Population Dynamics, Food Habits, Seasonal Habitat Use, and Spatial Relationships of Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, and Feral Horses in the Pryor Mountains, Montana/Wyoming

Population Dynamics, Food Habits, Seasonal Habitat Use, and Spatial Relationships of Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, and Feral Horses in the Pryor Mountains, Montana/Wyoming PDF Author: Robert Eugene Kissell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bighorn sheep
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program

Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309264979
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
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.

Dissertation Abstracts International

Dissertation Abstracts International PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertations, Academic
Languages : en
Pages : 806

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Wild Equids

Wild Equids PDF Author: Jason I. Ransom
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421419092
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Readers will find new insight into the lives of the world's horses, zebras, and asses, understand the basis of our relationships with these animals, and develop a greater understanding of where equids come from and why they are worth conserving.Included in this book are detailed, state-of-the-science syntheses on Social structure, behavior, and cognition Habitat and diet Ecological niches Population dynamics Roles of humans in horse distribution through time Human dimensions and the meaning of wild Management of free-roaming horses Captive breeding of wild equids Conservation of wild equids Conservation of migrations Reintroductions Genetics and paleogenetics

American Doctoral Dissertations

American Doctoral Dissertations PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertation abstracts
Languages : en
Pages : 872

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Seasonal Food Habits of Mule Deer in Southeastern Wyoming

Seasonal Food Habits of Mule Deer in Southeastern Wyoming PDF Author: Gregory A. Goodwin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mule deer
Languages : en
Pages : 4

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Food Habits, Range Use and Relationships of Bighorn Sheep to Mule Deer and Elk in Winter, Gallatin Canyon, Montana

Food Habits, Range Use and Relationships of Bighorn Sheep to Mule Deer and Elk in Winter, Gallatin Canyon, Montana PDF Author: Kerry John Constan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Elk
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Social and Scientific Factors Impacting Mule Deer Habitat Conservation in the Intermountain West

Social and Scientific Factors Impacting Mule Deer Habitat Conservation in the Intermountain West PDF Author: Nicholas F. Trulove
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781303150265
Category : Mule deer
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
For mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus ) in the Intermountain West, alterations to habitat are outpacing strategies to mitigate human disturbance on critical seasonal ranges and migration routes. Conserving mule deer habitat requires cooperation between a diverse group of stakeholders, state wildlife agencies, and federal land management agencies. The first chapter of this thesis explores the current and historical relationship between state wildlife agencies, citizen stakeholders, and federal agencies in order to highlight opportunities to improve cooperative habitat conservation in the United States. Conservation is a result of social, political, and economic action, but relies upon science to inform policy. The second chapter explores the seasonal habitat use of mule deer in southwestern Wyoming. In response to low fawn recruitment, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department deployed 15 GPS collars on adult female mule deer in an effort to enhance knowledge of mule deer population dynamics, migrations, and habitat use. The study captured two winter climate regimes, with greater winter severity during the 2010-11 winter compared to the winter of 2011-12. Deer migrated an average of 23.9 km (SE = 2.2) between seasonal ranges, and completed spring migrations nearly one month earlier following the milder winter of 2011-12 ( t 19 = 5.53, df = 19, P ? 0.001). Pooled, the average area of winter ranges (1057 ha, SE = 103, n = 26) was larger than summer ranges (423 ha, SE = 51 ha, n = 25) (t = -5.44, df = 49, P ≤ 0.001), with no increase or decrease in size of seasonal ranges detected between years (P = 0.243) according to a post-hoc Tukey HSD test. Between years, deer were observed to shift the geographic center of winter ranges (2.9 km, SE = 1.1, n = 12) to a larger degree than summer ranges (0.4 km, SE = 0.1, n = 12) (t = -2.20, df = 22, P = 0.040). Survival and pregnancy rates (86% and 96%, respectively) correlated closely with other mule deer studies, and neither factor appears to negatively impact population growth. Identifying seasonal ranges and migration routes, and quantifying seasonal habitat use, will assist Wyoming Game and Fish Department efforts to protect mule deer seasonal habitats and migration routes, and direct vegetation manipulations intended to improve the nutritional quality of habitats. On average, winter ranges included a later percentage of shrub-dominated habitat (83.8%, SE = 0.3, n = 26) than summer ranges (57.5%, SE = 2.0, n = 25) (t = -4.42, df = 49, P ? 0.001). Summer ranges averaged a greater proportion of agricultural lands (2.8%, SE = 1.1, n = 25) and aspen (Populus tremuloides ) habitats (9.0%, SE = 2.2, n = 25) than winter ranges (0.1%, SE = 0.1, n = 26 and 0.2%, SE = 0.0, n = 26, respectively) (t = 3.03, df = 49, P = 0.004 and t = 3.86, df = 49, P ? 0.001, respectively). Mule deer ranges are primarily located on Bureau of Land Management (73%, SE = 2.8, n = 51) and privately owned (17.3%, SE = 2.9, n = 51) lands, highlighting opportunities for cooperative partnerships for mule deer habitat conservation.

Bighorn Sheep Range Use, Food Habits and Relatonships to Mule Deer and Elk in Gallatin Canyon

Bighorn Sheep Range Use, Food Habits and Relatonships to Mule Deer and Elk in Gallatin Canyon PDF Author: Kerry John Constan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Elk
Languages : en
Pages : 43

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Foraging Ecology of Cougars in the Pryor Mountains of Wyoming and Montana

Foraging Ecology of Cougars in the Pryor Mountains of Wyoming and Montana PDF Author: Linsey Blake
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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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.