The Tricolored Bat is an imperiled species due to white-nose syndrome. There is limited information available on roosting and foraging area use of the species to support planning and management efforts to benefit recovery in the Southeastern United States. Female tricolored bats exit hibernation and allocate energy toward disease recovery, migration, and reproduction. Providing and managing for summer habitat is 1 strategy to promote recovery. We sought to: (1) determine local- and landscape-scale factors that influence female Tricolored Bat roost selection; (2) quantify land cover use in core and overall foraging areas; and (3) define foraging area size and distances traveled by female tricolored bats in Tennessee. Bats in this study roosted in trees of variable sizes, in multiple tree species with large canopy volumes, and almost always roosted in trees with dead leaf foliage suspended in the canopy. Forest plots used by bats had trees averaging 30 cm diameter at breast height, basal areas averaging 27 m2/ha, contained multiple tree species, and comprised around a 50:50 ratio of canopy and subcanopy trees. Bats did not roost in coniferous forest areas and were only located in deciduous and mixed forest areas. Bats foraged near and directly over water, in open areas, and along forest edges. This study increases our knowledge on habitat requirements of the species in a temperate region dominated by unfragmented forests and many large water bodies and serves a baseline for management and efforts to benefit survival, reproduction, and population recovery.
{"title":"Summer habitat for the female Tricolored Bat (Perimyotis subflavus) in Tennessee, United States","authors":"Ashleigh B Cable, Emma V Willcox","doi":"10.1093/jmammal/gyae002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyae002","url":null,"abstract":"The Tricolored Bat is an imperiled species due to white-nose syndrome. There is limited information available on roosting and foraging area use of the species to support planning and management efforts to benefit recovery in the Southeastern United States. Female tricolored bats exit hibernation and allocate energy toward disease recovery, migration, and reproduction. Providing and managing for summer habitat is 1 strategy to promote recovery. We sought to: (1) determine local- and landscape-scale factors that influence female Tricolored Bat roost selection; (2) quantify land cover use in core and overall foraging areas; and (3) define foraging area size and distances traveled by female tricolored bats in Tennessee. Bats in this study roosted in trees of variable sizes, in multiple tree species with large canopy volumes, and almost always roosted in trees with dead leaf foliage suspended in the canopy. Forest plots used by bats had trees averaging 30 cm diameter at breast height, basal areas averaging 27 m2/ha, contained multiple tree species, and comprised around a 50:50 ratio of canopy and subcanopy trees. Bats did not roost in coniferous forest areas and were only located in deciduous and mixed forest areas. Bats foraged near and directly over water, in open areas, and along forest edges. This study increases our knowledge on habitat requirements of the species in a temperate region dominated by unfragmented forests and many large water bodies and serves a baseline for management and efforts to benefit survival, reproduction, and population recovery.","PeriodicalId":50157,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mammalogy","volume":"51 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139950135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alexander J Hare, Andrew G McAdam, Ben Dantzer, Jeffrey E Lane, Stan Boutin, Amy E M Newman
Female advertisement of reproductive state and receptivity has the potential to play a large role in the mating systems of many taxa, but investigations of this phenomenon are underrepresented in the literature. North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) are highly territorial and engage in scramble competition mating, with males converging from spatially disparate territories to engage in mating chases. Given the narrow estrus window exhibited in this species, the ubiquitous use of vocalizations to advertise territory ownership, and the high synchronicity of males arriving from distant territories, we hypothesized that female vocalizations contain cues relating to their estrous state. To test this hypothesis, we examined the spectral and temporal properties of female territorial rattle vocalizations collected from females of known reproductive condition over 3 years. While we found no distinct changes associated with estrus specifically, we did identify significant changes in the spectral characteristics of rattles relating to both female body mass and reproductive state relative to parturition. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evidence of changes in vocal characteristics associated with late pregnancy in a nonhuman mammal.
{"title":"Reproductive state alters vocal characteristics of female North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)","authors":"Alexander J Hare, Andrew G McAdam, Ben Dantzer, Jeffrey E Lane, Stan Boutin, Amy E M Newman","doi":"10.1093/jmammal/gyad128","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyad128","url":null,"abstract":"Female advertisement of reproductive state and receptivity has the potential to play a large role in the mating systems of many taxa, but investigations of this phenomenon are underrepresented in the literature. North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) are highly territorial and engage in scramble competition mating, with males converging from spatially disparate territories to engage in mating chases. Given the narrow estrus window exhibited in this species, the ubiquitous use of vocalizations to advertise territory ownership, and the high synchronicity of males arriving from distant territories, we hypothesized that female vocalizations contain cues relating to their estrous state. To test this hypothesis, we examined the spectral and temporal properties of female territorial rattle vocalizations collected from females of known reproductive condition over 3 years. While we found no distinct changes associated with estrus specifically, we did identify significant changes in the spectral characteristics of rattles relating to both female body mass and reproductive state relative to parturition. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evidence of changes in vocal characteristics associated with late pregnancy in a nonhuman mammal.","PeriodicalId":50157,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mammalogy","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139903504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sean M Sultaire, Robert A Montgomery, Patrick J Jackson, Joshua J Millspaugh
Globally, animals that are range-restricted are frequently becoming species of conservation concern, in part due to competitive exclusion by phylogenetically and ecologically similar species that are more tolerant of human disturbance. However, climate and land use changes to natural landscapes can create pockets of refugia for range-restricted species. Western gray squirrels (Sciurus griseus) are native to the west coast of North America, principally California and western Oregon. Over the past several decades, Western Gray Squirrel populations have declined in human-dominated areas, with increased competition from introduced congeneric species native to eastern North America cited as a primary driver. Despite declines in their established range west of the Pacific Crest in western North America, western gray squirrels are extending their range into the Great Basin, where they were not historically found. Using a network of remote camera traps deployed across the Sierra Nevada–Great Basin ecotone in northwestern Nevada, we detected western gray squirrels across 16 of 100 camera-trapping sites. The majority of detections were located in piñon–juniper woodland, a land cover type not previously occupied by this species. Occupancy modeling revealed that western gray squirrels were equally likely to occur in piñon–juniper woodland compared to mature pine forest that they occupy elsewhere in their range. A species distribution model parameterized with historical gray squirrel observations (pre-1950), indicated increased climatic suitability for the species on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in recent decades, which may have facilitated this range expansion. Our findings reveal the potential for species declining in their historical range to colonize novel habitats that become increasingly suitable as a result of human-driven changes to ecosystems.
{"title":"Range expansion of a declining forest species, the Western Gray Squirrel (Sciurus griseus), into semiarid woodland","authors":"Sean M Sultaire, Robert A Montgomery, Patrick J Jackson, Joshua J Millspaugh","doi":"10.1093/jmammal/gyae011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyae011","url":null,"abstract":"Globally, animals that are range-restricted are frequently becoming species of conservation concern, in part due to competitive exclusion by phylogenetically and ecologically similar species that are more tolerant of human disturbance. However, climate and land use changes to natural landscapes can create pockets of refugia for range-restricted species. Western gray squirrels (Sciurus griseus) are native to the west coast of North America, principally California and western Oregon. Over the past several decades, Western Gray Squirrel populations have declined in human-dominated areas, with increased competition from introduced congeneric species native to eastern North America cited as a primary driver. Despite declines in their established range west of the Pacific Crest in western North America, western gray squirrels are extending their range into the Great Basin, where they were not historically found. Using a network of remote camera traps deployed across the Sierra Nevada–Great Basin ecotone in northwestern Nevada, we detected western gray squirrels across 16 of 100 camera-trapping sites. The majority of detections were located in piñon–juniper woodland, a land cover type not previously occupied by this species. Occupancy modeling revealed that western gray squirrels were equally likely to occur in piñon–juniper woodland compared to mature pine forest that they occupy elsewhere in their range. A species distribution model parameterized with historical gray squirrel observations (pre-1950), indicated increased climatic suitability for the species on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in recent decades, which may have facilitated this range expansion. Our findings reveal the potential for species declining in their historical range to colonize novel habitats that become increasingly suitable as a result of human-driven changes to ecosystems.","PeriodicalId":50157,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mammalogy","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139773169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ground squirrels act as important members of grassland ecosystems by serving as both ecosystem engineers and as a prey base for carnivores. There is mounting evidence that climate change is driving ground squirrel population declines. We resurveyed 54 historical localities throughout the Wyoming Basin and western Colorado where Wyoming Ground Squirrel (Urocitellus elegans) specimens were collected to investigate if climate change was driving extirpations at these historically occupied sites. We detected extirpations at 12 sites and used binomial generalized linear models in an information-theoretic framework to investigate if climate change was associated with these extirpations. Additionally, we investigated if land cover change was associated with persistence and if land cover ameliorated or exacerbated the effects of climate change. We found that changes in climate, especially increasingly dry summer air and increasing mean summer temperatures, were associated with a reduced probability that U. elegans persisted at a historically occupied site. In addition, we found that current forest cover at a site and increasing rangeland cover at the regional level were associated with reduced probability that U. elegans persisted, although these associations were weaker than the climate associations. The effects of climate change and land cover change did not interact. Our findings build on mounting evidence that montane-associated ground squirrels throughout the Western United States are negatively impacted by climate change. The reduction in ground squirrel abundance or their extirpation due to climate change could lead to changes in ecosystem structure or reductions in trophic complexity.
{"title":"A drying climate and habitat availability drive extirpations of a southward advancing ground squirrel","authors":"Austin L Nash, Christy M McCain","doi":"10.1093/jmammal/gyae004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyae004","url":null,"abstract":"Ground squirrels act as important members of grassland ecosystems by serving as both ecosystem engineers and as a prey base for carnivores. There is mounting evidence that climate change is driving ground squirrel population declines. We resurveyed 54 historical localities throughout the Wyoming Basin and western Colorado where Wyoming Ground Squirrel (Urocitellus elegans) specimens were collected to investigate if climate change was driving extirpations at these historically occupied sites. We detected extirpations at 12 sites and used binomial generalized linear models in an information-theoretic framework to investigate if climate change was associated with these extirpations. Additionally, we investigated if land cover change was associated with persistence and if land cover ameliorated or exacerbated the effects of climate change. We found that changes in climate, especially increasingly dry summer air and increasing mean summer temperatures, were associated with a reduced probability that U. elegans persisted at a historically occupied site. In addition, we found that current forest cover at a site and increasing rangeland cover at the regional level were associated with reduced probability that U. elegans persisted, although these associations were weaker than the climate associations. The effects of climate change and land cover change did not interact. Our findings build on mounting evidence that montane-associated ground squirrels throughout the Western United States are negatively impacted by climate change. The reduction in ground squirrel abundance or their extirpation due to climate change could lead to changes in ecosystem structure or reductions in trophic complexity.","PeriodicalId":50157,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mammalogy","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139764186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sunčica Stipoljev, Elena Buzan, Laura Iacolina, Toni Safner, Andrea Rezić, Ana Galov, Krešimir Križanović, Hüseyin Ambarlı, MariaCruz Arnal, Elmar Babaev, Ferdinand Bego, Attila Farkas, Dragan Gačić, Peter Lazar, Vladimir Maletić, Georgi Markov, Dragana Milošević, Haritakis Papaioannou, Massimo Scandura, Nikica Šprem
Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are commonly used markers for monitoring adaptive genetic and evolutionary potential of species. In this study, we investigated genetic variation of the MHC class II DRB locus in the chamois genus Rupicapra by using next-generation sequencing. Sequencing of 102 samples led to the identification of 25 alleles, 11 of which are novel. The high ratio of the relative rates of nonsynonymous to synonymous mutations (dN/dS) suggests a signal of positive selection on this locus. We analyzed patterns of genetic variation within and among 2 subspecies of Northern Chamois and compared them to previously published studies using neutral markers to provide a basis for assessing the effects of demographic processes. Our analyses have shown that alleles are likely to be maintained by balancing selection in different populations with similar frequencies and that this mechanism also works in small, isolated populations that are strongly affected by genetic drift.
{"title":"Diversity of MHC class II DRB alleles in the Northern chamois genus Rupicapra","authors":"Sunčica Stipoljev, Elena Buzan, Laura Iacolina, Toni Safner, Andrea Rezić, Ana Galov, Krešimir Križanović, Hüseyin Ambarlı, MariaCruz Arnal, Elmar Babaev, Ferdinand Bego, Attila Farkas, Dragan Gačić, Peter Lazar, Vladimir Maletić, Georgi Markov, Dragana Milošević, Haritakis Papaioannou, Massimo Scandura, Nikica Šprem","doi":"10.1093/jmammal/gyae008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyae008","url":null,"abstract":"Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are commonly used markers for monitoring adaptive genetic and evolutionary potential of species. In this study, we investigated genetic variation of the MHC class II DRB locus in the chamois genus Rupicapra by using next-generation sequencing. Sequencing of 102 samples led to the identification of 25 alleles, 11 of which are novel. The high ratio of the relative rates of nonsynonymous to synonymous mutations (dN/dS) suggests a signal of positive selection on this locus. We analyzed patterns of genetic variation within and among 2 subspecies of Northern Chamois and compared them to previously published studies using neutral markers to provide a basis for assessing the effects of demographic processes. Our analyses have shown that alleles are likely to be maintained by balancing selection in different populations with similar frequencies and that this mechanism also works in small, isolated populations that are strongly affected by genetic drift.","PeriodicalId":50157,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mammalogy","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139764256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amélie Fontaine, Anouk Simard, Valérie Simard, Hugh G Broders, Kyle H Elliott
Passive integrated transponders (PIT tags) can aid in the collection of important demographic data for species for which other methods, such as GPS technology, are not suitable. PIT tags can be particularly suitable to monitor small and cryptic species like bats and permit inference on their behavioral ecology. Literature for several species of bats states that females change their nightly activity patterns—going out and in of the roost only once per night during gestation compared to several times during lactation. Hence, we tested whether PIT tag detection patterns could be used to infer reproductive status and parturition date of female bats. From 2017 to 2021, we recorded detections of PIT-tagged little brown (Myotis lucifugus) and northern long-eared bats (M. septentrionalis) at the entrance of 2 maternity roosts in Québec and Newfoundland, Canada. We also used the maternity roost in Québec as a case study to further evaluate the potential of this method to link behavior and demography and investigated factors affecting parturition date. We were able to infer reproductive status for 63% to 97% of tagged individuals detected during both the gestation and the lactation periods, and parturition date for 61% to 95% of reproductive individuals, depending on the year and roost. Early spring arrival at the roost and warm spring mean temperature at night were associated with earlier parturition dates. Herein, we highlight that PIT tag systems may be useful to detect changes in activity patterns of female bats and infer individual reproductive parameters, which is on the long-term less stressful for bats and easier for researchers. We demonstrate that this approach is useful to investigate intrinsic and extrinsic factors of reproductive parameters, improving our understanding of bat population dynamics resulting in more informed population management decisions.
{"title":"Using PIT tags to infer bat reproductive status and parturition date: busy nights during lactation","authors":"Amélie Fontaine, Anouk Simard, Valérie Simard, Hugh G Broders, Kyle H Elliott","doi":"10.1093/jmammal/gyad134","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyad134","url":null,"abstract":"Passive integrated transponders (PIT tags) can aid in the collection of important demographic data for species for which other methods, such as GPS technology, are not suitable. PIT tags can be particularly suitable to monitor small and cryptic species like bats and permit inference on their behavioral ecology. Literature for several species of bats states that females change their nightly activity patterns—going out and in of the roost only once per night during gestation compared to several times during lactation. Hence, we tested whether PIT tag detection patterns could be used to infer reproductive status and parturition date of female bats. From 2017 to 2021, we recorded detections of PIT-tagged little brown (Myotis lucifugus) and northern long-eared bats (M. septentrionalis) at the entrance of 2 maternity roosts in Québec and Newfoundland, Canada. We also used the maternity roost in Québec as a case study to further evaluate the potential of this method to link behavior and demography and investigated factors affecting parturition date. We were able to infer reproductive status for 63% to 97% of tagged individuals detected during both the gestation and the lactation periods, and parturition date for 61% to 95% of reproductive individuals, depending on the year and roost. Early spring arrival at the roost and warm spring mean temperature at night were associated with earlier parturition dates. Herein, we highlight that PIT tag systems may be useful to detect changes in activity patterns of female bats and infer individual reproductive parameters, which is on the long-term less stressful for bats and easier for researchers. We demonstrate that this approach is useful to investigate intrinsic and extrinsic factors of reproductive parameters, improving our understanding of bat population dynamics resulting in more informed population management decisions.","PeriodicalId":50157,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mammalogy","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139764101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rodrigo Javier Alonso, Rosario Lovera, María Soledad Fernández, Regino Cavia
Natural processes and patterns are altered by human activity at different spatial and temporal scales, affecting species assemblages and population traits, modifying mechanisms or regulating dynamics at different scales. However, little is known about the influence of landscape structure on small mammal assemblages and populations on farms. Thus, in this work, we aimed to study the effect of landscape and environmental characteristics at the farm scale on the assemblage and populations of native and introduced small mammals in pig and dairy farms located in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Our results showed that farms in contexts of higher environmental diversity at the landscape scale have higher species richness. Our results also showed that variations in assemblage composition were associated with the quantity of water body surfaces, cattle food, small mammal refugia, and impervious surfaces at the farm scale—and with woodland, grassland, and natural vegetation cover at the landscape scale. The abundance of commensal murids was higher on farms near towns, with higher vegetation cover at the farm scale and/or in landscape contexts with fewer crops. The abundance of Akodon azarae was higher on farms with a lower amount of cattle food at the farm scale and crop patches in the landscape. The abundance of Didelphis albiventris was higher during spring on farms with a low proportion of bare ground, while that of Lutreolina crassicaudata was higher on farms with high vegetation cover and a lower number of water body surfaces. These results show the relevance of multiscale determinants in the development of ecologically based management strategies to control pest small mammals.
{"title":"Landscape and farm environmental structure determinants of small mammal assemblages in agroecosystems of central Argentina","authors":"Rodrigo Javier Alonso, Rosario Lovera, María Soledad Fernández, Regino Cavia","doi":"10.1093/jmammal/gyad133","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyad133","url":null,"abstract":"Natural processes and patterns are altered by human activity at different spatial and temporal scales, affecting species assemblages and population traits, modifying mechanisms or regulating dynamics at different scales. However, little is known about the influence of landscape structure on small mammal assemblages and populations on farms. Thus, in this work, we aimed to study the effect of landscape and environmental characteristics at the farm scale on the assemblage and populations of native and introduced small mammals in pig and dairy farms located in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Our results showed that farms in contexts of higher environmental diversity at the landscape scale have higher species richness. Our results also showed that variations in assemblage composition were associated with the quantity of water body surfaces, cattle food, small mammal refugia, and impervious surfaces at the farm scale—and with woodland, grassland, and natural vegetation cover at the landscape scale. The abundance of commensal murids was higher on farms near towns, with higher vegetation cover at the farm scale and/or in landscape contexts with fewer crops. The abundance of Akodon azarae was higher on farms with a lower amount of cattle food at the farm scale and crop patches in the landscape. The abundance of Didelphis albiventris was higher during spring on farms with a low proportion of bare ground, while that of Lutreolina crassicaudata was higher on farms with high vegetation cover and a lower number of water body surfaces. These results show the relevance of multiscale determinants in the development of ecologically based management strategies to control pest small mammals.","PeriodicalId":50157,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mammalogy","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139773048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wildfire and postfire salvage logging are major drivers of forest succession in western North America. Although postfire landscapes support a variety of carnivore species, it is unclear how these animals respond to differing patterns and severities of burning, or to additional landscape change from postfire salvage logging. Open, early-seral habitats created by these disturbances are predicted to benefit generalists such as coyotes (Canis latrans) and weasels (Mustela spp.), but restrict the activity of forest specialists such as Canadaian Lynx (Lynx canadensis) and Pacific Marten (Martes caurina). We used winter track surveys, supplemented with remote cameras, to examine carnivore habitat use in and around large, mixed-severity burns in north-central Washington, United States (burned in 2006), and central British Columbia, Canada (burned in 2010, then partially salvage-logged; some areas reburned in 2017). At 10 to 13 years postfire, marten had similar detection rates across lightly and severely burned areas of the 2006 burn, as did coyotes. Marten selected lightly burned areas of the 2010 burn (6 to 9 years postfire) over higher burn severities, and selected burns over adjacent unburned forests. Weasels selected areas of higher burn severity on both landscapes, while Lynx selected lower burn severities. Weasels and coyotes selected areas with a greater proportion of salvage-logged habitat in the 2010 burn, while marten, lynx, and wolves (Canis lupus) avoided areas with salvage logging. Fishers (Pekania pennanti) showed no clear patterns of selection or avoidance in relation to burn severity or salvage logging. Burn severity strongly influences wildlife activity postfire; lightly burned residual habitats are critical for forest specialists. Postfire salvage logging alters carnivore communities and may hinder species that require structurally complex landscapes.
{"title":"Effects of burn severity and postfire salvage logging on carnivore communities in montane forests","authors":"Logan A Volkmann, Karen E Hodges","doi":"10.1093/jmammal/gyad135","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyad135","url":null,"abstract":"Wildfire and postfire salvage logging are major drivers of forest succession in western North America. Although postfire landscapes support a variety of carnivore species, it is unclear how these animals respond to differing patterns and severities of burning, or to additional landscape change from postfire salvage logging. Open, early-seral habitats created by these disturbances are predicted to benefit generalists such as coyotes (Canis latrans) and weasels (Mustela spp.), but restrict the activity of forest specialists such as Canadaian Lynx (Lynx canadensis) and Pacific Marten (Martes caurina). We used winter track surveys, supplemented with remote cameras, to examine carnivore habitat use in and around large, mixed-severity burns in north-central Washington, United States (burned in 2006), and central British Columbia, Canada (burned in 2010, then partially salvage-logged; some areas reburned in 2017). At 10 to 13 years postfire, marten had similar detection rates across lightly and severely burned areas of the 2006 burn, as did coyotes. Marten selected lightly burned areas of the 2010 burn (6 to 9 years postfire) over higher burn severities, and selected burns over adjacent unburned forests. Weasels selected areas of higher burn severity on both landscapes, while Lynx selected lower burn severities. Weasels and coyotes selected areas with a greater proportion of salvage-logged habitat in the 2010 burn, while marten, lynx, and wolves (Canis lupus) avoided areas with salvage logging. Fishers (Pekania pennanti) showed no clear patterns of selection or avoidance in relation to burn severity or salvage logging. Burn severity strongly influences wildlife activity postfire; lightly burned residual habitats are critical for forest specialists. Postfire salvage logging alters carnivore communities and may hinder species that require structurally complex landscapes.","PeriodicalId":50157,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mammalogy","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139663033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nielson Pasqualotto, Larissa L Bailey, Danilo Boscolo, Thiago S F Silva, Nayra T Rodrigues, Bruno H Saranholi, Pedro M Galetti Jr., Marcella do Carmo Pônzio, Vinicius Alberici, Adriano G Chiarello
European Hare (Lepus europaeus), like many invasive species, have declined in much of their native range but flourished in non-native regions (e.g. South America). Previous studies suggested that loss of farmland heterogeneity due to agricultural intensification is the main driver of the species decline in its native range in Europe. Yet, little is known about the role of spatial and temporal heterogeneity and land cover types as predictors of European Hare local abundance in Neotropical agricultural landscapes. We hypothesized that spatial and temporal heterogeneity, rather than land cover types, would be the most influential predictors of hare local abundance in intensively managed Neotropical agricultural landscapes. We sampled 55 sites embedded within agricultural-dominated landscapes from southeastern Brazil with camera traps and transect surveys. Sites were selected along an uncorrelated gradient of native vegetation cover and compositional heterogeneity. We estimated the relative abundance of European hares using an occupancy model that accounts for imperfect detection of species induced primarily by variation in local abundance. We found that land cover diversity, sugarcane, and savanna cover were the best predictors of European Hare relative abundance. Hare relative abundance estimates were low and did not vary dramatically among sites, suggesting that this invader has not yet attained high local density in our study region. European Hare attained the highest relative abundance in agricultural landscapes that locally combine higher compositional heterogeneity, including sugarcane crops, and little to no native savanna. Areas with these combined features may represent the most important nascent foci, fostering ongoing northward spread of this invasive species in the Neotropics.
{"title":"Determining abundance predictors of the European Hare (Lepus europaeus), a global invader in southeastern Brazil","authors":"Nielson Pasqualotto, Larissa L Bailey, Danilo Boscolo, Thiago S F Silva, Nayra T Rodrigues, Bruno H Saranholi, Pedro M Galetti Jr., Marcella do Carmo Pônzio, Vinicius Alberici, Adriano G Chiarello","doi":"10.1093/jmammal/gyad130","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyad130","url":null,"abstract":"European Hare (Lepus europaeus), like many invasive species, have declined in much of their native range but flourished in non-native regions (e.g. South America). Previous studies suggested that loss of farmland heterogeneity due to agricultural intensification is the main driver of the species decline in its native range in Europe. Yet, little is known about the role of spatial and temporal heterogeneity and land cover types as predictors of European Hare local abundance in Neotropical agricultural landscapes. We hypothesized that spatial and temporal heterogeneity, rather than land cover types, would be the most influential predictors of hare local abundance in intensively managed Neotropical agricultural landscapes. We sampled 55 sites embedded within agricultural-dominated landscapes from southeastern Brazil with camera traps and transect surveys. Sites were selected along an uncorrelated gradient of native vegetation cover and compositional heterogeneity. We estimated the relative abundance of European hares using an occupancy model that accounts for imperfect detection of species induced primarily by variation in local abundance. We found that land cover diversity, sugarcane, and savanna cover were the best predictors of European Hare relative abundance. Hare relative abundance estimates were low and did not vary dramatically among sites, suggesting that this invader has not yet attained high local density in our study region. European Hare attained the highest relative abundance in agricultural landscapes that locally combine higher compositional heterogeneity, including sugarcane crops, and little to no native savanna. Areas with these combined features may represent the most important nascent foci, fostering ongoing northward spread of this invasive species in the Neotropics.","PeriodicalId":50157,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mammalogy","volume":"67 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139649371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anna Bálint, Vivien Reicher, Barbara Csibra, Márta Gácsi
We have successfully measured the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) of 12 family cats during an afternoon nap using a completely noninvasive methodology originally developed and validated for family dogs. Extracting both macrostructural and spectral sleep variables from the acquired data, we: (1) provided a descriptive analysis of sleep structure in cats and the power spectral density (PSD) distribution considering 3 sleep stages—drowsiness, non-rapid eye movement (NREM), and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep; and (2) compared the results to those obtained in family dogs measured under the same conditions and using the same methodology. Importantly, our description of sleep structure and PSD distribution in cats proved to be comparable to those of earlier invasive studies, highlighting that appropriate noninvasive methodologies may provide a viable alternative to those that are invasive in some cases. While no macrostructural differences were found between the sleep of cats and dogs, and the characteristic PSDs were mostly similar across sleep stages within the 2 species, the high-frequency resolution comparison of PSD distributions revealed differences between the 2 species in all sleep stages (concerning the delta, theta, alpha, sigma, and beta bands in drowsiness and NREM sleep; and the delta, alpha, and sigma bands in REM sleep). Potential factors underlying these differences are discussed, including differences in circadian rhythms, sleep homeostatic regulation, experienced stress, or even differential attitudes toward owners—highlighting important links between sleep characteristics and often more complex neural and behavioral features.
{"title":"Noninvasive EEG measurement of sleep in the family cat and comparison with the dog","authors":"Anna Bálint, Vivien Reicher, Barbara Csibra, Márta Gácsi","doi":"10.1093/jmammal/gyad122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyad122","url":null,"abstract":"We have successfully measured the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) of 12 family cats during an afternoon nap using a completely noninvasive methodology originally developed and validated for family dogs. Extracting both macrostructural and spectral sleep variables from the acquired data, we: (1) provided a descriptive analysis of sleep structure in cats and the power spectral density (PSD) distribution considering 3 sleep stages—drowsiness, non-rapid eye movement (NREM), and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep; and (2) compared the results to those obtained in family dogs measured under the same conditions and using the same methodology. Importantly, our description of sleep structure and PSD distribution in cats proved to be comparable to those of earlier invasive studies, highlighting that appropriate noninvasive methodologies may provide a viable alternative to those that are invasive in some cases. While no macrostructural differences were found between the sleep of cats and dogs, and the characteristic PSDs were mostly similar across sleep stages within the 2 species, the high-frequency resolution comparison of PSD distributions revealed differences between the 2 species in all sleep stages (concerning the delta, theta, alpha, sigma, and beta bands in drowsiness and NREM sleep; and the delta, alpha, and sigma bands in REM sleep). Potential factors underlying these differences are discussed, including differences in circadian rhythms, sleep homeostatic regulation, experienced stress, or even differential attitudes toward owners—highlighting important links between sleep characteristics and often more complex neural and behavioral features.","PeriodicalId":50157,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mammalogy","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139581247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}