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Animal Sciences Commons

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Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

Summer Habitat Use And Movements Of Invasive Wild Pigs (Sus Scrofa) In Canadian Agro-Ecosystems, Corey J. Kramer, Melanie R. Boudreau, Ryan S. Miller, Ryan Powers, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Ryan K. Brook Jan 2022

Summer Habitat Use And Movements Of Invasive Wild Pigs (Sus Scrofa) In Canadian Agro-Ecosystems, Corey J. Kramer, Melanie R. Boudreau, Ryan S. Miller, Ryan Powers, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Ryan K. Brook

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Resource selection informs understanding of a species’ ecology and is especially pertinent for invasive species. Since introduced to Canada, wild pigs (Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1978) remain understudied despite recognized negative impacts on native and agricultural systems globally. Elsewhere in North America, pigs typically use forests and forage in agricultural crops. We hypothesized Canadian wild pigs would behave similarly, and using GPS locations from 15 individuals, we examined diel and seasonal resource selection and movement in the Canadian prairie region. Forests were predominately selected during the day, while corn (Zea mays L.), oilseeds, and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) …


Conflict, Coexistence, Or Both? Cougar Habitat Selection, Prey Composition, And Mortality In A Multiple-Use Landscape, David C. Stoner, Mark A. Ditmer, Dustin L. Mitchell, Julie K. Young, Michael L. Wolfe Jan 2021

Conflict, Coexistence, Or Both? Cougar Habitat Selection, Prey Composition, And Mortality In A Multiple-Use Landscape, David C. Stoner, Mark A. Ditmer, Dustin L. Mitchell, Julie K. Young, Michael L. Wolfe

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Western North America is experiencing remarkable human population growth and land-use change. Irrigation and associated cultivation have led to colonization of urban-wildland interface (UWI) environments by mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and consequently, cougars (Puma concolor). In the wake of these changes, human-wildlife conflicts have increased in tandem with questions about long-term species conservation. To address these concerns, we fit 79 cougars with radio-telemetry collars in the Oquirrh Mountains near Salt Lake City, Utah (2002–2010). Our goal was to evaluate variation in cougar habitat selection, diet, and cause-specific mortality in a landscape dominated by urban, military, and industrial activities. We used …


Relationships Between Survival And Habitat Suitability Of Semi- Aquatic Mammals, Isidro Barela, Leslie M. Burger, Jimmy Taylor, Kristine O. Evans, Ryo Ogawa, Lance Mcclintic, Guiming Wang Mar 2020

Relationships Between Survival And Habitat Suitability Of Semi- Aquatic Mammals, Isidro Barela, Leslie M. Burger, Jimmy Taylor, Kristine O. Evans, Ryo Ogawa, Lance Mcclintic, Guiming Wang

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Spatial distribution and habitat selection are integral to the study of animal ecology. Habitat selection may optimize the fitness of individuals. Hutchinsonian niche theory posits the fundamental niche of species would support the persistence or growth of populations. Although niche-based species distribution models (SDMs) and habitat suitability models (HSMs) such as maximum entropy (Maxent) have demonstrated fair to excellent predictive power, few studies have linked the prediction of HSMs to demographic rates. We aimed to test the prediction of Hutchinsonian niche theory that habitat suitability (i.e., likelihood of occurrence) would be positively related to survival of American beaver (Castor canadensis), …


Predicting Habitat Choice After Rapid Environmental Change, Philip H. Crowley, Pete C. Trimmer, Orr Spiegel, Sean M. Ehlman, William S. Cuello, Andrew Sih May 2019

Predicting Habitat Choice After Rapid Environmental Change, Philip H. Crowley, Pete C. Trimmer, Orr Spiegel, Sean M. Ehlman, William S. Cuello, Andrew Sih

Biology Faculty Publications

Decisions made while searching for settlement sites (e.g., nesting, oviposition) often have major fitness implications. Despite numerous case studies, we lack theory to explain why some species are thriving while others are making poor habitat choices after environmental change. We develop a model to predict (1) which kinds of environmental change have larger, negative effects on fitness, (2) how evolutionary history affects susceptibility to environmental change, and (3) how much lost fitness can be recovered via readjustment after environmental change. We model the common scenario where animals search an otherwise inhospitable matrix, encountering habitats of varying quality and settling when …


Natural History Of The Eastern Harvest Mouse In Southeastern Virginia, Robert K. Rose Jan 2019

Natural History Of The Eastern Harvest Mouse In Southeastern Virginia, Robert K. Rose

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The Eastern Harvest Mouse, Reithrodontomys humulis, has been studied extensively in southeastern Virginia since 1979, using a combination of live and pitfall trapping methods. This smallest rodent of eastern North America also is one of most versatile, occupying a range of habitats in southeastern Virginia from old fields in different stages of succession, brushy edges, and forests of different types. As with other species of Reithrodontomys, R. humulis often is associated with the Hispid Cotton Rat, Sigmodon hispidus, with both reaching modest densities in old fields. Two capture-mark-release studies of small mammal communities in southern Chesapeake lasting …


Habitat Selection By The Northern Long-Eared Myotis (Myotis Septentrionalis) In The Midwestern United States: Life In A Shredded Farmscape, Jeremy A. White, Patricia Freeman, Cliff A. Lemen Jan 2017

Habitat Selection By The Northern Long-Eared Myotis (Myotis Septentrionalis) In The Midwestern United States: Life In A Shredded Farmscape, Jeremy A. White, Patricia Freeman, Cliff A. Lemen

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Populations of the Northern Long-Eared Myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) have declined dramatically in recent years in eastern North America due to white-nose syndrome. Although M. septentrionalis was once common in parts of eastern North America, few studies have examined habitat selection of this species in an agricultural landscape. We used acoustical methods to quantify bat activity and construct a habitat model of M. septentrionalis in an intensively farmed area in the Midwestern United States, where mortality from white-nose syndrome has not yet been observed. Our study confirms that M. septentrionalis prefers forest and avoids open habitats in this agricultural …


Oviposition Behavior Partitions Aquatic Landscapes Along Predation And Nutrient Gradients, C. A. Binckley, W. J. Resetarits Jr. Jan 2008

Oviposition Behavior Partitions Aquatic Landscapes Along Predation And Nutrient Gradients, C. A. Binckley, W. J. Resetarits Jr.

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

That individuals attempt to minimize the ratio of mortality risk/growth rate (μ/g) when foraging within individual habitat patches is well established. Do species partition among spatially discrete communities embedded in complex landscapes in a similar manner? We investigated how 3 ovipositing species (2 Hyla treefrogs and a hydrophilid beetle, Tropisternus lateralis) responded to simultaneous gradients of nutrients and predation risk. Species partitioned our experimental metacommunity primarily by reducing oviposition with fish. Tropisternus positively responded to increased nutrients, but the effect decreased with increasing risk, as predicted by μ/g theory. Use of fish habitats by Tropisternus was unrelated to breeding …