Erin Boydston (Former Employee)
Science and Products
Documentation of mountain lions in Marin County, California, 2010–2013
Prior to 2010, mountain lions (Puma concolor) have rarely been documented in Marin County, California. Although there are reports of sightings of mountain lions or observations of mountain lion sign, most have not been verified by photographs or physical samples. Beginning in 2010, we conducted a pilot study of mountain lions in Marin County...
Fifield, Virginia L.; Rossi, Aviva J.; Boydston, Erin E. Mark-recapture and mark-resight methods for estimating abundance with remote cameras: a carnivore case study
Abundance estimation of carnivore populations is difficult and has prompted the use of non-invasive detection methods, such as remotely-triggered cameras, to collect data. To analyze photo data, studies focusing on carnivores with unique pelage patterns have utilized a mark-recapture framework and studies of carnivores without unique pelage...
Alanso, Robert S.; McClintock, Brett T.; Lyren, Lisa M.; Boydston, Erin E.; Crooks, Kevin R. Anticoagulant rodenticides in urban bobcats: exposure, risk factors and potential effects based on a 16-year study
Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are increasingly recognized as a threat to nontarget wildlife. High exposure to ARs has been documented globally in nontarget predatory species and linked to the high prevalence of an ectoparasitic disease, notoedric mange. In southern California, mange associated with AR exposure has been the proximate cause of a...
Serieys, Laurel E.K.; Armenta, Tiffany C.; Moriarty, Joanne G.; Boydston, Erin E.; Lyren, Lisa M.; Poppenga, Robert H.; Crooks, Kevin R.; Wayne, Robert K.; Riley, Seth P. D. Roads influence movement and home ranges of a fragmentation-sensitive carnivore, the bobcat, in an urban landscape
Roads in urbanized areas can impact carnivore populations by constraining their movements and increasing mortality. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) are felids capable of living in urban environments, but are sensitive to habitat fragmentation and, thus, useful indicators of landscape connectivity; in particular, bobcat habitat selection, movement, and...
Poessel, Sharon A; Boydston, Erin E.; Lyren, Lisa M.; Fisher, Robert N.; Burdett, Christopher L.; Alonso, Robert S.; Crooks, Kevin R. Wildlife friendly roads: the impacts of roads on wildlife in urban areas and potential remedies
Roads are one of the most important factors affecting the ability of wildlife to live and move within an urban area. Roads physically replace wildlife habitat and often reduce habitat quality nearby, fragment the remaining habitat, and cause increased mortality through vehicle collisions. Much ecological research on roads has focused on whether...
Riley, Seth P D; Brown, Justin L.; Sikich, Jeff A.; Schoonmaker, Catherine M.; Boydston, Erin E. Incorporating cold-air pooling into downscaled climate models increases potential refugia for snow-dependent species within the Sierra Nevada Ecoregion, CA
We present a unique water-balance approach for modeling snowpack under historic, current and future climates throughout the Sierra Nevada Ecoregion. Our methodology uses a finer scale (270 m) than previous regional studies and incorporates cold-air pooling, an atmospheric process that sustains cooler temperatures in topographic depressions thereby...
Curtis, Jennifer A.; Flint, Lorraine E.; Flint, Alan L.; Lundquist, Jessica D.; Hudgens, Brian; Boydston, Erin E.; Young, Julie K. Evolution of puma lentivirus in bobcats (Lynx rufus) and mountain lions (Puma concolor) in North America
Mountain lions (Puma concolor) throughout North and South America are infected with puma lentivirus clade B (PLVB). A second, highly divergent lentiviral clade, PLVA, infects mountain lions in southern California and Florida. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) in these two geographic regions are also infected with PLVA, and to date, this is the only strain of...
Lee, Justin S.; Bevins, Sarah N.; Serieys, Laurel E.K.; Vickers, Winston; Logan, Ken A.; Aldredge, Mat; Boydston, Erin E.; Lyren, Lisa M.; McBride, Roy; Roelke-Parker, Melody; Pecon-Slattery, Jill; Troyer, Jennifer L.; Riley, Seth P.; Boyce, Walter M.; Crooks, Kevin R.; VandeWoude, Sue Evaluation of road expansion and connectivity mitigation for wildlife in southern California
We designed a remote-camera survey to study how the expansion of California State Route 71 (CA-71) and implementation of connectivity mitigation affected the use of underpasses by large mammals in southern California. Based on detections by cameras, the use of underpasses by bobcats (Lynx rufus) was higher within the area of expansion and...
Alonso, Robert S.; Lyren, Lisa M.; Boydston, Erin E.; Haas, Christopher D.; Crooks, Kevin R. Carnivore use of avocado orchards across an agricultural-wildland gradient
Wide-ranging species cannot persist in reserves alone. Consequently, there is growing interest in the conservation value of agricultural lands that separate or buffer natural areas. The value of agricultural lands for wildlife habitat and connectivity varies as a function of the crop type and landscape context, and quantifying these differences...
Nogeire, Theresa M.; Davis, Frank W.; Duggan, Jennifer M.; Crooks, Kevin R.; Boydston, Erin E. Mapping behavioral landscapes for animal movement: a finite mixture modeling approach
Because of its role in many ecological processes, movement of animals in response to landscape features is an important subject in ecology and conservation biology. In this paper, we develop models of animal movement in relation to objects or fields in a landscape. We take a finite mixture modeling approach in which the component densities are...
Tracey, Jeff A.; Zhu, Jun; Boydston, Erin E.; Lyren, Lisa M.; Fisher, Robert N.; Crooks, Kevin R. Serum chemistry, hematologic, and post-mortem findings in free-ranging bobcats (Lynx rufus) with notoedric mange
Notoedric mange was responsible for a population decline of bobcats (Lynx rufus) in 2 Southern California counties from 2002–2006 and is now reported to affect bobcats in Northern and Southern California. With this study we document clinical laboratory and necropsy findings for bobcats with mange. Bobcats in this study included free-ranging...
Serieys, Laurel E.K.; Foley, Janet; Owens, Sean; Woods, Leslie; Boydston, Erin E.; Lyren, Lisa M.; Poppenga, Robert H.; Clifford, Deana L.; Stephenson, Nicole; Rudd, Jaime; Riley, Seth P.D. Urban habitat fragmentation and genetic population structure of bobcats in coastal southern California
Although habitat fragmentation is recognized as a primary threat to biodiversity, the effects of urban development on genetic population structure vary among species and landscapes and are not yet well understood. Here we use non-invasive genetic sampling to compare the effects of fragmentation by major roads and urban development on levels of...
Ruell, E.W.; Riley, S.P.D.; Douglas, M.R.; Antolin, M.F.; Pollinger, J.R.; Tracey, J.A.; Lyren, L.M.; Boydston, E.E.; Fisher, R.N.; Crooks, K.R.