John A. Shivik

Efficacy of an animal-activated frightening device on urban elk and mule deer

Abstract Cervids readily adapt to suitable human-altered landscapes and can cause several types of damage, including economic loss associated with landscape and agricultural plantings, human health and safety concerns, and adverse impacts on natural habitats. The need for effective, practical, and nonlethal tools to manage damage caused by elk (Cervus elaphus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has been heightened by the growing prevalence of locally overabundant populations and public demand for nonlethal wildlife management methods. Various frightening devices are available commercially, but most have not been subjectively evaluated. We used consumption measurements to evaluate the efficacy of a specific motion-activated light- and sound-emitting frightening device for urban mule deer and elk. The devices proved ineffective; deer and elk ignored them. As the demand for frightening devices to reduce deer and elk damage increases, it is important that research be conducted to evaluate the efficacy of new devices so that users know what level of efficacy to expect.

Ontogenetic relationships between cranium and mandible in coyotes and hyenas

Developing animals must resolve the conflicting demands of survival and growth, ensuring that they can function as infants or juveniles while developing toward their adult form. In the case of the mammalian skull, the cranium and mandible must maintain functional integrity to meet the feeding needs of a juvenile even as the relationship between parts must change to meet the demands imposed on adults. We examine growth and development of the cranium and mandible, using a unique ontogenetic series of known‐age coyotes (Canis latrans), analyzing ontogenetic changes in the shapes of each part, and the relationship between them, relative to key life‐history events. Both cranial and mandibular development conform to general mammalian patterns, but each also exhibits temporally and spatially localized maturational transformations, yielding a complex relationship between growth and development of each part as well as complex patterns of synchronous growth and asynchronous development between parts. One major difference between cranium and mandible is that the cranium changes dramatically in both size and shape over ontogeny, whereas the mandible undergoes only modest shape change. Cranium and mandible are synchronous in growth, reaching adult size at the same life‐history stage; growth and development are synchronous for the cranium but not for the mandible. This synchrony of growth between cranium and mandible, and asynchrony of mandibular development, is also characteristic of a highly specialized carnivore, the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), but coyotes have a much less protracted development, being handicapped relative to adults for a much shorter time. Morphological development does not predict life‐history events in these two carnivores, which is contrary to what has been reported for two rodent species. The changes seen in skull shape in successive life‐history stages suggest that adult functional demands cannot be satisfied by the morphology characterizing earlier life‐history stages. J. Morphol. 2011.

Prey-mediated avoidance of an intraguild predator by its intraguild prey.

Intraguild (IG) predation is an important factor influencing community structure, yet factors allowing coexistence of IG predator and IG prey are not well understood. The existence of spatial refuges for IG prey has recently been noted for their importance in allowing coexistence. However, reduction in basal prey availability might lead IG prey to leave spatial refuges for greater access to prey, leading to increased IG predation and fewer opportunities for coexistence. We determined how the availability of prey affected space-use patterns of bobcats (Lynx rufus, IG prey) in relation to coyote space-use patterns (Canis latrans, IG predators). We located animals from fall 2007 to spring 2009 and estimated bobcat home ranges and core areas seasonally. For each bobcat relocation, we determined intensity of coyote use, distance to water, small mammal biomass, and mean small mammal biomass of the home range during the season the location was collected. We built generalized linear mixed models and used Akaike Information Criteria to determine which factors best predicted bobcat space use. Coyote intensity was a primary determinant of bobcat core area location. In bobcat home ranges with abundant prey, core areas occurred where coyote use was low, but shifted to areas intensively used by coyotes when prey declined. High spatial variability in basal prey abundance allowed some bobcats to avoid coyotes while at the same time others were forced into more risky areas. Our results suggest that multiple behavioral strategies associated with spatial variation in basal prey abundance likely allow IG prey and IG predators to coexist.