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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

High Dispersal In A Frog Species Suggests That It Is Vulnerable To Habitat Fragmentation, W. Chris Funk, Allison E. Greene, Paul Stephen Corn, Fred W. Allendorf Oct 2004

High Dispersal In A Frog Species Suggests That It Is Vulnerable To Habitat Fragmentation, W. Chris Funk, Allison E. Greene, Paul Stephen Corn, Fred W. Allendorf

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Global losses of amphibian populations are a major conservation concern and their causes have generated substantial debate. Habitat fragmentation is considered one important cause of amphibian decline. However, if fragmentation is to be invoked as a mechanism of amphibian decline, it must first be established that dispersal is prevalent among contiguous amphibian populations using formal movement estimators. In contrast, if dispersal is naturally low in amphibians, fragmentation can be disregarded as a cause of amphibian declines and conservation efforts can be focused elsewhere. We examined dispersal rates in Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) using capture–recapture analysis of over …


Seasonal Activity Areas Of Coyotes In The Bear River Mountains Of Utah And Idaho, Glen F. Gantz, Frederick F. Knowlton Jan 2004

Seasonal Activity Areas Of Coyotes In The Bear River Mountains Of Utah And Idaho, Glen F. Gantz, Frederick F. Knowlton

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We studied the seasonal movement patterns and dispersal of coyotes (Canis latrans) in the Bear River Mountains of northern Utah and southern Idaho to determine whether coyotes in this montane region exhibit an altitudinal migration on a seasonal basis. We used 3 locational parameters to assess whether a seasonal altitudinal migration was evident, including overlap in seasonal activity areas, distance between harmonic mean centers of activity, and seasonal differences in mean elevations of locations. Winter and summer activity areas of every mature coyote overlapped, with mean distances between harmonic centers of seasonal activity of 1.5 km (range = 0.4–3.3 km). …


Feasibility Of Localized Management To Control White-Tailed Deer In Forest Regeneration Areas, Tyler A. Campbell, Benjamin R. Laseter, W. Mark Ford, Karl V. Miller Jan 2004

Feasibility Of Localized Management To Control White-Tailed Deer In Forest Regeneration Areas, Tyler A. Campbell, Benjamin R. Laseter, W. Mark Ford, Karl V. Miller

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The deleterious effects of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on forest regeneration are well documented in many forested systems, but potential solutions to these problems on remote landholdings are limited in number and scope. Localized management proposes that a persistent area (<2 km2) of low density can be created by removing all individuals within matriarchal social groups of white-tailed deer. Our objective was to assess the feasibility of using localized management as a tool within forest regeneration areas. We present a comparison of seasonal home-range and core-area size and site fidelity of 148 radiomonitored female white-tailed deer in a forested landscape of the central Appalachians of West Virginia. We also characterized seasonal movements and dispersal. Adult female winter home-range size exceeded those of summer and autumn. Female deer displayed high fidelity, with home-range and core-area overlap being less in autumn than in summer or winter. Dispersal occurred in 1 of 28 (3.6%) female fawns and no deer >1 year old dispersed. Female white-tailed deer on our study site meet the a priori assumptions of localized management. We assert that experimental manipulations based on localized management concepts are prudent.