Type:Text

Subject:Southern white-tailed ptarmigan
<em>Lagopus leucura altipetens</em>
Colorado
Population assessment
Conservation

Description:Status of the southern white-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura altipetens) in Colorado was assessed from 2013-2017 using a number of metrics to determine trends in abundance, survival, site fidelity, reproductive success, resource selection, and genetic structure. The species inhabits naturally fragmented alpine habitats that have been, and are currently impacted by anthropogenic threats that predominantly include climate change, sheep grazing, hunting, mining, and recreation. Fine-scale genetic structure was apparent between the San Juan Mountains (South population), and those in the central and northern mountain ranges (North population). Though some isolated pockets of white-tailed ptarmigan reside in the state (i.e., Flat Tops and Sangre de Cristo), there is adequate gene flow across Colorado to maintain high genetic diversity with currently no indications of severe effects of small population sizes. [show more]

Type:Article

Subject:Social science
Conservation planning
Wolf reintroduction
Adaptive management

Description:A growing body of literature has highlighted the value of social science for conservation, yet the diverse approaches of the social sciences are still inconsistently incorporated in conservation initiatives. Building greater capacity for social science integration in conservation requires frameworks and case studies that provide concrete guidance and specific examples. To address this need, we have developed a framework aimed at expanding the role for social science in formal conservation planning processes. Our framework illustrates multiple ways in which social science research can contribute to four stages of such processes: 1) defining the problem and project team; 2) defining goals; 3) identifying impact pathways and designing interventions; and 4) developing and evaluating indicators of success (or failure). We then present a timely case study of wolf reintroduction in Colorado, U.S.A., to demonstrate the opportunities, challenges, and complexities of applying our framework in practice. [show more]

Type:Article

Subject:Social groups
Infectious disease
Metapopulation
Yellowstone

Description:The population structure of social species has important consequences for both their demography and transmission of their pathogens. We develop a metapopulation model that tracks two key components of a species’ social system: average group size and number of groups within a population. While the model is general, we parameterize it to mimic the dynamics of the Yellowstone wolf population and two associated pathogens: sarcoptic mange and canine distemper. In the initial absence of disease, we show that group size is mainly determined by the birth and death rates and the rates at which groups fission to form new groups. The total number of groups is determined by rates of fission and fusion, as well as environmental resources and rates of intergroup aggression. Incorporating pathogens into the models reduces the size of the host population, predominantly by reducing the number of social groups. Average group size responds in more subtle ways: infected groups decrease in size, but uninfected groups may increase when disease reduces the number of groups and thereby reduces intraspecific aggression. Our modeling approach allows for easy calculation of prevalence at multiple scales (within group, across groups, and population level), illustrating that aggregate population-level prevalence can be misleading for group-living species. The model structure is general, can be applied to other social species, and allows for a dynamic assessment of how pathogens can affect social structure and vice versa. [show more]

Type:Article

Subject:Snowshoe hare
<em>Lepus americanus</em>
Latitudinal variation
Energy expenditure
Food supply
Winter
Snow depth
Growing season

Description:The relationship between body size and latitude has been the focus of dozens of studies across many species. However, results of testing Bergmann’s rule — that organisms in colder climates or at higher latitudes possess larger body sizes — have been inconsistent across studies. We investigated whether snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus Erxleben, 1777) follow Bergmann’s rule by investigating differences in body mass using data from six published studies and from data of 755 individual hares captured from 10 populations across North America covering 26° of north latitude. We also explored alternative hypotheses related to variation in hare body mass, including winter severity, length of growing season, elevation, and snow depth. We found body mass of hares varied throughout their range, but the drivers of body mass differed based on geographic location. In northern populations, females followed Bergmann’s rule, whereas males did not. In northern populations, male mass was related to mean snow depth. In contrast, in southern populations, body mass of both sexes was related to length of the growing season. These differences likely represent variation in the drivers of selection. Specifically, in the north, a large body size is beneficial to conserve heat because of low winter temperatures, whereas in the south, it is likely due to increased food supply associated with longer growing seasons.Le lien entre la taille du corps et la latitude a fait l’objet de dizaines d’études portant sur de nombreuses espèces. Les résultats des études visant à valider la règle de Bergmann, qui stipule que les organismes vivant en climat plus froid ou à plus haute altitude auraient des corps de plus grandes tailles, ne sont pas cohérents d’une étude à l’autre. Nous avons vérifié si les lièvres d’Amérique (Lepus americanus Erxleben, 1777) suivaient la règle de Bergmann en examinant les différences de masse corporelle dans des données de six études publiées et pour 755 lièvres capturés de 10 populations réparties à la grandeur de l’Amérique du Nord, sur un territoire couvrant 26° de latitude nord. Nous avons aussi examiné différentes hypothèses concernant les variations de la masse corporelle de lièvres, touchant notamment à la rigueur de l’hiver, la durée de la période végétative, l’altitude et l’épaisseur de la neige. Nous avons constaté que la masse corporelle des lièvres varie dans toute leur aire de répartition, mais que les facteurs qui l’influencent diffèrent selon l’endroit. Dans les populations nordiques, les femelles suivent la règle de Bergmann, mais non les mâles. Dans les populations nordiques, la masse des mâles est reliée à l’épaisseur moyenne de la neige, alors que dans les populations méridionales, la masse corporelle des deux sexes est reliée à la durée de la période végétative. Ces différences représentent vraisemblablement des variations des facteurs influant sur la sélection. Plus précisément, au nord, une grande taille du corps est utile parce qu’elle facilite la conservation de chaleur pour faire face aux faibles températures hivernales, alors que dans le sud, elle est probablement due à un meilleur approvisionnement en nourriture associé à des périodes végétatives plus longues. [Traduit par la Rédaction] [show more]

Type:Text

Subject:Snowmobile training

Description:Outdoor sports have always been a way of life to Coloradans. So it will be, in the future, if every participant of every outdoor sport strives to enjoy his liking in a responsible manner. One of the best ways to insure our right to the nonrestricted use of Colorado's outdoor wonderlands for any purpose, is the education of all sportsmen toward responsible recreation, conservation and safety. [show more]

Type:Text

Subject:Snowmobile
Regulations

Description:Statutory Reference CRS 1963 as Amended 62-13

Type:Article

Subject:Short-term memory
Movement ecology
Mule deer
Step-selection functions
Space use
<em>Odocoileus hemionus</em>
Cognition
Long-term memory

Description:Understanding how animals use information about their environment to make movement decisions underpins our ability to explain drivers of and predict animal movement. Memory is the cognitive process that allows species to store information about experienced landscapes, however, remains an understudied topic in movement ecology. By studying how species select for familiar locations, visited recently and in the past, we can gain insight to how they store and use local information in multiple memory types. In this study, we analyzed the movements of a migratory mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) population in the Piceance Basin of Colorado, United States to investigate the influence of spatial experience over different time scales on seasonal range habitat selection. We inferred the influence of short and long-term memory from the contribution to habitat selection of previous space use within the same season and during the prior year, respectively. We fit step-selection functions to GPS collar data from 32 female deer and tested the predictive ability of covariates representing current environmental conditions and both metrics of previous space use on habitat selection, inferring the latter as the influence of memory within and between seasons (summer vs. winter). Across individuals, models incorporating covariates representing both recent and past experience and environmental covariates performed best. In the top model, locations that had been previously visited within the same season and locations from previous seasons were more strongly selected relative to environmental covariates, which we interpret as evidence for the strong influence of both short- and long-term memory in driving seasonal range habitat selection. Further, the influence of previous space uses was stronger in the summer relative to winter, which is when deer in this population demonstrated strongest philopatry to their range. Our results suggest that mule deer update their seasonal range cognitive map in real time and retain long-term information about seasonal ranges, which supports the existing theory that memory is a mechanism leading to emergent space-use patterns such as site fidelity. Lastly, these findings provide novel insight into how species store and use information over different time scales. [show more]

Type:Fact Sheet

Subject:Shooting
Archery
Fact sheet

Description:Overview of CPW programs

Type:Text

Subject:Rio Grande cutthroat trout

Description:Attached to this letter are tables summarizing 2008 range-wide activities for Rio Grande cutthroat trout (RGCT) in a report format agreed upon by the range-wide conservation team. As you know, our activities are divided into seven main categories identified in the range-wide agreement. Below is a brief summary of our activities for Rio Grande cutthroat trout in 2008. [show more]

Type:Text

Subject:Rio Grande cutthroat trout

Description:Attached to this letter are tables summarizing 2009 range-wide activities for Rio Grande cutthroat trout (RGCT) in a report format agreed upon by the range-wide conservation team. Once again, our activities are divided into seven main categories identified in the range wide agreement. Below is a brief summary of our activities for Rio Grande cutthroat trout in 2009. [show more]