Mountain Lions and Mule Deer

Author(s):  
Daniel B. Botkin
Keyword(s):  
2011 ◽  
Vol 178 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Hurley ◽  
James W. Unsworth ◽  
Peter Zager ◽  
Mark Hebblewhite ◽  
Edward O. Garton ◽  
...  

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0241131
Author(s):  
Grant M. Harris ◽  
David R. Stewart ◽  
David Brown ◽  
Lacrecia Johnson ◽  
Jim Sanderson ◽  
...  

Managing water (e.g., catchments) to increase the abundance and distribution of game is popular in arid regions, especially throughout the southwest United States, where biologists often manage water year-round for desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni). Bighorn may visit water when predators (e.g., mountain lions [Puma concolor], coyotes [Canis latrans]) do not, suggesting that differences in species ecology or their surface water requirements influence visit timing. Alternatively, visits by desert bighorn sheep and predators may align. The former outcome identifies opportunities to improve water management by providing water when desert bighorn sheep visit most, which hypothetically may reduce predator presence, range expansion and predation, thereby supporting objectives to increase sheep abundances. Since advancing water management hinges on understanding the patterns of species visits, we identified when these three species and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) visited managed waters in three North American deserts (Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mojave). We unraveled the ecological basis describing why visits occurred by associating species visits with four weather variables using multi-site, multi-species models within a Bayesian hierarchical framework (3.4 million images; 105 locations; 7/2009-12/2016). Desert bighorn sheep concentrated visits to water within 4–5 contiguous months. Mountain lions visited water essentially year-round within all deserts. Higher maximum temperature influenced visits to water, especially for desert bighorn sheep. Less long-term precipitation (prior 6-week total) raised visits for all species, and influenced mountain lion visits 3–20 times more than mule deer and 3–37 times more than sheep visits. Visits to water by prey were inconsistent predictors of visits to water by mountain lions. Our results suggest improvements to water management by aligning water provision with the patterns and ecological explanations of desert bighorn sheep visits. We exemplify a scientific approach to water management for enhancing stewardship of desert mammals, be it the southwest United States or arid regions elsewhere.


2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline E. Krumm ◽  
Mary M. Conner ◽  
N. Thompson Hobbs ◽  
Don O. Hunter ◽  
Michael W. Miller

The possibility that predators choose prey selectively based on age or condition has been suggested but rarely tested. We examined whether mountain lions ( Puma concolor ) selectively prey upon mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ) infected with chronic wasting disease, a prion disease. We located kill sites of mountain lions in the northern Front Range of Colorado, USA, and compared disease prevalence among lion-killed adult (≥2 years old) deer with prevalence among sympatric deer taken by hunters in the vicinity of kill sites. Hunter-killed female deer were less likely to be infected than males (odds ratios (OR) = 0.2, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 0.1–0.6; p = 0.015). However, both female (OR = 8.5, 95% CI = 2.3–30.9) and male deer (OR = 3.2, 95% CI = 1–10) killed by a mountain lion were more likely to be infected than same-sex deer killed in the vicinity by a hunter ( p < 0.001), suggesting that mountain lions in this area actively selected prion-infected individuals when targeting adult mule deer as prey items.


2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 977-988 ◽  
Author(s):  
Becky M. Pierce ◽  
Vernon C. Bleich ◽  
Kevin L. Monteith ◽  
R. Terry Bowyer
Keyword(s):  
Top Down ◽  

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Van Dyke ◽  
Autumn Fox ◽  
Seth M. Harju ◽  
Matthew R. Dzialak ◽  
Larry D. Hayden-Wing ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-129
Author(s):  
Evan Greenspan ◽  
Michelle A. Larue ◽  
Clayton K. Nielsen

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