Category Archives: urban species

Highways, Genes and So. Cal. Mountain Lions

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UC Davis mountain lion geneticsThe mountain lions of southern California are hemmed in on all sides. In one place a 10-lane highway divides mountain lion habitat. All that development is particularly difficult on a species with such a large home range.

All those highways and housing developments are putting a crimp in the mountain lions of the region’s gene pool, says a recent paper in PLoS ONE by University of California, Davis scientists. The mountain lions of the Santa Ana Mountains are no longer on speaking terms with the mountain lions of the Santa Monica Mountains. Within those population segments, genetic diversity is low.

I just covered this issue back in January (where the solution was a wildlife crossing) and wasn’t sure it was worth writing about again, but a the UC Davis press release and a Los Angeles Times article pointed out that we’ve seen this phenomenon of mountain lions hemmed in by a growing human population before — in the Florida panther. Other Puma populations may not be as distinctive as the Florida panther, but we are almost certainly sure to see this again. If there is a solution, it is a story worth following.

Read the PLoS ONE paper here.
Read the UC Davis press release here.
Read the Los Angeles Times story here.

Photo/map: This map identifies puma captures in the Santa Ana Mountains and eastern Peninsular ranges of southern California. The inset photo is of a mountain lion keeping watch while her juvenile cubs feed. Courtesy: UC Davis/The Nature Conservancy

Urban (and Suburban) Deer

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deer technical guideThe Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife has put together a 32-page online booklet to help municipalities better understand deer and available management options. The impact of white-tailed deer within urban communities is not just a problem in several Indiana communities, but is a growing problem nationwide.

“The Urban Deer guide was developed to support communities that struggle with urban deer conflicts,” said Chad Stewart, DNR’s deer management biologist in a department statement. “Very few topics can be as polarizing as dealing with white-tailed deer in an urban setting. How to resolve these conflicts can cause elected officials many sleepless nights.”

The booklet includes appendices on using sharp-shooters, deer resistant plants, and a solutions matrix.

This link will take you straight to the PDF of the booklet, Urban Deer: Technical Guide.

LA Mtn. Lions Need Overpass

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mo mountain lionThere is a small population of mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, just northeast of Los Angeles. The problem is, an article in the LA Times says, the population is hemmed in by highways, agricultural fields and the ocean, and is too small to be self-sustaining. Wandering male mountain lions typically die in traffic before reaching the enclave, causing inbreeding.

The solution, say some area conservationists, is a highway overpass. Twice before, funding for a wildlife tunnel under the roadways was rejected. The overpass would cost a lot more. The next step is funding from a local conservation group for the California Department of Transportation to study the overpass option.

Read the article in the Los Angeles Times, here.

Photo: courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation

City Life Changes Birds

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Euro blackbirdThe bright lights (and noise) of the big city haven’t just made the days of songbirds longer, they have thrown a wrench in the birds’ circadian rhythms, researchers studying European blackbirds have found. The study, which is in the current issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that city birds wake up 30 minutes earlier than their forest counterparts and stay up nine minutes later after dark.

When brought into the lab, the city birds still started their days earlier, but their sleep and rest cycles were off.

Read the journal paper, here.
Read coverage of the study from the BBC, here.
And read the Atlantic Cities blog post, here.

Photo: European black bird by Malene Thyssen, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Malene GNU Free Documentation License, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5

City Life Changes Birds

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Euro blackbirdThe bright lights (and noise) of the big city haven’t just made the days of songbirds longer, they have thrown a wrench in the birds’ circadian rhythms, researchers studying European blackbirds have found. The study, which is in the current issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that city birds wake up 30 minutes earlier than their forest counterparts and stay up nine minutes later after dark.

When brought into the lab, the city birds still started their days earlier, but their sleep and rest cycles were off.

Read the journal paper, here.
Read coverage of the study from the BBC, here.
And read the Atlantic Cities blog post, here.

Photo: European black bird by Malene Thyssen, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Malene GNU Free Documentation License, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5

Indiana Studies Urban Fawns

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collared fawn IndianaFrom an Indiana Department of Natural Resources press release:

DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife biologists are partnering with Ball State University biologists to determine how white-tailed deer fawns move in urban areas compared to rural areas.

The study kicked off this spring with more than 30 fawns being collared with lightweight radio transmitters to track their movement. The project will last two years and the data collected will be used to help with statewide management of white-tailed deer. The data will also provide insight into the differences in the lives of urban and rural fawns.

Read the entire press release here.

Photo: Collared fawn, courtesy of Indiana DNR

 

 

 

Hurricane Sandy and Wildlife

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Normally it takes a few weeks after a major natural disaster for the media to turn its attention to the impacts on wildlife. With Hurricane Sandy, some stories have popped up already.

This one is on the impact of hurricanes on shorebirds from National Geographic. (The impact is generally not significant, the article says.) Read the article here.

The survival and movement of one particular non-native species is getting a lot of attention: rats in New York City. The take-away? Many rats likely survived, migrating to the surface from their underground burrows, although young pups probably didn’t. Trash and debris on the streets will likely mean plenty of food, but an unprecedented event like Sandy in NYC means no one really knows what will happen.

Read the AFP story on Space Daily, of all places.

In other non-native species news, the Seattle PI reports that all 135 of the Chincoteague ponies, which live on barrier islands in Virginia, made it through the storm. Read the story here.

Nothing, yet, from the hardest hit areas in New Jersey and New York, but that is not a surprise.

Photo: NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a visible image Sandy’s massive circulation on Oct. 29 at 18:20 UTC (2:20 p.m. EDT). Sandy covers 1.8 million square miles, from the Mid-Atlantic to the Ohio Valley, into Canada and New England. Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team

Colorado’s Urban Bears, Interim Report

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Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) biologist Heather Johnson recently gave an interim report on her five-year black bear study to the state Parks and Wildlife Commission, the Durango Herald reports.

According to the CPW website, the study is intended to gather more information about the increase in conflicts between black bears and humans in the state. Does the increase reflect black bear population trends, or a change in behavior? To that end, the website says, the study:

1) tests management strategies for reducing bear-human conflicts, including a large-scale treatment/control urban-food-removal experiment; 2) determines the consequences of bear use of urban environments on regional bear population dynamics; 3) develops population and habitat models to support the sustainable monitoring and management of bears in Colorado; and 4) examines human attitudes and perceptions related bear-human conflicts and management practices.

One and a half years in, Johnson has found that female black bear behavior of the 51 collared bears she tracks is highly variable. One collared female never left a three block area in Durango, another wandered for 200 miles.

Up next is an experiment comparing conflicts in an area with bear-proof trash cans to one without the cans. That experiment will begin in the spring.

Read more about the study in the Durango Herald, here.
Read brief discriptions of CPW’s black bear research, here.

Photo: Heather Johnson, courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Birds and Windows: NPR Series

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Yesterday, NPR’s Morning Edition began a two part series on birds and windows. The focus of part one was on the Powdermill Avian Research Center in western Pennsylvania. Today’s story will be about “an architectural firm that’s leading the search for bird-friendly buildings.”

If you are familiar with the issues behind bird collisions with windows, the NPR story may not have news for you. But if you find yourself responding to a sudden increase in concern about bird collisions, this series during the AM drive-time may have inspired it. (It was one of the top emailed stories of the day.)

Read and listen to the NPR Morning Edition story, here. There are also photos.
You’ll find today’s story here, as soon as we get a link.

Light: The Forgotten Pollutant

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Light pollution doesn’t get much respect. It is worst in urban areas, which most people in most places have pretty much given up on for wildlife conservation. Until recently, it hasn’t been well studied. And, like lots of other pollutants, human health and well-being are the focus of most of that research.

However, it seems likely that humans are among the species best adapted to light pollution (which may be why we create so much of it). It’s impact is more profound on other species.

A recent documentary, The City Dark, shown on PBS, focuses mostly on the human impacts of light pollution, but touches on wildlife issues as well. You can watch it on-line this weekend, here.

While we strive to give you “news you can use” in every post, this is more of a “something to  think about,” with extra appeal since it is watching TV instead of more science journal reading.

The City Dark, PBS web page.
The site for the film itself is here.
If you are interested in media coverage of the documentary, make sure to visit this post on the filmmaker’s blog.

Photo: Filmmaker Ian Cheney on rooftop, courtesy of Wicked Delicate Films