Hunger mediates apex predator's risk avoidance response in wildland–urban interface

Item Metadata

Dublin Core

Title

Hunger mediates apex predator's risk avoidance response in wildland–urban interface

Description

Puma (Puma concolor), an apex predator, can live at the edge of cities where pockets of low-density human dwellings form residential patches in the wildland–urban interface. Blecha, Boone, and Alldredge (2018) tracked puma via global positioning system (GPS) telemetry collars to determine when and where they hunted and made kills. Well-fed puma (1–2 days between kills) strongly avoided residential patches despite these areas having higher mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) densities and higher kill success for puma. However, the strong avoidance of residential patches completely disappeared as puma became hungrier (4–10 days since last kill) making it more likely that hungry individuals hunted in residential areas and ultimately increasing the likelihood of puma–human conflict.

Bibliographic Citation

Blecha, K. A., R. B. Boone, and M. W. Alldredge. 2018. Hunger mediates apex predator's risk avoidance response in wildland-urban interface. Journal of Animal Ecology 87:609–622. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12801

Creator

Blecha, Kevin A.
Boone, Randall B.
Alldredge, Mathew W.

Subject

Camera traps
Cougar (Puma concolor)
Energetics
Housing avoidance
Human–predator conflict
Patch use
Risk–reward trade-off
Step selection function

Extent

14 pages

Date Created

2018-04-13

Type

Article

Format

application/pdf

Language

English

Is Part Of

Journal of Animal Ecology

Collection

Citation

Blecha, Kevin A., Boone, Randall B., and Alldredge, Mathew W., “Hunger mediates apex predator's risk avoidance response in wildland–urban interface,” CPW Digital Collections, accessed April 26, 2024, https://cpw.cvlcollections.org/items/show/90.