Download or read book Foraging Ecology of Cougars in the Pryor Mountains of Wyoming and Montana written by Linsey Blake and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cougars (Puma concolor) are elusive top-level predators and their predation patterns, particularly upon sensitive species, can be a source of concern to wildlife managers. Predation patterns, however, vary widely in accordance with differing landscape attributes, prey community composition, and preferences of individual cougars. The objective of this study was to better understand the impact of cougars upon their prey in the Pryor Mountains of Wyoming and Montana. Managers were concerned that cougar predation was having a negative impact upon a small, isolated Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis) population and were hoping predation might be limiting a burgeoning feral horse population (Equus caballus). With GPS collar data, we examined cougar kills (n = 200) to determine kill rates, prey composition, and selection for prey. Our findings indicated this population of cougars preyed primarily on mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus; 71.5%) but also included a substantial amount of bighorn sheep (8.0%) and other prey items (19.5%) in their diet. All bighorn kills were attributable to a specialist individual and we found no evidence of predation upon feral horses. Results showed that, while cougar predation was not limiting the feral horse population, at times, predation could be one of a host of factors limiting the bighorn sheep population. To better understand the link between the risk of cougar predation and landscape attributes, we examined predation-specific resource selection by cougars. We first compared our set of confirmed kill sites to random sites at a fine scale (within 25 m of kill sites). We then built resource selection functions to conduct a coarse-scale analysis by using the 95% upper cut-off point of the known distances-dragged (94.9 m) to buffer caches sites, thereby creating zones of risk which had high probabilities of containing kill sites. We found that risk of cougar predation was associated with vegetation class and increased with decreasing horizontal visibility. For bighorn sheep, risk of predation was associated with juniper-mountain mahogany (Juniperus spp., Cercocarpus ledifolius) woodlands. We recommend managers thin junipers to increase horizontal visibility in areas where the juniper-mountain mahogany vegetation class intersects bighorn sheep habitat.
Download or read book Ecology and Management of Black tailed and Mule Deer of North America written by James R. Heffelfinger and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2023-04-27 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black-tailed and mule deer represent one of the largest distributions of mammals in North America and are symbols of the wide-open American West. Each chapter in this book was authored by the world’s leading experts on that topic. Both editors, James R. Heffelfinger and Paul R. Krausman, are widely published in the popular and scientific press and recipients of the O. C. Wallmo Award, given every two years to a leading black-tailed and mule deer expert who has made significant contributions to the conservation of this species. In addition, Heffelfinger has chaired the Mule Deer Working Group sponsored by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies for more than 15 years. This working group consists of the leading black-tailed and mule deer experts from each of 24 states, provinces, and territories in western North America, putting them at the forefront of all conservation and much of the research on this species. The book represents all current knowledge available on these deer, including how changing conditions such as fires, habitat alteration and loss, disease, climate change, socio-economic forces, energy development, and other aspects are influencing their distribution and abundance now and into the future. It takes a completely fresh look at all chapter topics. The revisions of distribution, taxonomy, evolution, behavior, and new and exciting work being done in deer nutrition, migration and movements, diseases, predation, and human dimensions are all assembled in this volume. This book will instantly become the foundation for the latest information and management strategies to be implemented on the ground by practitioners and to inform the public. Although this book is about deer, the topics discussed influence most terrestrial wildlife worldwide, and the basic concepts in many of the chapters are applicable to other species.
Download or read book Yellowstone Grizzly Bears written by Daniel D. Bjornlie and published by National Park Service Yellowstone National Park. This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-10-04 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward reviews the science that underpins the Bureau of Land Management's oversight of free-ranging horses and burros on federal public lands in the western United States, concluding that constructive changes could be implemented. The Wild Horse and Burro Program has not used scientifically rigorous methods to estimate the population sizes of horses and burros, to model the effects of management actions on the animals, or to assess the availability and use of forage on rangelands. Evidence suggests that horse populations are growing by 15 to 20 percent each year, a level that is unsustainable for maintaining healthy horse populations as well as healthy ecosystems. Promising fertility-control methods are available to help limit this population growth, however. In addition, science-based methods exist for improving population estimates, predicting the effects of management practices in order to maintain genetically diverse, healthy populations, and estimating the productivity of rangelands. Greater transparency in how science-based methods are used to inform management decisions may help increase public confidence in the Wild Horse and Burro Program.
Download or read book Desert Puma written by Kenneth A. Logan and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2001-08-01 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientists and conservationists are beginning to understand the importance of top carnivores to the health and integrity of fully functioning ecosystems. As burgeoning human populations continue to impinge on natural landscapes, the need for understanding carnivore populations and how we affect them is becoming increasingly acute.Desert Puma represents one of the most detailed assessments ever produced of the biology and ecology of a top carnivore. The husband-and-wife team of Kenneth Logan and Linda Sweanor set forth extensive data gathered from their ten-year field study of pumas in the Chihuahua Desert of New Mexico, also drawing on other reliable scientific data gathered throughout the puma's geographic range. Chapters examine: the evolutionary and modern history of pumas, their taxonomy, and physical description a detailed description and history of the study area in the Chihuahua Desert field techniques that were used in the research puma population dynamics and life history strategies the implications of puma behavior and social organization the relationships of pumas and their preyThe authors provide important new information about both the biology of pumas and their evolutionary ecology -- not only what pumas do, but why they do it. Logan and Sweanor explain how an understanding of puma evolutionary ecology can, and must, inform long-term conservation strategies. They end the book with their ideas regarding strategies for puma management and conservation, along with a consideration of the future of pumas and humans. Desert Puma makes a significant and original contribution to the science not only of pumas in desert ecosystems but of the role of top predators in all environments. It is an essential contribution to the bookshelf of any wildlife biologist or conservationist involved in large-scale land management or wildlife management.
Download or read book The Archeology of Mummy Cave Wyoming written by Wilfred M. Husted and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book New Directions in Conservation Medicine written by A. Alonso Aguirre and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-28 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, species and ecosystems have been threatened by many anthropogenic factors manifested in local and global declines of populations and species. Although we consider conservation medicine an emerging field, the concept is the result of the long evolution of transdisciplinary thinking within the health and ecological sciences and the better understanding of the complexity within these various fields of knowledge. Conservation medicine was born from the cross fertilization of ideas generated by this new transdisciplinary design. It examines the links among changes in climate, habitat quality, and land use; emergence and re-emergence of infectious agents, parasites and environmental contaminants; and maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem functions as they sustain the health of plant and animal communities including humans. During the past ten years, new tools and institutional initiatives for assessing and monitoring ecological health concerns have emerged: landscape epidemiology, disease ecological modeling and web-based analytics. New types of integrated ecological health assessment are being deployed; these efforts incorporate environmental indicator studies with specific biomedical diagnostic tools. Other innovations include the development of non-invasive physiological and behavioral monitoring techniques; the adaptation of modern molecular biological and biomedical techniques; the design of population level disease monitoring strategies; the creation of ecosystem-based health and sentinel species surveillance approaches; and the adaptation of health monitoring systems for appropriate developing country situations. New Directions of Conservation Medicine: Applied Cases of Ecological Health addresses these issues with relevant case studies and detailed applied examples. New Directions of Conservation Medicine challenges the notion that human health is an isolated concern removed from the bounds of ecology and species interactions. Human health, animal health, and ecosystem health are moving closer together and at some point, it will be inconceivable that there was ever a clear division.
Download or read book Naturalist s Guide to the Americas written by Nature Conservancy (U.S.) and published by . This book was released on 1926 with total page 826 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Scientific Foundations of Zoos and Aquariums written by Allison B. Kaufman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-03 with total page 697 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using first-person stories and approachable scientific reviews, this volume explores how zoos conduct and support science around the world.
Download or read book A History of Beaver County written by Martha Sonntag Bradley and published by . This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Cougar written by Maurice Hornocker and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-12-15 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cougar is one of the most beautiful, enigmatic, and majestic animals in the Americas. Eliciting reverence for its grace and independent nature, it also triggers fear when it comes into contact with people, pets, and livestock or competes for hunters’ game. Mystery, myth, and misunderstanding surround this remarkable creature. The cougar’s range once extended from northern Canada to the tip of South America, and from the Pacific to the Atlantic, making it the most widespread animal in the western hemisphere. But overhunting and loss of habitat vastly reduced cougar numbers by the early twentieth century across much of its historical range, and today the cougar faces numerous threats as burgeoning human development encroaches on its remaining habitat. When Maurice Hornocker began the first long-term study of cougars in the Idaho wilderness in 1964, little was known about this large cat. Its secretive nature and rarity in the landscape made it difficult to study. But his groundbreaking research yielded major insights and was the prelude to further research on this controversial species. The capstone to Hornocker’s long career studying big cats, Cougar is a powerful and practical resource for scientists, conservationists, and anyone with an interest in large carnivores. He and conservationist Sharon Negri bring together the diverse perspectives of twenty-two distinguished scientists to provide the fullest account of the cougar’s ecology, behavior, and genetics, its role as a top predator, and its conservation needs. This compilation of recent findings, stunning photographs, and firsthand accounts of field research unravels the mysteries of this magnificent animal and emphasizes its importance in healthy ecosystem processes and in our lives.
Download or read book Welfare Ranching written by George Wuerthner and published by Foundations for Deep Ecology 2. This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book shows the real West, not the one seen in postcards or imagined from romantic movies and novels. With photographs and essays, it shows not only the most shocking cases of overgrazing, but also the subtle changes that signal ecological disruption on a massive scale. Welfare Ranching explains the cultural and historical causes of the wasting of the West and offers a vision of the renewal that is possible if citizens are willing to demand that their government shift land management priorities to serving the public and natural good, rather than facilitating private gain. Ultimately, this book points the way to the greatest opportunity yet remaining for ecological restoration and wildlife protection in this country."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Rock Art and Sacred Landscapes written by Donna L. Gillette and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-10-16 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social and behavioral scientists study religion or spirituality in various ways and have defined and approached the subject from different perspectives. In cultural anthropology and archaeology the understanding of what constitutes religion involves beliefs, oral traditions, practices and rituals, as well as the related material culture including artifacts, landscapes, structural features and visual representations like rock art. Researchers work to understand religious thoughts and actions that prompted their creation distinct from those created for economic, political, or social purposes. Rock art landscapes convey knowledge about sacred and spiritual ecology from generation to generation. Contributors to this global view detail how rock art can be employed to address issues regarding past dynamic interplays of religions and spiritual elements. Studies from a number of different cultural areas and time periods explore how rock art engages the emotions, materializes thoughts and actions and reflects religious organization as it intersects with sociopolitical cultural systems.
Download or read book Straight from the Horse s Heart written by R. T. Fitch and published by Ronald Fitch. This book was released on 2009-01-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Loosely autobiographical, thirty vignettes make up this collection that features a wide range of equine stories, each sharing a sense of love, loss, and survival.
Download or read book Landscape scale Conservation Planning written by Stephen C. Trombulak and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-09-21 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hugh P. Possingham Landscape-scale conservation planning is coming of age. In the last couple of decades, conservation practitioners, working at all levels of governance and all spatial scales, have embraced the CARE principles of conservation planning – Comprehensiveness, Adequacy, Representativeness, and Efficiency. Hundreds of papers have been written on this theme, and several different kinds of software program have been developed and used around the world, making conservation planning based on these principles global in its reach and influence. Does this mean that all the science of conservation planning is over – that the discovery phase has been replaced by an engineering phase as we move from defining the rules to implementing them in the landscape? This book and the continuing growth in the literature suggest that the answer to this question is most definitely ‘no. ’ All of applied conservation can be wrapped up into a single sentence: what should be done (the action), in what place, at what time, using what mechanism, and for what outcome (the objective). It all seems pretty simple – what, where, when, how and why. However stating a problem does not mean it is easy to solve.
Download or read book Field Book of North American Mammals written by H. E. Anthony and published by . This book was released on 2013-10 with total page 750 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a new release of the original 1928 edition.
Download or read book Return of a Predator written by Edward E. Bangs and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
