Yellowstone Cougars examines the effect of wolf restoration on the cougar population in Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone Cougars examines the effect of wolf restoration on the cougar population in Yellowstone National Park—one of the largest national parks in the American West. No other study has ever specifically addressed the theoretical and practical aspects of competition between large carnivores in North America. The authors provide a thorough analysis of cougar ecology, how they interact with and are influenced by wolves—their main competitor—and how this knowledge informs management and conservation of both species across the West.
Of practical importance, Yellowstone Cougars addresses the management and conservation of multiple carnivores in increasingly human-dominated landscapes. The authors move beyond a single-species approach to cougar management and conservation to one that considers multiple species, which was impossible to untangle before wolf reestablishment in the Yellowstone area provided biologists with this research opportunity.
Yellowstone Cougars provides objective scientific data at the forefront of understanding cougars and large carnivore community structure and management issues in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, as well as in other areas where wolves and cougars are reestablishing. Intended for an audience of scientists, wildlife managers, conservationists, and academics, the book also sets a theoretical precedent for writing about competition between carnivorous mammals.
Arvustused
This is a truly heroic study, involving a tremendous amount of fieldwork over many years. It deserves wide attention. David Armstrong, University of Colorado Boulder
This book will serve as a reference guide and how-to working manual for the future of these animals for decades to come. There is no compilation of work on cougars like this in the world, no compilation that spans a top-level carnivore restoration, no compilation that elucidates such a difficult species to work with. Jim Halfpenny, president, A Naturalists World "For enthusiasts of Yellowstone or carnivores, this is an important book. . . . truly a benchmark in detailing the life history of an elusive and difficult to study species." The Canadian Field-Naturalist "Each chapter could stand alone as a scientific journal article, and the appendixes contain technical information that allows the reader to validate the science. This work is an outstanding contribution to wildlife science." CHOICE "Yellowstone Cougars is, in a word, impressive. The authors of this volume, and chapter contributors as well, are titans in this area of research, and if that were not apparent before reading, it certainly is after you put the book down." The Quarterly Review of Biology
|
|
vii | |
Foreword |
|
xiii | |
|
Acknowledgments |
|
xv | |
|
PART I COUGAR STUDIES BEFORE AND DURING WOLF RESTORATION |
|
|
|
1 Introduction and Background |
|
|
5 | (8) |
|
2 The Northern Yellowstone Landscape |
|
|
13 | (11) |
|
3 Quantifying How Species Compete or Coexist |
|
|
24 | (21) |
|
PART 2 FOOD RESOURCES: COUGAR-WOLF-PREY RELATIONSHIPS |
|
|
|
4 Predation on the Greater Yellowstone Northern Range |
|
|
45 | (4) |
|
5 Prey Selection by Cougars and Wolves |
|
|
49 | (20) |
|
|
69 | (21) |
|
7 Direct Interactions at Kills |
|
|
90 | (19) |
|
8 Combined Influences: Cougars, Wolves, and Humans |
|
|
109 | (14) |
|
PART 3 LANDSCAPE USE: DO COUGARS AVOID WOLVES? |
|
|
|
9 How Might Cougars Respond to Wolves? |
|
|
123 | (6) |
|
10 Spatial Responses of Cougars to Wolf Presence |
|
|
129 | (22) |
|
11 Patterns of Resource Use Prior to and during Wolf Restoration |
|
|
151 | (25) |
|
12 Synthesis: Competition Refuges and Managing Risks in a Wolf-Dominated System |
|
|
176 | (11) |
|
PART 4 BEFORE AND AFTER WOLF RESTORATION: COUGAR POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS |
|
|
|
13 How Might Wolf Restoration Affect the Cougar Population? |
|
|
187 | (4) |
|
14 Cougar Population Structure |
|
|
191 | (8) |
|
15 Reproduction and Survival Rates of Cougars |
|
|
199 | (19) |
|
16 Dispersal and Population Change |
|
|
218 | (17) |
|
PART 5 CARNIVORES AND HUMANS: COMPETITION AND COEXISTENCE |
|
|
|
17 Synthesis: The Niches of Cougars and Wolves |
|
|
235 | (12) |
|
18 Management and Conservation of Cougars: Considering Interspecific Competition |
|
|
247 | (14) |
|
|
|
A Kill Evaluation and Categorization Chart |
|
|
261 | (2) |
|
B Modeling Factors Influencing Kill Rates |
|
|
263 | (1) |
|
C Fixed Kernel Home Range Estimation and Smoothing |
|
|
264 | (1) |
|
D Population-Level Estimates of Selection Coefficients |
|
|
265 | (2) |
|
E Synoptic Habitat Variables Description and Details |
|
|
267 | (3) |
|
F Odds Ratios and Probability Ratios |
|
|
270 | (1) |
Notes |
|
271 | (10) |
References |
|
281 | (30) |
Index |
|
311 | |
Toni K. Ruth is Executive Director of Salmon Valley Stewardship in Salmon, Idaho. She worked as a Wildlife Research Scientist with the Selway Institute, Hornocker Wildlife Institute, and the Wildlife Conservation Society, which supported the fifteen-year Yellowstone cougar work. During a twenty-eight-year research career, she studied cougar populations in Texas, New Mexico, Montana, and Idaho. Polly C. Buotte is currently a research ecologist at Oregon State University, working to improve ecosystem models to assess the influence of climate change on the carbon cycle. She previously worked with the Selway Institute, Hornocker Wildlife Institute, and Wildlife Conservation Society, studying cougars in Yellowstone. Maurice G. Hornocker is a wildlife biologist and founder of the Hornocker Wildlife Institute in 1985 and the Selway Institute in 2005. Throughout his 50-plus-year career he has studied big mammalian carnivores, beginning with his experience with the Craighead brothers and grizzlies in Yellowstone. He has since initiated and directed original research on the big cats on several continents, authored and coauthored more than 100 scientific publications, and received numerous awards for his work, including the Wildlife Societys 2010 Book of the Year award for Cougar: Ecology and Conservation.