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Ⓒ Tom Mangelsen

Mountain Lions matter

February 19, 2023/in Research, News

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recently published a study that compounds previous evidence of the positive role large carnivores, such as cougars, have on the landscape. Known as a keystone species,  just like in architecture, lions’ presence or absence ‘holds up’ or ‘destabilizes’ the rest of a structure. In nature it is other species-both flora and fauna.

The more scientists ask questions about the ecological contributions of large carnivores and invest effort into answering those questions, the more juxtaposed the traditional view of mountain lions as nuisance, vermin, or objects of sport becomes.

https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/218081933#image-2

  • CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A camera-trap study of two ecosystems – one with pumas and one without – adds to scientists’ understanding of the many ways apex predators influence the abundance, diversity and habits of other animals, including smaller carnivores.

    Reported in the journal Ecosphere, the study followed multiple members of the order Carnivora, looking at how the largest carnivore in each locale influenced the behavior and presence of other animals in the same vicinity.

    Study lead author Alex Avrin.

    Study lead author Alex Avrin.

    Photo courtesy Alex Avrin

    “Nobody’s really looked at how the whole carnivore community changes when you lose that top predator,” said Alex Avrin, who led the research as an M.S. student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with Max Allen, a research scientist at the Illinois Natural History Survey and professor of natural resources and environmental sciences at the U. of I. Avrin is now a scientist with the California Fish and Wildlife Service.

    Previous studies have shown that pumas tend to suppress populations of medium-sized carnivores like coyotes, which do their best to avoid pumas, Avrin said. Reduced coyote populations allow other medium-sized carnivores to flourish. This has a cascading effect on many other species.

    Camera-trap photo of a coyote.

    When pumas disappear, other carnivores, like this coyote, function as the top predator. But their influence on other carnivore species is distinctly different than that of pumas, a study finds.

    Camera-trap photo courtesy Max Allen

    Pumas also leave behind a lot of carrion, allowing a host of scavengers – from microbes to birds and other animals – to feast on the remains that the pumas don’t consume, Avrin said. Coyotes tend to target smaller species and eat most of what they kill, leaving less behind for other creatures.

    The researchers wanted to compare the dynamics of ecosystems with and without pumas.

    Photo of a striped skunk.

    Striped skunks were more likely to use areas frequented by pumas, but not those used by coyotes.

    Photo by Michael Jeffords and Susan Post

    “We specifically wanted to look at whether, in the absence of pumas, coyotes step up and fill that role of the apex predator,” she said.

    Over several weekslong or monthslong sessions between 2011 and 2019, the researchers deployed grids of motion-activated cameras in various locales in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains of California and across the vast military installation of Fort Hood, Texas. The Santa Cruz site has a healthy population of pumas as well as bobcats, gray foxes, raccoons, striped skunks and coyotes. Fort Hood has those same carnivorous mammals except pumas. It also hosts the eastern spotted skunk and the ringtail, a member of the raccoon family. All of these species were included in the new analysis.

    “We used the photos to get an idea of which species were at each site, what areas they were using and how frequently we detected them,” Avrin said. “And we used a couple of different measures to look at how the smaller carnivores behaved around both the pumas and coyotes.”

    The two locales were similar enough to make these comparisons, “but of course climate, human land use and other variables differed between the sites,” she said.

    Camera-trap photo of a gray fox.

    The study also evaluated other carnivores, including gray foxes.

    Camera-trap photo courtesy Alex Avrin

    As expected, the analysis revealed that wherever pumas were present, coyotes were rarely seen. While other carnivores also appeared to avoid pumas, they were much more likely to be detected by the same camera traps as pumas – just at different times. Even bobcats and gray foxes used areas frequented by pumas more often than the researchers expected.

    In Fort Hood, where pumas were absent, coyotes had a different effect on the other carnivores.

    Camera-trap photo of a bobcat.

    Bobcats were more likely to be present at sites also used by pumas, but appeared to avoid coyotes, researchers found.

    Camera-trap photo courtesy Alex Avrin

    “If coyotes were filling that same apex role that pumas do, we would expect them to suppress bobcats – their next largest competitor – releasing the smaller carnivores,” Avrin said. “And what we found is that they really just suppressed everything – bobcats and the other carnivores.”

    The coyotes appeared to exert less of a suppressive effect on the other carnivores than the pumas had on coyotes, she said.

    “This is a correlational study, so we can’t say definitively that the absence of pumas caused these other effects,” she said. But the study strongly suggests that coyotes do not replace the apex predator in an ecosystem that lacks pumas.

    “So yes, when you lose an apex predator, pretty much your whole ecosystem is going to change,” Avrin said.

    Photo of a raccoon.

    Raccoons appear to be more wary of pumas than of coyotes.

    Photo by Michael Jeffords and Susan Post

    “In the absence of pumas, you’ll likely have more intensive grazing by deer, especially in areas near water, which can affect stream flows and other species,” she said. “Coyotes, because they can’t control those bigger prey populations the same way, don’t have the same effect. They likely end up suppressing smaller prey populations, which then changes things in a different way.”

    “This study gives us a fuller picture of the changes that occur when an apex predator goes missing,” Allen said. “While many people think that smaller carnivores can move into the apex role, we see that mesocarnivores like coyotes don’t provide the same effects as a true apex predator. This highlights how important it is to keep each species in place for an intact ecological community.”

    The National Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center and the Illinois Natural History Survey supported this research. The INHS is a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the U. of I.

    Editor’s notes:

    To reach Alex Avrin, email alex.avrin@gmail.com.

    To reach Max Allen, email maxallen@illinois.edu.

    The paper “Can a mesocarnivore fill the functional role of an apex predator?” is available online and from the U. of I. News Bureau.

    DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4383

     

    Michael Jeffords and Susan Post are wildlife photographers and research affiliates of the Illinois Natural History Survey at the Prairie Research Institute of the U. of I. Their photographs are available here.

https://cougarfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SpiritMountains.jpg 800 1200 Penny https://cougarfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CougarFundBlack.png Penny2023-02-19 09:06:272023-02-19 09:06:27Mountain Lions matter

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We wouldnt cross a bridge in danger of collapse or go into a building that wasnt stable, so why do we accept the removal of keystone species for human gratification and a landscape without all the parts that keep the system functioning? Celebrating the PUMA today and everyday for what this magnificent animal gives us and our environment. https://cougarfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Keystone-Species.pdf

We wouldn't cross a bridge in danger of collapse or go into a building that wasn't stable, so why do we accept the removal of keystone species for human gratification and a landscape without all the parts that keep the system functioning? Celebrating the PUMA today and everyday for what this magnificent animal gives us and our environment. cougarfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Keystone-Species.pdf ... See MoreSee Less

3 weeks ago
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Right!

Beautifully stated.

Needed to control the whitetail population in Indiana.

So beautiful.. Love them all.

Nothing like a little face to face in the fog at night, after your ride forgot to pick you up, (the one time I left my hiking bells at home). Unless it is waking to fresh snow and big cat tracks right up to where your head had been laying while you slept. Here Yowler! Here boy! 🤣

Hunting wild animals should be outlawed and replaced with outdoor photography

Humans worst parasites

Humans are inhumane. Ironic.

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This content isn't available right now

When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.
1 month ago
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Just look in the White House

There should be no hunting or trapping

The #GreatWhiteHunter is a predator..

Wow! it's that time again, The Cougar Fund is once again participating in Old Bill’s Fun Run, a community wide fundraiser through the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. During Old Bill’s gifts to participating nonprofits are partially matched, meaning your gift to the Cougar Fund has even greater impact. You can give online at oldbills.org and designate The Cougar Fund as the recipient of your gift. www.oldbills.org/give ... See MoreSee Less

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How to Give

www.oldbills.org

Learn how to give through Old Bill's of Jackson, WY - there are many ways to donate to Teton County nonprofits. By donating through Old Bill’s during the giving season, the impact of each designated...
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PlayHow do you cougar-proof a domestic animal enclosure?

A very useful presentation to help small livestock growers AND mountain lions! ... See MoreSee Less

2 months ago
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Photography & Video by Thomas D. Mangelsen and Wild Nature Media.
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It can’t be completed soon enough.Steve Winter PhotographyCan a mesocarnivore fill in the functional role of an apex predator?
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