Type:Text

Subject:Alces alces
Dermacentor albipictus
Moose
Climate change
Parasite
Winter tick

Description:Abstract:Observed links between parasites, such as ticks, and climate change havearoused concern for human health, wildlife population dynamics, and broaderecosystem effects. The one-host life history of the winter tick (Dermacentoralbipictus) links each annual cohort to environmental conditions during threespecific time periods when they are predictably vulnerable: spring detachmentfrom hosts, summer larval stage, and fall questing for hosts. We usedmixed-effects generalized linear models to investigate the drivers of tick loadscarried by moose (Alces alces) relative to these time periods and across750 moose, 10 years, and 16 study areas in the western United States. We testedfor the effects of biotic factors (moose density, shared winter range, vegetation,migratory behavior) and weather conditions (temperature, snow, humidity) duringeach seasonal period when ticks are vulnerable and off-host. We found thatwarm climatic regions, warm seasonal periods across multiple partitions of theannual tick life cycle, and warm years relative to long-term averages each contributedto increased tick loads. We also found important effects of snow andother biotic factors such as host density and vegetation. Tick loads in the westernUnited States were, on average, lower than those where tick-related die-offsin moose populations have occurred recently, but loads carried by some individualsmay be sufficient to cause mortality. Lastly, we found interannual variationin tick loads to be most correlated with spring snowpack, suggesting this environmentalcomponent may have the highest potential to induce change in tickload dynamics in the immediate future of this region. [show more]

Type:Text

Subject:Habitat restoration
Colorado Department of Corrections

Description:In 1997 Warren Diesslin, former Warden of the Buena Vista Correctional Facility, and Eddie Kochman, former Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) Aquatic Section Manager, met and discussed a joint venture to rehabilitate degraded stream habitats while providing heavy construction training for inmates sincere about changing the direction of their lives. These men conceived and supported the vision of what is now known as the Vocational Heavy Construction Technology (VHCT) program. Tom Bowen, once a prison guard and later a Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) vocational educational instructor with years of practical heavy construction experience, developed and coordinated this program with the support and approval of Warden Diesslin. Tom contacted the Colorado Contractors Association (CCA) and they agreed to serve as a program sponsor. The CCA has since become an integral part of the program, serving as the advisory board and assisting student inmates with job placement once they have successfully completed the program. Through the VHCT program, two state agencies (CDOW and CDOC) and private industry have formed a rare partnership with different missions: to help redirect human lives while restoring river natural processes and aquatic habitats within driving distance of the Buena Vista Correctional Facility. [show more]

Description:CPW Main Website: https://cpw.state.co.us/ CPW Volunteer Website: https://cpw.state.co.us/aboutus/Volunteers/Pages/default.aspx Volunteer Handbook: https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Volunteer/Handbook/CPW-Volunteer-Handbook.pdf Manual para Voluntarios: https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Volunteer/Handbook/CPW-Manual-para-Voluntarios.pdf [show more]

Type:Article

Subject:Feline foamy virus
Feline immunodeficiency virus
Mountain lion
Cougar
Wildlife disease

Description:Monitoring pathogens in wildlife populations is imperative for effective management, and for identifying locations for pathogen spillover among wildlife, domestic species and humans. Wildlife pathogen surveillance is challenging, however, as sampling often requires the capture of a significant proportion of the population to understand host pathogen dynamics. To address this challenge, we assessed the ability to use huntercollected teeth from puma across Colorado to recover genetic data of two feline retroviruses, feline foamy virus (FFV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIVpco) and show they can be utilized for this purpose. Comparative phylogenetic analyses of FIVpco and FFV from tooth and blood samples to previous analyses conducted with blood samples collected over a nine-year period from two distinct areas was undertaken highlighting the value of tooth derived samples. We found less FIVpco phylogeographic structuring than observed from sampling only two regions and that FFV data confirmed previous findings of endemic infection, minimal geographic structuring, and supported frequent cross-species transmission from domestic cats to pumas. Viral analysis conducted using intentionally collected blood samples required extensive financial, capture and sampling efforts. This analysis illustrates that viral genomic data can be cost effectively obtained using tooth samples incidentally-collected from hunter harvested pumas, taking advantage of samples collected for morphological age identification. This technique should be considered as an opportunistic method to provide broad geographic sampling to define viral dynamics more accurately in wildlife [show more]

Type:Article

Subject:Body condition
Colorado
Ingesta-free body fat
Mule deer
<em>Odocoileus hemionus</em>
Variance components

Description:The use of ultrasonograhic measurements of muscle and body fat represent a relatively new data stream that can be used to address questions regarding ungulate condition. We have learned that measurements of body fat and presumably overall body condition among individual animals, even those taken from the same herd at that same time, are highly variable. Relatively little consideration has been given to the sources of variation in body fat and other physiological parameters in wildlife populations. We evaluated the components of variation in late-winter mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) body fat estimates: sampling variation (i.e., variation induced by the particular set of individuals that were sampled) and process variation (i.e., variation stemming from biological processes) with a long-term data set (2002–2015) from Colorado, USA. We collected our data from across Colorado as part of historical research, ongoing research, and periodic population monitoring programs. Mean percent ingesta-free body fat (%IFBF) for sampled mule deer was 7.201.20% (SD). Covariates related to individual deer explained approximately 4% of the total variation in %IFBF and annual effects explained an additional 13% of the variation. Substantial residual variation in %IFBF (83%) remained unexplained. The source of the 83% of unexplained variation is partially linked to fine-scale spatial dynamics but also additional individual metrics we were unable to capture, primarily the presence or absence of dependent young. We speculate that the primary factors influencing late-winter mule deer body fat and overall condition are individual in nature. These results present a cautionary check on herdlevel inference that can bemade from individual late-winter body fat estimates and we postulate that for mule deer, alternative and additional body condition metrics may offer added utility in management scenarios. However, an important next step to better understand wildlife population health is to evaluate the sources and magnitude of variation within other body condition metrics, with the goal of further refining data that can better allow biologists to incorporate herd health into population management recommendations. [show more]

Type:Article

Subject:Closure
Density
Geographic closure
Mean maximum distance moved
Simulation
Spatially explicit capture-recapture
Telemetry
Trapping grid

Description:Estimation of animal density is fundamental to wildlife research and management, but estimation via mark–recapture is often complicated by lack of geographic closure of study sites. Contemporary methods for estimating density using mark–recapture data include (1) approximating the effective area sampled by an array of detectors based on the mean maximum distance moved (MMDM) by animals during the sampling session, (2) spatially explicit capture–recapture (SECR) methods that formulate the problem hierarchically with a process model for animal density and an observation model in which detection probability declines with distance from a detector, and (3) a telemetry estimator (TELEM) that uses auxiliary telemetry information to estimate the proportion of animals on the study site. We used simulation to compare relative performance (percent error) of these methods under all combinations of three levels of detection probability (0.2, 0.4, 0.6), three levels of occasions (5, 7, 10), and three levels of abundance (10, 20, 40 animals). We also tested each estimator using five different models for animal home ranges. TELEM performed best across most combinations of capture probabilities, sampling occasions, true densities, and home range configurations, and performance was unaffected by home range shape. SECR outperformed MMDM estimators in nearly all comparisons and may be preferable to TELEM at low capture probabilities, but performance varied with home range configuration. MMDM estimators exhibited substantial positive bias for most simulations, but performance improved for elongated or infinite home ranges. [show more]

Type:Article

Subject:Birth
Colorado
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Movement
Mule deer
<em>Odocoileus hemionus</em>
Vaginal implant transmitter

Description:Movement patterns of maternal ungulates have been used to determine parturition dates and aid in locating fawns, which may be important for understanding reproductive rates (e.g., pregnancy and fetal), but such methods have not been validated for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). We first determined timing of parturition using vaginal implant transmitters (VITs) and then predicted timing of parturition using VITs in conjunction with Global Positioning System collar data in the Piceance Basin of northwestern Colorado, USA, during 2012–2014. We examined daily movement rate to determine differences in movement rate among days (7 days pre- and postpartum) and for movement patterns indicative of parturition. Mean daily movement rate (m/day) of 102 maternal deer decreased by 46% from 1 day preparturition ( = 1,253, SD = 1,091) to parturition date ( = 682, SD = 574), and remained at this low rate 1–7 days postpartum. We applied an independent data set to validate predicted parturition dates based on daily movement rate. We estimated day of parturition correctly (i.e., day 0), within 1–3 days postparturition, and ≥4 days postparturition of field-reported dates for 10 (29%), 21 (60%), and 4 (11%) maternal females, respectively. For novel data sets, we predict that a mule deer female whose daily movement rate decreases by ≥46% and remains low ≥3 days postparturition particularly when preceded by a sudden increase in movement—has given birth. However, we caution that disturbance of deer by field crews should be minimized, and if birth sites are not found, neonatal mortality will be underestimated. Our results can help determine timing and general location of parturition as an aid in capturing fawns when the use of VITs is not feasible, with the ultimate objective of estimating pregnancy, fetal, and fawn survival rates if birth sites are found. [show more]

Type:Text

Subject:Greater sage-grouse
<em>Centrocercus urophasianus</em>
Northwestern Colorado
Wildlife management

Description:Implementing effective monitoring and mitigation strategies is crucial for conserving populations of sensitive wildlife species. Concern over the status of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations has increased both range-wide and in Colorado due to historical population declines, range contraction, continued loss and degradation of sagebrush habitat, and recent federal listing of the species as warranted but precluded under the Endangered Species Act in 2010. Despite untested assumptions, lek-count data continue to be widely used as an index of abundance by state and federal agencies to monitor sage-grouse populations. Lek locations are also commonly used to identify and protect important sage-grouse habitat. However, the use of lek counts and lek locations to monitor and manage sage-grouse populations remains controversial because it is unknown how closely lek-count data track actual changes in male abundance from year to year, or if lek buffers are effective at reducing disturbance to male sage-grouse and their habitat during the breeding season. [show more]

Type:Article

Subject:Native Cutthroat Trout
<em>Oncorhynchus clarkii</em>
Southern Rocky Mountains
Genetics

Description:Recent research on native Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii of the southern Rocky Mountains suggests a convoluted taxonomy confused by stocking in the early 1900s that obscured the native distributions of these fish.  DNA recovered from the few museum specimens collected 150 years ago shed light on the historical diversity and native ranges of lineages in Colorado. This study aims to characterize what remains of that diversity across the entire southern Rockies using a stratified random sampling design across the range of putative Colorado River Cutthroat Trout O. c. pleuriticus, Greenback Cutthroat Trout O. c. stomias, and Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout O. c. virginalis. Twenty-four biologists from four states collected 801 fish from 49 randomly selected conservation populations across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Whole specimens were used to explore phenotypic differences in lineages suggested by molecular studies. Here, we used tissue samples collected prior to specimen preservation to describe mitochondrial haplotype diversity. These diversity patterns are critical to inform managers tasked with listing decisions for rare Cutthroat Trout lineages. Consistent with previous studies, four distinct lineages were recovered from sequence data on 648 base pairs of the ND2 mitochondrial gene. Substantial diversity was recovered in Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout (12 haplotypes), while only a single haplotype could be found in native Cutthroat Trout of the South Platte River basin. Within Colorado River Cutthroat Trout, nine haplotypes were recovered from 14 populations putatively native to the Upper Colorado, Gunnison, and Dolores basins (Green Lineage), but only six were found in 21 populations native to the Lower Colorado, Green, and Yampa basins (Blue Lineage). This was unexpected given the broad range of the Blue Lineage, and may suggest more recent ancestry of Green River basin fish. Rare haplotypes may indicate pockets of historical diversity. To avoid inadvertently “throwing away the pieces”, these conservation populations should be targeted for replication and protection to ensure their continued persistence. [show more]

Type:Article

Subject:GPS tracking
Habitat models
Interpersonal conflict
Motorized recreation
Non-motorized recreation
Recreation planning

Description:Carnivores are particularly sensitive to reductions in population connectivity caused by human disturbance and  Forest Fragmentation from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages" class="topic-link" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">habitat fragmentation. Permeability of transportation corridors to carnivore movements is central to species conservation given the large spatial extent of transportation networks and the high mobility of many carnivore species. We investigated the degree to which two-lane highways were permeable to movements of resident Canada lynx in the Southern Rocky Mountains based on highway crossings (n = 593) documented with GPS telemetry. All lynx crossed highways when present in home ranges at an average rate of 0.6 crossings per day. Lynx mostly crossed highways during the night and early dawn when traffic volumes were low. Five of 13 lynx crossed highways less frequently than expected when compared to random expectation, but even these individuals crossed highways frequently in parts of their home range. We developed fine- and landscape-scale resource selection function (RSF) models with field and remotely sensed data, respectively. At the fine scale, lynx selected crossings with low distances to vegetative cover and higher tree basal area; we found no support that topography or road infrastructure affected lynx crossing. At the landscape scale, lynx crossed highways in areas with high forest canopy cover in drainages on primarily north-facing aspects. The predicted crossing probabilities generated from the landscape-scale RSF model across western Colorado, USA, were successful in identifying known lynx crossing sites as documented with independent snow-tracking and road-mortality data. We discuss effective mitigation based on model results. [show more]