Animal Sciences Commons^™

Limitations Of Invasive Snake Control Tools In The Context Of A New Invasion On An Island With Abundant Prey, Shane R. Siers, Melia G. Nafus, Jereid E. Calaor, Rachel M. Volsteadt, Matthew S. Grassi, Megan Volsteadt, Aaron F. Collins, Patrick D. Barnhart, Logan T. Huse, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Diane L. Vice

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In October 2020, a new population of invasive brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) was discovered on the 33-ha Cocos Island, 2.5 km off the south coast of Guam, United States. Cocos Island is a unique conservation resource, providing refuge for many lizards and birds, including endangered species, which were extirpated from mainland Guam by invasive predators including brown treesnakes. We sought to evaluate the usefulness of toxic baiting with acetaminophen-treated carrion baits and cage trapping, common tools for the control of brown treesnakes on mainland Guam, as potential eradication tools on Cocos Island. We evaluated multiple bait types and …

2022 Gray Wolf Questions And Answers, United States Fish And Wildlife Service

United States Fish and Wildlife: Staff Publications

2022 Gray Wolf Questions and Answers

What does the February 10, 2022, ruling mean?

How does this ruling affect wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains?

When does the court decision to vacate the delisting rule go into effect?

What is the legal status of gray wolves as of this ruling?

Is the Service continuing its status review of wolves in the western United States?

Is emergency listing an option for the Northern Rocky Mountain population?

Are wolf hunts going to stop as a result of the court decision?

How does this ruling affect wolves in Yellowstone National Park?

Where can …

A Systematic Map Of Human-Carnivore Coexistence, Cassandre C. Venumière-Lefebvre, Stewart W. Breck, Kevin R. Crooks

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Carnivore populations globally have largely declined, and coexistence, where humans and carnivores share landscapes, plays a crucial role in carnivore conservation. However, the term “coexistence” is often used in scientific and popular literature without being clearly defined. Herein, we provide a global perspective on what coexistence is and how it is studied. We conducted a systematic map of 366 articles published between 1987 and 2020 to characterize human-carnivore coexistence literature according to coexistence definitions, temporal trends, geographic and taxonomic focus, and four thematic aspects of coexistence: carnivore ecology, human endeavors, social conflict and human-carnivore conflict. We used chi-squared tests and …

Great Expectations: Deconstructing The Process Pathways Underlying Beaver-Related Restoration, Caroline S. Nash, Gordon E. Grant, Susan Charnley, Jason B. Dunham, Hannah Gosnell, Mark B. Hausner, David S. Pilliod, Jimmy Taylor

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Beaver-related restoration is a process-based strategy that seeks to address wide-ranging ecological objectives by reestablishing dam building in degraded stream systems. Although the beaver-related restoration has broad appeal, especially in water-limited systems, its effectiveness is not yet well documented. In this article, we present a process-expectation framework that links beaver-related restoration tactics to commonly expected outcomes by identifying the set of process pathways that must occur to achieve those expected outcomes. We explore the contingency implicit within this framework using social and biophysical data from project and research sites. This analysis reveals that outcomes are often predicated on complex process …

Evaluating Potential Effects Of Solar Power Facilities On Wildlife From An Animal Behavior Perspective, Rachel Y. Chock, Barbara Clucas, Elizabeth K. Peterson, Bradley Blackwell, Daniel T. Blumstein, Kathleen Church, Esteban Fernández-Juricic, Gabriel Francescoli, Alison L. Greggor, Paul Kemp, Gabriela M. Pinho, Peter M. Sanzenbacher, Bruce A. Schulte, Pauline Toni

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Solar power is a renewable energy source with great potential to help meet increasing global energy demands and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. However, research is scarce on how solar facilities affect wildlife. With input from professionals in ecology, conservation, and energy, we conducted a research-prioritization process and identified key questions needed to better understand impacts of solar facilities on wildlife. We focused on animal behavior, which can be used to identify population responses before mortality or other fitness consequences are documented. Behavioral studies can also offer approaches to understand the mechanisms leading to negative interactions (e.g., collision, singeing, …

Best Management Practices For Trapping Furbearers In The United States, H. Bryant White, Gordon R. Batcheller, Edward K. Boggess, Clifford L. Brown, Joseph W. Butfiloski, Thomas A. Decker, John D. Erb, Michael W. Fall, David A. Hamilton, Tim L. Hiller, George F. Hubert Jr., Matthew J. Lovallo, John F. Olson, Nathan M. Roberts

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Humans have used wild furbearers for various purposes for thousands of years. Today, furbearers are sustainably used by the public for their pelts, leather, bones, glands, meat, or other purposes. In North America, contemporary harvest of furbearers has evolved along with trap technologies and societal concerns, and is now highly regulated and more closely coupled with harvest analysis and population monitoring. Traps and regulated trapping programs provide personal or cultural rewards that can also support conservation, and can assist with advancing ecological knowledge through research, protecting endangered species, restoring populations or habitats, protecting personal property, and enhancing public health and …

Impact Of The Human Footprint On Anthropogenic Mortality Of North American Reptiles, Jacob E. Hill, Travis L. Devault, Jerrold L. Belant

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Human activities frequently result in reptile mortality, but how direct anthropogenic mortality compares to natural morality has not been thoroughly investigated. There has also been a limited examination of how anthropogenic reptile mortality changes as a function of the human footprint. We conducted a synthesis of causespecific North American reptile mortality studies based on telemetry, documenting 550 mortalities of known cause among 2461 monitored individuals in 57 studies. Overall 78% of mortality was the result of direct natural causes, whereas 22% was directly caused by humans. The single largest source of mortality was predation, accounting for 62% of mortality overall. …

Cause‐Specific Mortality Of The World’S Terrestrial Vertebrates, Jacob E. Hill, Travis L. Devault, Jerrold L. Belant

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Aim: Vertebrates are declining worldwide, yet a comprehensive examination of the sources of mortality is lacking. We conducted a global synthesis of terrestrial vertebrate cause‐specific mortality to compare the sources of mortality across taxa and determine predictors of susceptibility to these sources of mortality.

Location: Worldwide.

Time period: 1970–2018.

Major taxa studied: Mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

Methods: We searched for studies that used telemetry to determine the cause of death of terrestrial vertebrates. We determined whether each mortality was caused by anthropogenic or natural sources and further classified mortalities within these two categories (e.g. harvest, vehicle collision and predation). …

Mind The Gap: Experimental Tests To Improve Efficacy Of Fladry For Nonlethal Management Of Coyotes, Julie K. Young, John Draper, Stewart Breck

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Coyotes (Canis latrans) are the top predator of livestock in the contiguous United States. Developing more effective nonlethal tools to prevent coyote depredation will facilitate coexistence between livestock producers and coyotes. Fladry is a nonlethal deterrent designed to defend livestock by creating a visual barrier to wolves (C. lupus). Fladry may also be effective with coyotes, but large gap spacing between flags may reduce its efficacy. To address this issue, we performed 2 experiments on captive coyotes using fladry modified to reduce gap spacing at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Predator Research Facility in Millville, Utah, USA, during 2015–2016 and …

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology To Enhance Conservation Biology Research, Ann Briggs

Honors Theses

This study examined the most effective ways to utilize unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for wildlife conservation. More specifically, a UAV platform was created that can perform multiple data collection tasks by utilizing interchangeable modules. The prototype produced in this study has the capability to perform many tasks through the use of interchangeable modules. These tasks include, but are not limited to aerial surveys and collection of biological samples. This innovative technology will provide invaluable assistance to conservation efforts by reducing research and subject injury or death while maximizing efficiency. The modular design of the prototype was developed for retail to …

At Home And At Large In The Great Plains: Essays And Memories, Paul A. Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

This volume presents fourteen essays (some updated) that originally appeared in Prairie Fire, a monthly free newspaper that for seven years (as of 2015) has carried important messages of social, environmental, and economic issues in a mature and nonpartisan manner to tens of thousands of residents of Nebraska, western Iowa, eastern Colorado, and southern South Dakota, and by mail to subscribers in the rest of the world. These essays discuss the North American east-west ecological boundaries, spring migration events, birds at the bird feeder, feathered survivors of a glacial past, the threatened sharp-tailed grouse of Nebraska and South Dakota, and …

How Access To Plant & Animal Books Affects Participation In Conservation Activities, Dustin Ingram, Hassnaa Ingram

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Public libraries are an important resource for communities. Access to plant and animal books impacts a communities’ ability to learn about their environment. In this study, the number of plant and animal books available to people through local libraries in northern Kentucky, and neighboring counties in Ohio and Indiana were counted and a survey assessing one’s preferences and likeliness to participate in conservation activities was distributed to local residents. Based on the collected data, a statistically significant relationship (p < 0.05) was found between access to plant and animal books available at local libraries and the likelihood of people to participate in conservation activities. Further analysis was performed between the total number of shelved plant and animal books at local libraries, the total number of shelved juvenile plant and animal books and the shelved adult plant and animal books, and the total number of plant and animal books in libraries compared to the local household income and number of households near a library. This study found that people that read books about plants and animals were more likely to participate in conservation activities associated with their book preference. This study also found that people living in low-income communities with fewer households are less likely to participate in plant and animal conservation, as compared to higher-income communities with a higher number of households. Additionally, this study found that lower income areas have fewer plant and animal books on the library shelves than higher income areas. Consequently, study results suggest that if more plant and animal books were made available to low-income areas and areas of biological importance through libraries, people may be more likely to conserve the wildlife around them.

New Records Of Bats From The British Virgin Islands, Gary G. Kwiecinski, Jean-Pierre Bacle, Kevel C. Lindsay, Hugh H. Genoways

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

As currently understood the bat fauna of the British Virgin Islands consists of five species – Noctilio leporinus, Brachyphylla cavernarum, Artibeus jamaicensis, Tadarida brasiliensis , and Molossus molossus. Our knowledge of distribution of bats in the British Virgin Islands is far more limited than that in the United States Virgin Islands. As part of ongoing research on the bats of the Virgin Islands, recent brief surveying periods in the British Virgin Islands have produced new records for some islands. Also, our researching of existing museum collections has discovered unreported new records. Our new data adds information for five species …

Population Assessment Of Khulan (Equus Hemionus) In Mongolia, Badamjav Lkhagvasuren

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The data presented here suggest that 18,411 (± 224) khulan inhabit southern Mongolia with a density of 1.4 individuals per 1,000 km² within the 157,525 km² territory of its actual distribution. The Dornogobi province contains the highest number of khulan with a mere 67%, while 20% are found in the Ömnögobi province, 12% are in Djungarian Gobi and only 1% in the Gobi-Altay and Bayankhongor provinces. According to the proportion of foals and yearlings within each aimag, the Dornogobi, Ömnögobi east and Khovd populations have an average reproduction rate.

Kulan (Equus Hemionus Pallas 1775) In Turkmenistan, Victor S. Lukarevskiy, Yu. K. Gorelov

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The kulan (Equus hemionus kulan) is the only odd-toed ungulate left in the wild in northern Eurasia. In the 1930s, the kulan survived in southern Turkmenistan only. In the 1940s, kulans were found only in an area named Badkhyz in Turkmenistan. To conserve the last natural population of this subspecies of kulan the Badkhyz Natural Reserve was established in 1941. The historical and contemporary distribution, fluctuation in numbers, conservation and sci research of kulan populations in the Badkhyz Natural reserve are reviewed in this paper.

The Emerging Dziggetai (Equidae: Equus Hemionus Pallas): An Illustrated History Of Taxonomic Concepts For The Identification, Classification, And Distribution Of Hemiones From Central Asia, Arnd Schreiber

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The history of the discovery and the exploration of the hemione populations (Equus hemionus PALLAS) from Central Asia (Mongolia, northwest China, northeast Tibet, Kazakhstan, and Russian Siberia) from the 13th century to approximately 1950 are compiled with the aim to provide materials for a taxonomic and population genetic revision of the dziggetais. Data on their phenotypic differentiation, historical distribution status, and their husbandry history in European zoological gardens, are reviewed, as is the gradual emergence of concepts of how to identify and to classify these populations. Hemiones were an important historical case in the discussion of how to represent …

Carnivores From The Mexican State Of Puebla: Distribution, Taxonomy, And Conservation, Jose Ramirez-Pulido, Noe Gonzalez-Ruiz, Hugh H. Genoways

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

We examined 96 museum specimens belonging to 14 species of Carnivora from the Mexican State of Puebla. In addition, four species were documented based on literature records and by indirect evidence. The carnivorous mammals of Puebla belong to 5 families, 18 genera, 18 species and 23 subspecies. Eight of these 23 taxa are reported herein for the first time from the state of Puebla. Of the 18 species, Herpailurus yagouaroundi, Lontra longicaudis, Taxidea taxus, and Galictis vittata are considered by Norma Oficial Mexicana as threatened species, Leopardus wiedii and Eira barbara in danger of extinction, and Potos flavus is …

Wild Bactrian Camel Conservation, Richard P. Reading, Evan S. Blumer, Henry Mix, Jadamsuren Adiya

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

The wild Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus ferus) is critically endangered throughout its range in China and Mongolia. Yet, wild camels remain poorly understood, with knowledge derived primarily from a few short studies and anecdotal information. We initiated a wild camel conservation project to determine the reasons for camel decline and to develop a program to address those problems.

We are employing satellite telemetry to gather data on wild camel movement patterns, home ranges, habitat use, and sources of mortality. We are also collecting feces from camels and wolves to determine important forage plants and to begin to assess …

The Florida Bonneted Bat, Eumops Floridanus (Chiroptera: Molossidae): Distribution, Morphometrics, Systematics, And Ecology, Robert M. Timm, Hugh H. Genoways

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

A review and reappraisal of bats of the genus Eumops (Chiroptera: Molossidae) reveals that considerable geographic variation is present in the bonneted bat, E. glaucinus; it is a complex consisting of >1 species. Bonneted bats in Florida are significantly larger than those in all other populations, and have proportionally shorter and deeper basisphenoid pits, the glenoid fossa is broadly triangular with rounded apices, and bacular shape differs from that in other populations. Additionally, bonneted bats in Florida have a broader palate than bats from populations in South America. Given these differences, the correct name for both Pleistocene and Recent …