Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Body Size And Predatory Performance In Wolves: Is Bigger Better?, Daniel R. Macnulty, Douglas W. Smith, L. David Mech, Lynn E. Eberly
Body Size And Predatory Performance In Wolves: Is Bigger Better?, Daniel R. Macnulty, Douglas W. Smith, L. David Mech, Lynn E. Eberly
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Summary
1. Large body size hinders locomotor performance in ways that may lead to trade-offs in predator foraging ability that limit the net predatory benefit of larger size. For example, size-related improvements in handling prey may come at the expense of pursuing prey and thus negate any enhancement in overall predatory performance due to increasing size.
2. This hypothesis was tested with longitudinal data from repeated observations of 94 individually known wolves (Canis lupus) hunting elk (Cervus elaphus) in Yellowstone National Park, USA. Wolf size was estimated from an individually based sex-specific growth model derived from …
Wolf Use Of Summer Territory In Northeastern Minnesota, Dominic J. Demma, L. David Mech
Wolf Use Of Summer Territory In Northeastern Minnesota, Dominic J. Demma, L. David Mech
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Movements of wolves (Canis lupus) during summer 2003 and 2004 in the Superior National Forest were based around homesites but included extensive use of territories. Away from homesites, wolves used different areas daily, exhibiting rotational use. Mean daily range overlap was 22% (SE = 0.02) and that of breeding wolves was significantly greater than for nonbreeders (x = 25% and 16%, respectively). Rotational use may improve hunting success. Managers seeking to remove entire packs must maintain control long enough to ensure that all pack members are targeted.
Vulnerability Of Rehabilitated Agricultural Production Systems To Invasion By Nontarget Plant Species, Sara G. Baer, David M. Engle, Johannes M. H. Knops, Kenneth A. Langeland, Bruce D. Maxwell, Fabian D. Menalled, Amy J. Symstad
Vulnerability Of Rehabilitated Agricultural Production Systems To Invasion By Nontarget Plant Species, Sara G. Baer, David M. Engle, Johannes M. H. Knops, Kenneth A. Langeland, Bruce D. Maxwell, Fabian D. Menalled, Amy J. Symstad
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Vast areas of arable land have been retired from crop production and ‘‘rehabilitated’’ to improved system states through landowner incentive programs in the United States (e.g., Conservation and Wetland Reserve Programs), as well as Europe (i.e., Agri-Environment Schemes). Our review of studies conducted on invasion of rehabilitated agricultural production systems by nontarget species elucidates several factors that may increase the vulnerability of these systems to invasion. These systems often exist in highly fragmented and agriculturally dominated landscapes, where propagule sources of target species for colonization may be limited, and are established under conditions where legacies of past disturbance persist and …
Feeding Ecology Of Arctic-Nesting Sandpipers During Spring Migration Through The Prairie Pothole Region, Jan Eldridge, Gary Krapu, Douglas Johnson
Feeding Ecology Of Arctic-Nesting Sandpipers During Spring Migration Through The Prairie Pothole Region, Jan Eldridge, Gary Krapu, Douglas Johnson
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
We evaluated food habits of 4 species of spring-migrant calidrid sandpipers in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North Dakota. Sandpipers foraged in several wetland classes and fed primarily on aquatic dipterans, mostly larvae, and the midge family Chironomidae was the primary food eaten. Larger sandpiper species foraged in deeper water and took larger larvae than did smaller sandpipers. The diverse wetland habitats that migrant shorebirds use in the PPR suggest a landscape-level approach be applied to wetland conservation efforts. We recommend that managers use livestock grazing and other tools, where applicable, to keep shallow, freshwater wetlands from becoming choked …
Role Of Invasive Melilotus Officinalis In Two Native Plant Communities, Laura C. Van Riper, Diane Larson
Role Of Invasive Melilotus Officinalis In Two Native Plant Communities, Laura C. Van Riper, Diane Larson
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
This study examines the impact of the exotic nitrogen-fixing legume Melilotus officinalis (L.) Lam. on native and exotic species cover in two Great Plains ecosystems in Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Melilotus is still widely planted and its effects on native ecosystems are not well studied. Melilotus could have direct effects on native plants, such as through competition or facilitation. Alternatively, Melilotus may have indirect effects on natives, e.g., by favoring exotic species which in turn have a negative effect on native species. This study examined these interactions across a 4-year period in two contrasting vegetation types: Badlands sparse vegetation …
Chapter 2: Long-Term Research On Wolves In The Superior National Forest, L. David Mech
Chapter 2: Long-Term Research On Wolves In The Superior National Forest, L. David Mech
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
The seeds for the blossoming of the wolf (Canis lupus) population throughout the upper Midwest were embodied in a long line of wolves that had persisted in the central part of the Superior National Forest (SNF) of northeastern Minnesota, probably since the retreat of the last glaciers. This line of wolves had withstood not only the various natural environmental factors that had shaped them through their evolution but also the logging, fires, market hunting of prey animals, and even the bounties, aerial hunting, and poisoning that had exterminated their ancestors and their dispersed offspring only a few wolf …