animal) with a set of ‘available steps’ randomly sampled from a distribution of observed steps or their characteristics. Here we present a simple extension to this approach, termed integrated step selection analysis (iSSA), which relaxes the implicit assumption that observed movement …
The First Bromeligenous Species Of Dendropsophus (Anura: Hylidae) From Brazil's Atlantic Forest, Rodrigo Barbosa Ferreira, Julián Faivovich, Karen H. Beard, José P. Pombal Jr
The First Bromeligenous Species Of Dendropsophus (Anura: Hylidae) From Brazil's Atlantic Forest, Rodrigo Barbosa Ferreira, Julián Faivovich, Karen H. Beard, José P. Pombal Jr
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
We describe a new treefrog species of Dendropsophus collected on rocky outcrops in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Ecologically, the new species can be distinguished from all known congeners by having a larval phase associated with rainwater accumulated in bromeliad phytotelms instead of temporary or lentic water bodies. Phylogenetic analysis based on molecular data confirms that the new species is a member of Dendropsophus; our analysis does not assign it to any recognized species group in the genus. Morphologically, based on comparison with the 96 known congeners, the new species is diagnosed by its small size, framed dorsal color pattern, and …
Modelling Water Uptake Provides A New Perspective On Grass And Tree Coexistence, Michael G. Mazzacavallo, Andrew Kulmatiski
Modelling Water Uptake Provides A New Perspective On Grass And Tree Coexistence, Michael G. Mazzacavallo, Andrew Kulmatiski
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Root biomass distributions have long been used to infer patterns of resource uptake. These patterns are used to understand plant growth, plant coexistence and water budgets. Root biomass, however, may be a poor indicator of resource uptake because large roots typically do not absorb water, fine roots do not absorb water from dry soils and roots of different species can be difficult to differentiate. In a sub-tropical savanna, Kruger Park, South Africa, we used a hydrologic tracer experiment to describe the abundance of active grass and tree roots across the soil profile. We then used this tracer data to parameterize …
Using Life History Trade-Offs To Understand Core-Transient Structuring Of A Small Mammal Community, Sarah R. Supp, David N. Koons, S.K. Morgan Ernest
Using Life History Trade-Offs To Understand Core-Transient Structuring Of A Small Mammal Community, Sarah R. Supp, David N. Koons, S.K. Morgan Ernest
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
An emerging conceptual framework suggests that communities are composed of two main groups of species through time: core species that are temporally persistent, and transient species that are temporally intermittent. Core and transient species have been shown to differ in spatiotemporal turnover, diversity patterns, and importantly, survival strategies targeted at local versus regional habitat use. While the core-transient framework has typically been a site-specific designation for species, we suggest that if core and transient species have local versus regional survival strategies across sites, and consistently differ in population-level spatial structure and gene flow, they may also typically exhibit different life-history …
Mountain Pine Beetles Use Volatile Cues To Locate Host Limber Pine And Avoid Non-Host Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, Curtis A. Gray, Justin B. Runyon, Michael J. Jenkins, Andrew D. Giunta
Mountain Pine Beetles Use Volatile Cues To Locate Host Limber Pine And Avoid Non-Host Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, Curtis A. Gray, Justin B. Runyon, Michael J. Jenkins, Andrew D. Giunta
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
The tree-killing mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) is an important disturbance agent of western North American forests and recent outbreaks have affected tens of millions of hectares of trees. Most western North American pines (Pinus spp.) are hosts and are successfully attacked by mountain pine beetles whereas a handful of pine species are not suitable hosts and are rarely attacked. How pioneering females locate host trees is not well understood, with prevailing theory involving random landings and/or visual cues. Here we show that female mountain pine beetles orient toward volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from host limber pine (Pinus flexilis …
Characterizing Demographicparameters Across Environmental Gradients: A Case Study With Ontario Moose, Garrett M. Street, Tal Avgar, Arthur R. Rodgers, John M. Fryxell
Characterizing Demographicparameters Across Environmental Gradients: A Case Study With Ontario Moose, Garrett M. Street, Tal Avgar, Arthur R. Rodgers, John M. Fryxell
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Population-level demographic characteristics as estimated by standard logistic growth models (i.e., carrying capacity and intrinsic growth rate) should vary with changes in habitat quality and availability of resources. However, few published studies have tested this hypothesis by comparing population growth rates across broad bioclimatic gradients, and fewer still the carrying capacities of those populations. We used time series data on moose (Alces alces) population densities based on aerial census and hunter harvest data for 34 management units across Ontario to estimate local carrying capacities and intrinsic growth rates. These population parameters were then regressed against associated habitat covariates for each …
Wolf Diet In An Agricultural Landscape Of North-Eastern Turkey, Claudia Capitani, Mark William Chynoweth, Josip Kusak, Emrah Çoban, Çağan H. Şekercioğlu
Wolf Diet In An Agricultural Landscape Of North-Eastern Turkey, Claudia Capitani, Mark William Chynoweth, Josip Kusak, Emrah Çoban, Çağan H. Şekercioğlu
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
In this study, we investigated wolf feeding ecology in Kars province, north-eastern Turkey, by analysing 72 scat samples collected in spring 2013. Ongoing camera trap surveys suggest that large wild ungulates are exceptionally rare in the region. On the contrary, livestock is abundant. Accordingly, scats analysis revealed that livestock constituted most of the biomass intake for wolves, although small mammals were the most frequent prey items. Wild ungulates were occasional prey, and although wolves make use of the main village garbage dump as a food source, garbage remains were scarce in scat samples. Wolf dependence on anthropogenic resources, primarily livestock, …
Recolonizing Wolves And Mesopredator Suppression Of Coyotes:Impacts On Pronghorn Population Dynamics, Kim Murray Berger, Mary M. Conner
Recolonizing Wolves And Mesopredator Suppression Of Coyotes:Impacts On Pronghorn Population Dynamics, Kim Murray Berger, Mary M. Conner
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Food web theory predicts that the loss of large carnivores may contribute toelevated predation rates and, hence, declining prey populations, through the process ofmesopredator release. However, opportunities to test predictions of the mesopredator releasehypothesis are rare, and the extent to which changes in predation rates influence preypopulation dynamics may not be clear due to a lack of demographic information on the preypopulation of interest. We utilized spatial and seasonal heterogeneity in wolf distribution andabundance to evaluate whether mesopredator release of coyotes (Canis latrans), resulting fromthe extirpation of wolves (Canis lupus) throughout much of the United States, contributes tohigh rates of …
Home Range Use And Movement Patterns Of Non-Native Feral Goats In A Tropical Island Montane Dry Landscape, Mark William Chynoweth, Christopher A. Lepczyk, Creighton M. Litton, Steven C. Hess, James R. Kellner, Susan Cordell
Home Range Use And Movement Patterns Of Non-Native Feral Goats In A Tropical Island Montane Dry Landscape, Mark William Chynoweth, Christopher A. Lepczyk, Creighton M. Litton, Steven C. Hess, James R. Kellner, Susan Cordell
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Advances in wildlife telemetry and remote sensing technology facilitate studies of broad-scale movements of ungulates in relation to phenological shifts in vegetation. In tropical island dry landscapes, home range use and movements of non-native feral goats (Capra hircus) are largely unknown, yet this information is important to help guide the conservation and restoration of some of the world’s most critically endangered ecosystems. We hypothesized that feral goats would respond to resource pulses in vegetation by traveling to areas of recent green-up. To address this hypothesis, we fitted six male and seven female feral goats with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars …
A Social–Ecological Systems Approach To Non-Native Species: Habituation And Its Effect On Management Of Coqui Frogs In Hawaii, Emily A. Kalnicky, Mark W. Brunson, Karen H. Beard
A Social–Ecological Systems Approach To Non-Native Species: Habituation And Its Effect On Management Of Coqui Frogs In Hawaii, Emily A. Kalnicky, Mark W. Brunson, Karen H. Beard
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Non-native species introductions have the ability to affect both ecological and social systems, thus to address those outcomes both ecological and social influences on an invasion need to be understood. We use a social–ecological systems approach to investigate connections between human and ecological factors that affect efforts to control the non-native coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) on the island of Hawaii. The coqui frog is recognized as a ‘pest’ and ‘injurious wildlife’ by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Because the coqui occurs on many small private properties across the island, it is necessary to enlist private citizens in control efforts. Control …
Citizen Science Reveals Widespread Negative Effects Of Roads On Amphibian Distributions, Bradley J. Cosentino, David M. Marsh, Kara S. Jones, Joseph J. Apodaca, Christopher Bates, Jessica Beach, Karen H. Beard, Kelsie Becklin, Jane Margaret Bell, Christopher Crockett, George Fawson, Jennifer Fjelsted, Elizabeth A. Forys, Kristen S. Genet, Melanie Grover, Jaimie Holmes, Katherine Indeck, Nancy E. Karraker, Eran S. Kilpatrick, Tom A. Langen, Stephen G. Mugel, Alessandro Molina, James R. Vonesh, Ryan J. Weaver, Anisha Willey
Citizen Science Reveals Widespread Negative Effects Of Roads On Amphibian Distributions, Bradley J. Cosentino, David M. Marsh, Kara S. Jones, Joseph J. Apodaca, Christopher Bates, Jessica Beach, Karen H. Beard, Kelsie Becklin, Jane Margaret Bell, Christopher Crockett, George Fawson, Jennifer Fjelsted, Elizabeth A. Forys, Kristen S. Genet, Melanie Grover, Jaimie Holmes, Katherine Indeck, Nancy E. Karraker, Eran S. Kilpatrick, Tom A. Langen, Stephen G. Mugel, Alessandro Molina, James R. Vonesh, Ryan J. Weaver, Anisha Willey
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Landscape structure is important for shaping the abundance and distribution of amphibians, but prior studies of landscape effects have been species or ecosystem-specific. Using a large-scale, citizen science-generated database, we examined the effects of habitat composition, road disturbance, and habitat split (i.e. the isolation of wetland from forest by intervening land use) on the distribution and richness of frogs and toads in the eastern and central United States. Undergraduates from nine biology and environmental science courses collated occupancy data and characterized landscape structure at 1617 sampling locations from the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program. Our analysis revealed that anuran species …
Monitoring Of Livestock Grazing Effects On Bureau Of Land Management Land, Kari E. Veblen
Monitoring Of Livestock Grazing Effects On Bureau Of Land Management Land, Kari E. Veblen
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Public land management agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), are charged with managing rangelands throughout the Western United States for multiple uses such as livestock grazing and conservation of sensitive species and their habitats. Monitoring of condition and trends of these rangelands, particularly with respect to effects of livestock grazing, provide critical information for effective management of these multi-use landscapes. We therefore investigated the availability of livestock grazing-related quantitative monitoring data and qualitative region-specific Land Health Standards (LHS) data across BLM grazing allotments in the Western United States. We then queried university and federal rangeland science experts …
Biology And Impacts Of Pacific Island Invasive Species. 9. Capra Hircus, The Feral Goat (Mammalia: Bovidae), Mark William Chynoweth, Creighton M. Litton, Christopher A. Lepczyk, Steven C. Hess, Susan Cordell
Biology And Impacts Of Pacific Island Invasive Species. 9. Capra Hircus, The Feral Goat (Mammalia: Bovidae), Mark William Chynoweth, Creighton M. Litton, Christopher A. Lepczyk, Steven C. Hess, Susan Cordell
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Domestic goats, Capra hircus, were intentionally introduced to numerous oceanic islands beginning in the sixteenth century. The remarkable ability of C. hircus to survive in a variety of conditions has enabled this animal to become feral and impact native ecosystems on islands throughout the world. Direct ecological impacts include consumption and trampling of native plants, leading to plant community modification and transformation of ecosystem structure. Although the negative impacts of feral goats are well known and effective management strategies have been developed to control this invasive species, large populations persist on many islands. This review summarizes impacts of feral goats …
Resilience In Quaking Aspen: Recent Advances And Future Needs, Paul C. Rogers, C. Eisenberg, S. Clair
Resilience In Quaking Aspen: Recent Advances And Future Needs, Paul C. Rogers, C. Eisenberg, S. Clair
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) sustainability is a topic of intense interest in forest ecology. Reports range from declines to persisting or increasing coverage in some areas. Moreover, there is little agreement on ultimate factors driving changes. Low aspen recruitment has been attributed to climate patterns, past management, herbivore increases, competitive interactions with conifers, predator and beaver extirpation, and livestock grazing. Several of these potential causes result from direct or indirect actions of human agency. On June 27–28, 2012 a group of leading aspen ecologists from diverse backgrounds convened at the High Lonesome Ranch in western Colorado to address the state …