Species We Study: Terrestrial Mammals
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By Species Management Research Program
September 28, 2022
USGS research into environmental stressors (e.g., climate, drought, floods, wildland fire) and anthropogenic stressors (e.g., energy production, urban encroachment, water abatement) provides managers with information to reduce or eliminate impacts from stressors to fish and wildlife populations and advances our understanding of the efficacy of conservation and adaptation actions to mitigate land-use and climate change impacts on sensitive species.
Terrestrial Mammal Research
Terrestrial Mammal Research
Filter Total Items: 50
No results found.
Recent data related to USGS terrestrial mammal research are listed below. A broader listing of USGS mammal-related data is available from the button below. To see USGS resources about a specific species, use the search box in the blue page header on the top right corner of the page.
Filter Total Items: 38
No Result Found
Recent publications (2020-2022) related to USGS terrestrial mammal research are listed below. A listing of USGS mammal-related publications is available from the button below. To see publications about a specific species, use the search box in the blue page header.
Filter Total Items: 96
Effects of experimental flea removal and plague vaccine treatments on survival of northern Idaho ground squirrels and two coexisting sciurids
Plague is a non-native disease in North America that reduces survival of many mammals. Previous studies have focused on epizootic plague which causes acute mortality events and dramatic declines in local abundance. We know much less about enzootic plague which causes less punctuated reductions in survival and abundance of infected populations. As a result, enzootic plague is much more difficult to
Authors
Amanda R. Goldberg, Courtney J. Conway, Dean E. Biggins
Patterns and processes of pathogen exposure in gray wolves across North America
The presence of many pathogens varies in a predictable manner with latitude, with infections decreasing from the equator towards the poles. We investigated the geographic trends of pathogens infecting a widely distributed carnivore: the gray wolf (Canis lupus). Specifically, we investigated which variables best explain and predict geographic trends in seroprevalence across North American wolf popu
Authors
E. E. Brandell, Paul C. Cross, Meggan E. Craft, Douglas W. Smith, E. J. Dubovi, Marie L. J. Gilbertson, Tyler Wheeldon, John A. Stephenson, Shannon Barber-Meyer, B. L. Borg, Mathew Sorum, Daniel R. Stahler, Allicia P Kelly, Morgan Anderson, H. D. Cluff, Daniel R. MacNulty, David L. Watts, G. Roffler, Helen M. Schwantje, Mark Hebblewhite, K. Beckman, P. J. Hudson
American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)
American black bears (Ursus americanus) are endemic to North America, having speciated from other ursids some 1.2 to 1.8 million years ago (Kurtn & Anderson 1994). During that time, black bears came to occupy nearly all of the forested areas of the North American continent. Historically, black bears were one of the most important mammals to indigenous peoples of North America by providing food, fa
Authors
Joseph D. Clark, Jon P. Beckmann, Mark S. Boyce, Bruce D Leopold, Michael R. Pelton
Why Lyme disease is common in the northern US, but rare in the south: The roles of host choice, host-seeking behavior, and tick density
Lyme disease is common in the northeastern United States, but rare in the southeast, even though the tick vector is found in both regions. Infection prevalence of Lyme spirochetes in host-seeking ticks, an important component to the risk of Lyme disease, is also high in the northeast and northern midwest, but declines sharply in the south. As ticks must acquire Lyme spirochetes from infected verte
Authors
Howard Ginsberg, Graham J. Hickling, Russell L. Burke, Nicholas H. Ogden, Lorenza Beati, Roger A. LeBrun, Isis M. Arsnoe, Rick Gerhold, Seungeun Han, Kaetlyn Jackson, Lauren Maestas, Teresa Moody, Genevieve Pang, Breann Ross, Eric L. Rulison, Jean I. Tsao
Human activities and weather drive contact rates of wintering elk
Wildlife aggregation patterns can influence disease transmission. However, limited research evaluates the influence of anthropogenic and natural factors on aggregation. Many managers would like to reduce wildlife contact rates, driven by aggregation, to limit disease transmission. We develop a novel analytical framework to quantify how management activities such as supplemental feeding and hunting
Authors
William Michael Janousek, Tabitha Graves, Ethan Berman, Geneva W. Chong, Eric K Cole, Sarah Dewey, Aaron N. Johnston, Paul C. Cross
A metapopulation model of social group dynamics and disease applied to Yellowstone wolves
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
Authors
Ellen E. Brandell, A P Dobson, Peter J. Hudson, Paul C. Cross, Douglas W. Smith
Thermal constraints on energy balance, behaviour and spatial distribution of grizzly bears
1. Heat dissipation limit theory posits that energy available for growth and reproduction in endotherms is limited by their ability to dissipate heat. In mammals, endogenous heat production increases markedly during gestation and lactation, and thus female mammals may be subject to greater thermal constraints on energy expenditure than males. Such constraints likely have important implications for
Authors
Savannah A. Rogers, Charlie T. Robbins, Paul D. Mathewson, Anthony M. Carnahan, Frank T. van Manen, Mark A. Haroldson, Warren P. Porter, Taylor R. Rogers, Terrence Soule, Ryan A. Long
Pathology of mouse (Mus musculus) predation on Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
Invasive rodents on islands have adverse effects on native birds in island ecosystems, and rats are the most common culprits. Recently, house mice (Mus musculus) in the South Atlantic were found preying on three species of albatross chicks. Here, we show that house mice can also prey on nesting adult Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (US). In contr
Authors
Thierry M. Work, Meg Duhr, Beth Flint
Yellowstone grizzly bear investigations 2020 - Annual report of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team
This Annual Report summarizes results of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) research and monitoring conducted in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) during 2020. The research and monitoring program is focused on population estimation and demographics, food monitoring, and habitat monitoring. This report also presents a summary of grizzly bear managem
Multilocus metabarcoding of terrestrial leech bloodmeal iDNA increases species richness uncovered in surveys of vertebrate host biodiversity
Leech-derived invertebrate DNA (iDNA) has been successfully leveraged to conduct surveys of vertebrate host biodiversity across the Indo Pacific. However, this technique has been limited methodologically, typically only targeting mammalian 16S rDNA, or both 16S and vertebrate 12S rDNA for leech host determination. To improve the taxonomic richness of vertebrate host species in iDNA surveys, we re-
Authors
Mai Fahmy, Kalani Williams, Michael Tessler, Sarah R. Weiskopf, Evon Hekkala, Mark E. Siddall
Strategic habitat conservation for beach mice: Estimating management scenario efficiencies
The Perdido Key beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis), Choctawhatchee beach mouse (P. p. allophrys), and St. Andrew beach mouse (P. p. peninsularis) are 3 federally endangered subspecies that inhabit coastal dunes of Alabama and Florida, USA. Conservation opportunities for these subspecies are limited and costly. Consequently, well‐targeted efforts are required to achieve their downlis
Authors
James P. Cronin, Blair Tirpak, Leah L Dale, Virginia E Robenski, John M. Tirpak, Bruce G. Marcot
Spatial capture–recapture with random thinning for unidentified encounters
Spatial capture–recapture (SCR) models have increasingly been used as a basis for combining capture–recapture data types with variable levels of individual identity information to estimate population density and other demographic parameters. Recent examples are the unmarked SCR (or spatial count model), where no individual identities are available and spatial mark–resight (SMR) where individual id
Authors
José Jiménez, Ben Augustine, Daniel W. Linden, Richard B. Chandler, Andy Royle
See what's new!
USGS research into environmental stressors (e.g., climate, drought, floods, wildland fire) and anthropogenic stressors (e.g., energy production, urban encroachment, water abatement) provides managers with information to reduce or eliminate impacts from stressors to fish and wildlife populations and advances our understanding of the efficacy of conservation and adaptation actions to mitigate land-use and climate change impacts on sensitive species.
Terrestrial Mammal Research
Terrestrial Mammal Research
Filter Total Items: 50
No results found.
Recent data related to USGS terrestrial mammal research are listed below. A broader listing of USGS mammal-related data is available from the button below. To see USGS resources about a specific species, use the search box in the blue page header on the top right corner of the page.
Filter Total Items: 38
No Result Found
Recent publications (2020-2022) related to USGS terrestrial mammal research are listed below. A listing of USGS mammal-related publications is available from the button below. To see publications about a specific species, use the search box in the blue page header.
Filter Total Items: 96
Effects of experimental flea removal and plague vaccine treatments on survival of northern Idaho ground squirrels and two coexisting sciurids
Plague is a non-native disease in North America that reduces survival of many mammals. Previous studies have focused on epizootic plague which causes acute mortality events and dramatic declines in local abundance. We know much less about enzootic plague which causes less punctuated reductions in survival and abundance of infected populations. As a result, enzootic plague is much more difficult to
Authors
Amanda R. Goldberg, Courtney J. Conway, Dean E. Biggins
Patterns and processes of pathogen exposure in gray wolves across North America
The presence of many pathogens varies in a predictable manner with latitude, with infections decreasing from the equator towards the poles. We investigated the geographic trends of pathogens infecting a widely distributed carnivore: the gray wolf (Canis lupus). Specifically, we investigated which variables best explain and predict geographic trends in seroprevalence across North American wolf popu
Authors
E. E. Brandell, Paul C. Cross, Meggan E. Craft, Douglas W. Smith, E. J. Dubovi, Marie L. J. Gilbertson, Tyler Wheeldon, John A. Stephenson, Shannon Barber-Meyer, B. L. Borg, Mathew Sorum, Daniel R. Stahler, Allicia P Kelly, Morgan Anderson, H. D. Cluff, Daniel R. MacNulty, David L. Watts, G. Roffler, Helen M. Schwantje, Mark Hebblewhite, K. Beckman, P. J. Hudson
American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)
American black bears (Ursus americanus) are endemic to North America, having speciated from other ursids some 1.2 to 1.8 million years ago (Kurtn & Anderson 1994). During that time, black bears came to occupy nearly all of the forested areas of the North American continent. Historically, black bears were one of the most important mammals to indigenous peoples of North America by providing food, fa
Authors
Joseph D. Clark, Jon P. Beckmann, Mark S. Boyce, Bruce D Leopold, Michael R. Pelton
Why Lyme disease is common in the northern US, but rare in the south: The roles of host choice, host-seeking behavior, and tick density
Lyme disease is common in the northeastern United States, but rare in the southeast, even though the tick vector is found in both regions. Infection prevalence of Lyme spirochetes in host-seeking ticks, an important component to the risk of Lyme disease, is also high in the northeast and northern midwest, but declines sharply in the south. As ticks must acquire Lyme spirochetes from infected verte
Authors
Howard Ginsberg, Graham J. Hickling, Russell L. Burke, Nicholas H. Ogden, Lorenza Beati, Roger A. LeBrun, Isis M. Arsnoe, Rick Gerhold, Seungeun Han, Kaetlyn Jackson, Lauren Maestas, Teresa Moody, Genevieve Pang, Breann Ross, Eric L. Rulison, Jean I. Tsao
Human activities and weather drive contact rates of wintering elk
Wildlife aggregation patterns can influence disease transmission. However, limited research evaluates the influence of anthropogenic and natural factors on aggregation. Many managers would like to reduce wildlife contact rates, driven by aggregation, to limit disease transmission. We develop a novel analytical framework to quantify how management activities such as supplemental feeding and hunting
Authors
William Michael Janousek, Tabitha Graves, Ethan Berman, Geneva W. Chong, Eric K Cole, Sarah Dewey, Aaron N. Johnston, Paul C. Cross
A metapopulation model of social group dynamics and disease applied to Yellowstone wolves
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
Authors
Ellen E. Brandell, A P Dobson, Peter J. Hudson, Paul C. Cross, Douglas W. Smith
Thermal constraints on energy balance, behaviour and spatial distribution of grizzly bears
1. Heat dissipation limit theory posits that energy available for growth and reproduction in endotherms is limited by their ability to dissipate heat. In mammals, endogenous heat production increases markedly during gestation and lactation, and thus female mammals may be subject to greater thermal constraints on energy expenditure than males. Such constraints likely have important implications for
Authors
Savannah A. Rogers, Charlie T. Robbins, Paul D. Mathewson, Anthony M. Carnahan, Frank T. van Manen, Mark A. Haroldson, Warren P. Porter, Taylor R. Rogers, Terrence Soule, Ryan A. Long
Pathology of mouse (Mus musculus) predation on Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
Invasive rodents on islands have adverse effects on native birds in island ecosystems, and rats are the most common culprits. Recently, house mice (Mus musculus) in the South Atlantic were found preying on three species of albatross chicks. Here, we show that house mice can also prey on nesting adult Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (US). In contr
Authors
Thierry M. Work, Meg Duhr, Beth Flint
Yellowstone grizzly bear investigations 2020 - Annual report of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team
This Annual Report summarizes results of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) research and monitoring conducted in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) during 2020. The research and monitoring program is focused on population estimation and demographics, food monitoring, and habitat monitoring. This report also presents a summary of grizzly bear managem
Multilocus metabarcoding of terrestrial leech bloodmeal iDNA increases species richness uncovered in surveys of vertebrate host biodiversity
Leech-derived invertebrate DNA (iDNA) has been successfully leveraged to conduct surveys of vertebrate host biodiversity across the Indo Pacific. However, this technique has been limited methodologically, typically only targeting mammalian 16S rDNA, or both 16S and vertebrate 12S rDNA for leech host determination. To improve the taxonomic richness of vertebrate host species in iDNA surveys, we re-
Authors
Mai Fahmy, Kalani Williams, Michael Tessler, Sarah R. Weiskopf, Evon Hekkala, Mark E. Siddall
Strategic habitat conservation for beach mice: Estimating management scenario efficiencies
The Perdido Key beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis), Choctawhatchee beach mouse (P. p. allophrys), and St. Andrew beach mouse (P. p. peninsularis) are 3 federally endangered subspecies that inhabit coastal dunes of Alabama and Florida, USA. Conservation opportunities for these subspecies are limited and costly. Consequently, well‐targeted efforts are required to achieve their downlis
Authors
James P. Cronin, Blair Tirpak, Leah L Dale, Virginia E Robenski, John M. Tirpak, Bruce G. Marcot
Spatial capture–recapture with random thinning for unidentified encounters
Spatial capture–recapture (SCR) models have increasingly been used as a basis for combining capture–recapture data types with variable levels of individual identity information to estimate population density and other demographic parameters. Recent examples are the unmarked SCR (or spatial count model), where no individual identities are available and spatial mark–resight (SMR) where individual id
Authors
José Jiménez, Ben Augustine, Daniel W. Linden, Richard B. Chandler, Andy Royle
See what's new!