Download or read book Reducing Reliance on Supplemental Winter Feeding in Elk Cervus Canadensis written by Dax L Mangus and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wildlife managers have fed elk in North America for nearly 100 years. Giving winter feed to elk can compensate for a shortage of natural winter range and may boost elk populations while also helping prevent commingling with livestock and depredation of winter feed intended for livestock. In contrast to these benefits of supplemental feeding, there are economic and environmental costs associated with feeding, and elk herds that winter on feeding grounds have a higher risk of contracting and transmitting disease. Brucellosis is of primary concern now, and Chronic Wasting Disease may be in the future. Many see the discontinuation of winter-feeding programs as a necessary step for decreasing the risk of disease spread due to high animal densities associated with feeding during winter. My research evaluated the use of behavioral training to reduce reliance on supplemental winter feeding of elk, while minimizing population reductions and human-wildlife conflicts. My study was conducted at Deseret Land & Livestock (DLL) in Rich County, UT, where managers at DLL have over 20 years of data on elk feeding during winters of varying intensities. I tested the effectiveness of range improvements, strategic cattle grazing, dispersed supplemental feeding, hunting, and herding to distribute and hold elk in desired areas during winter. I compared elk numbers on the feed ground during this study with historic data on DLL, and also contrasted elk responses with other comparable feed sites in Wyoming that served as controls. In 2 mild winters we completely eliminated elk feeding without incident and were able to reduce the quantity and duration of feeding during 1 severe winter. Since the conclusion of my study, DLL has further reduced quantity and duration of feeding during severe winters, and has completely eliminated feeding in light winters. Based on a Before After Control Impact (BACI) analysis, the reduction in the proportion of the elk population fed at the study site was significantly less than the proportion of the elk populations fed at the control sites in Wyoming (P = 0.057). Based on these results, I anticipate wildlife managers can decrease dependence on costly supplemental winter feeding and reduce the risks of disease while keeping human-wildlife conflicts at a minimum. This research illustrates an adaptive method that can enable wildlife managers to keep elk populations in northern Utah at or near their current size, while constraining disease outbreak and transmission risks within "acceptable" levels.

Download or read book Nourishment written by Fred Provenza and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2018-11-26 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reflections on feeding body and spirit in a world of change Animal scientists have long considered domestic livestock to be too dumb to know how to eat right, but the lifetime research of animal behaviorist Fred Provenza and his colleagues has debunked this myth. Their work shows that when given a choice of natural foods, livestock have an astoundingly refined palate, nibbling through the day on as many as fifty kinds of grasses, forbs, and shrubs to meet their nutritional needs with remarkable precision. In Nourishment Provenza presents his thesis of the wisdom body, a wisdom that links flavor-feedback relationships at a cellular level with biochemically rich foods to meet the body’s nutritional and medicinal needs. Provenza explores the fascinating complexity of these relationships as he raises and answers thought-provoking questions about what we can learn from animals about nutritional wisdom. What kinds of memories form the basis for how herbivores, and humans, recognize foods? Can a body develop nutritional and medicinal memories in utero and early in life? Do humans still possess the wisdom to select nourishing diets? Or, has that ability been hijacked by nutritional “authorities”? Consumers eager for a “quick fix” have empowered the multibillion-dollar-a-year supplement industry, but is taking supplements and enriching and fortifying foods helping us, or is it hurting us? On a broader scale Provenza explores the relationships among facets of complex, poorly understood, ever-changing ecological, social, and economic systems in light of an unpredictable future. To what degree do we lose contact with life-sustaining energies when the foods we eat come from anywhere but where we live? To what degree do we lose the mythological relationship that links us physically and spiritually with Mother Earth who nurtures our lives? Provenza’s paradigm-changing exploration of these questions has implications that could vastly improve our health through a simple change in the way we view our relationships with the plants and animals we eat. Our health could be improved by eating biochemically rich foods and by creating cultures that know how to combine foods into meals that nourish and satiate. Provenza contends the voices of “authority” disconnect most people from a personal search to discover the inner wisdom that can nourish body and spirit. That journey means embracing wonder and uncertainty and avoiding illusions of stability and control as we dine on a planet in a universe bent on consuming itself.

Download or read book Winter Feeding of Elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Its Effects on Disease Dynamics written by Gavin G. Cotterill and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing food to wildlife during periods when natural food is limited results in aggregations that may facilitate disease transmission. This is exemplified in western Wyoming where institutional feeding over the past century has aimed to mitigate wildlife?livestock conflict and minimize winter mortality of elk (Cervus canadensis). Here we review research across 23 winter feedgrounds where the most studied disease is brucellosis, caused by the bacterium Brucella abortus. Traditional veterinary practices (vaccination, test-and-slaughter) have thus far been unable to control this disease in elk, which can spill over to cattle. Current disease-reduction efforts are being guided by ecological research on elk movement and density, reproduction, stress, co-infections and scavengers. Given the right tools, feedgrounds could provide opportunities for adaptive management of brucellosis through regular animal testing and populationlevel manipulations. Our analyses of several such manipulations highlight the value of a research?management partnership guided by hypothesis testing, despite the constraints of the sociopolitical environment. However, brucellosis is now spreading in unfed elk herds, while other diseases (e.g. chronic wasting disease) are of increasing concern at feedgrounds. Therefore experimental closures of feedgrounds, reduced feeding and lower elk populations merit consideration. This article is part of the theme issue ?Anthropogenic resource subsidies and host ?parasite dynamics in wildlife?.

Download or read book The Value of Conifers as a Winter Feed for Elk Cervus Canadensis Nelsoni Determined Under Controlled Conditions written by Lawrence Leonard Helwig and published by . This book was released on 1957 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Effects of Supplemental Feeding on Stress Hormone Concentrations in Elk written by Victoria Elizabeth Patrek and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On twenty-two feedgrounds in western Wyoming, elk (Cervus elaphus) are provided with supplemental feed throughout the winter. Brucellosis seroprevalence of feedground elk is 26% whereas other elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have historically had a brucellosis seroprevalence of 2-3%. The aggregation of elk during peak transmission allows brucellosis to persist in the feedground populations. In addition to creating the opportunity for disease transmission, the aggregation of elk on feedgrounds may have detrimental physiological effects. Studies have shown that chronically high stress hormone concentrations can suppress the immune system and lead to increased disease susceptibility. Potential stressors on the feedgrounds include high densities, large group sizes and aggressive social interactions. In this study I investigated how factors associated with supplemental feeding affect stress hormone levels, as indexed by fecal glucocorticoid levels, in elk on feedgrounds and elk on native winter range. I also worked with managers to experimentally alter the feeding distribution on the feedgrounds to examine how feeding density affects stress hormone levels and aggression rates. Results show that elk on feedgrounds have stress hormone levels 31% higher than elk on native winter range (Welch's t2--.23=2.39, p=0.024). Experimental reduction of feed density did not have an effect on stress hormone level or aggression rates. But note the relationship between fGCs and local densities here. Although the feeding treatments did appear to reduce local feeding densities, s this effect was not significant and was small relative to the large differences in density among sites. Regardless as to the cause of the high stress hormone levels seen in supplementally fed elk, the feedgrounds are creating an epidemiological setting for disease transmission and a physiological state that may increase susceptibility to disease. The impact of these stress hormone concentrations on disease susceptibility remains unknown, but may be an important driver of disease dynamics in these elk populations.

Download or read book Influences of Supplemental Feeding on Winter Elk Calf cow Ratios in the Southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem written by Aaron M. Foley and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Several elk herds in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are fed during winter to alleviate interactions with livestock, reduce damage to stored crops, and to manage for high elk numbers. The effects of supplemental feeding on ungulate population dynamics has rarely been examined, despite the fact that supplemental feeding is partially justified as necessary for maintaining or enhancing population growth rates. We used linear regression to assess how the presence of feedgrounds, snowpack, summer rainfall, indices of grizzly bear density and wolves per elk, elk population trend counts, brucellosis seroprevalence, and survey date were correlated with midwinter calf:cow ratios, a metric correlated with population growth, from 1983?2010 from 12 ecologically similar elk herd units (7 fed and 5 unfed) in Wyoming, USA. Our statistical approach allowed for rigorous tests of the hypotheses that supplemental feeding had positive effects on calf:cow ratios and reduced sensitivity of calf:cow ratios to bottom-up limitation relative to top-down limitation from native predators. Calf:cow ratios generally declined across all herd units over the study period and varied widely among units with feedgrounds. We found no evidence that the presence of feedgrounds had positive effects on midwinter calf:cow ratios in Wyoming. Further, fed elk showed stronger correlations with environmental factors, whereas calf:cow ratios for unfed elk showed stronger correlations with predator indices. Although we found no consistent association between winter feeding and higher calf:cow ratios, we did not assess late winter mortality and differences in human offtake between fed and unfed regions, which remain a priority for future research. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Download or read book Elk Behavior in Relation to Winter Supplemental Feeding written by Steven Alan Williams and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Effects of Supplemental Feeding on Gastrointestinal Parasite Infection in Elk Cervus Elaphus Preliminary Observations written by Alicia Hines and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The effects of management practices on the spread and impact of parasites and infectious diseases in wildlife and domestic animals are of increasing concern worldwide, particularly in cases where management of wild species can influence disease spill-over into domestic animals. In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA, winter supplemental feeding of Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) may enhance parasite and disease transmission by aggregating elk on feedgrounds. In this study, we tested the effect of supplemental feeding on gastrointestinal parasite infection in elk by comparing fecal egg/oocyst counts of fed and unfed elk. We collected fecal samples from fed and unfed elk at feedground and control sites from January to April 2006, and screened all samples for parasites. Six different parasite types were identified, and 48.7% of samples were infected with at least one parasite. Gastrointestinal (GI) nematodes (Nematoda: Strongylida), Trichuris spp., and coccidia were the most common parasites observed. For all three of these parasites, fecal egg/oocyst counts increased from January to April. Supplementally fed elk had significantly higher GI nematode egg counts than unfed elk in January and February, but significantly lower counts in April. These patterns suggest that supplemental feeding may both increase exposure and decrease susceptibility of elk to GI nematodes, resulting in differences in temporal patterns of egg shedding between fed and unfed elk.

Download or read book The Food Consumption and Weight Response of Elk cervus Canadensis Nelsoni Under Winter Conditions written by Charles Roger Hungerford and published by . This book was released on 1952 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Food Consumption and Relative Digestibility of Various Winter Diets Fed to Elk Cervus Canadensis Nelsoni Under Controlled Conditions written by Anthony Felix Geis and published by . This book was released on 1954 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Carryover Effects of Winter Feeding on Migration Habitat Selection and Foraging Ecology of Elk in Western Wyoming written by Jennifer D. Jones and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Resource distribution on ungulate seasonal ranges is commonly altered without consideration of potential carryover effects on year-round foraging strategies. Supplemental feeding of temperate ungulates is a widespread management practice that manipulates forage resources and has potential to enhance nutritional condition and influence behavior. We tested the hypothesis that winter feeding enhances the nutritional condition of migratory elk, with carryover effects that influence migration and summer foraging strategies. We used global positioning system location data and behavioral observations of 230 adult, female elk (Cervus elaphus) that used feedgrounds (n=151) or native winter range (n=79) in western Wyoming. Attendance at feedgrounds slightly enhanced the nutritional condition of fed elk, with an average of 1.22% more body fat than unfed elk. Migration behavior differed with fed elk arriving on summer range later and leaving earlier, resulting in 26 fewer days on summer range. Fed elk occupied summer ranges that were 75% smaller than unfed elk, and while resource selection was similar, fed elk showed less selection for foraging habitats and displayed a weaker fluctuation in their hourly use of forest than unfed elk. In contrast to differences found at broad scale habitat use, winter feeding did not carryover to influence fine scale time budgets of fed and unfed elk. Our findings suggest that alteration of resources, including anthropogenic manipulations, can be strong and consistent enough to generate carryover effects on the migration behavior and year-round foraging strategies of temperate, migratory ungulates with implications for management actions.

Download or read book Effects of Supplemental Feeding and Aggregation on Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolite Concentrations in Elk written by Victoria E. Forristal and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Habitat modifications and supplemental feeding artificially aggregate some wildlife populations, with potential impacts upon contact and parasite transmission rates. Less well recognized, however, is how increased aggregation may affect wildlife physiology. Crowding has been shown to induce stress responses, and increased glucocorticoid (GC) concentrations can reduce immune function and increase disease susceptibility. We investigated the effects of supplemental feeding and the aggregation that it induces on behavior and fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations (fGCM) in elk (Cervus elaphus) using observational and experimental approaches. We first compared fGCM levels of elk on supplemental feedgrounds to neighboring elk populations wintering in native habitats using data from 2003 to 2008. We then experimentally manipulated the distribution of supplemental food on feedgrounds to investigate whether more widely distributed food would result in lower rates of aggression and stress hormone levels. Contrary to some expectations that fed elk may be less stressed than unfed elk during the winter, we found that elk on feedgrounds had fecal GC levels at least 31% higher than non-feedground populations. Within feedgrounds, fGCM levels were strongly correlated with local measures of elk density (r2?=?0.81). Dispersing feed more broadly, however, did not have a detectable effect on fGCM levels or aggression rates. Our results suggest that increases in aggregation associated with winter feedgrounds affects elk physiology, and the resulting increases in fGCM levels are not likely to be mitigated by management efforts that distribute the feed more widely. Additional research is needed to assess whether these increases in fGCMs directly alter parasite transmission and disease dynamics.

Download or read book Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 712 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Wildlife Review written by and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 690 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States written by Matthew J. Kauffman and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Migrations and Management of the Jackson Elk Herd written by Bruce L. Smith and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Imperfect Pasture written by Bruce L. Smith and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: