DANCING WITH WOLVES: A CHOREOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE

Kent J Laudon; klaudon22@gmail.com;

Managing the fish and wildlife public trust is challenging especially in a value diverse and increasingly polarized society. High profile and controversial topics like wolves are uniquely difficult and complex because they occur in our sharpest sociopolitical realities of the day including our urban vs. rural fracture, decreased faith in government and leaders, and the promotion of “alternative facts.” However, wolves provide a superb opportunity for managers to grow in our societal cognizance and better engage with our publics to improve two-way communication, trust, and credibility. Managers must become savvier to choreograph well in a changed world – not just the biological to ecological, but also the psychological and the sociological. We must reinvent ourselves to interact with our publics in a manner that reduces barriers and promotes valued connections with individuals, groups, communities, and media professionals, that broadens and deepens human relationships and participation. Some hard-earned perspectives and ideas are presented here.

Mammals III: Canids  InPerson Presentation

 

"CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' " CALIFORNIA WOLF MANAGEMENT UPDATE

Kent J Laudon; kent.laudon@wildlife.ca.gov;

California is one of the most recent U.S. state to be recolonized by gray wolves. Since the male wolf OR-7 dispersed from northeastern Oregon and entered California 7 years ago, more than 15 additional wolves have entered California from other states. There are now three packs in California of which two have now reproduced in multiple years. Monitoring and management is challenging because wolves travel widely and use large, often remote areas. In working landscapes, wolf conservation and management is further complicated by the presence of livestock and land ownership and management patterns. In California this is magnified because most citizens lack of experience living with wolves, and the lack of some tools to mitigate wolf-caused livestock damage. As CDFW works to conserve wolves and minimize impacts to livestock producers, we strive to collaborate closely with communities within wolf range and to work hard towards good two-way communication and meaningful trust relationships. CDFW's wolf monitoring and management is adaptive and multifaceted and involves working closely with both wolves and people.

Mammals III: Canids  InPerson Presentation

 

GENOME-WIDE SEQUENCING UNCOVERS RECENT ADMIXTURE PULSES AND SELECTIVE INTROGRESSION BETWEEN HIGHLY DIVERGENT GRAY FOX LINEAGES

Sophie Preckler-Quisquater; UC Davis Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit; squisquater@ucdavis.edu; Elizabeth M. Kierepka, Dawn M. Reding, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Benjamin N. Sacks

Past climatic fluctuations have heavily influenced species distributions, often causing periods of isolation in refugia, followed by secondary contact and gene flow. Previous mitochondrial analysis of the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) identified a division in the Great Plains between eastern and western lineages that were unusually divergent relative to other North American carnivores (up to 1 Mya), possibly representing cryptic species. However, nuclear divergence and reproductive isolation were not investigated. Using both reduced-representation (n = 259) and whole-genome (n = 42) sequencing, we investigated these questions by first assessing divergence time and evidence for admixture, and then, upon discovering an admixture zone, investigating the extent and timing of admixture pulses. Nuclear analyses of divergence supported previous mtDNA estimates of divergence time and indicated a narrow zone of admixture. Using local ancestry reconstruction, we found a recent bi-directional pulse of gene flow that began <100 generations ago, and a more ancient pulse of unidirectional gene flow, from the eastern into the western population, up to ~1,700 generations ago. Based on the estimated ages of these introgression events, we compared the observed cline width to predictions of a null model that assumed neutral introgression and no reproductive barriers. The observed cline width was similar to the predicted cline width, approximately 500 km, providing no clear evidence of reproductive barriers. However, we identified several genomic regions with signatures of selective introgression across the contact zone that were linked previously in other species to olfaction, mate choice, and behavioral divergence.

Mammals III: Canids  InPerson Presentation

 

DENSITY-DEPENDENT HOME RANGE SIZE IN A RECOVERING POPULATION OF ISLAND FOXES (UROCYON LITTORALIS) ON SANTA ROSA ISLAND, CALIFORNIA

Katie B Elder; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; kaelder@calpoly.edu; Juliann Schamel, John Perrine, Brian Cypher, Tim Bean

The island fox (Urocyon littoralis) is endemic to the California Channel Islands. The species experienced a dramatic population decline to near extinction followed by rapid recovery over the past thirty years. These drastic fluctuations in population size make the island fox an excellent candidate for studying the effects of density on home range size and habitat selection. In 2010, when density was historically low, researchers on Santa Rosa Island documented male fox home ranges on the eastern portion of the island. Beginning in 2022, with the fox population now at carrying capacity, we tracked the locations of 15 adult male foxes using GPS collars in a similar study area to compare their home range size, characteristics and overlap. Preliminarily, we found that island foxes display negative density dependent effects on home range size. Future work will include a finer scale look at fox habitat selection in both time periods to inform management decisions for this iconic species.

Mammals III: Canids   Student Paper InPerson Presentation

 

POTENTIAL HABITAT AND CARRYING CAPACITY OF ENDANGERED SAN JOAQUIN KIT FOXES IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT: IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY

Brian Cypher; CA State University-Stanislaus, Endangered Species Recovery Program; bcypher@esrp.csustan.edu; Nicole A. Deatherage, Tony L. Westall, Erica C. Kelly, Scott E. Phillips

A population of endangered San Joaquin kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis mutica; SJKF) occurs in the urban environment in the city of Bakersfield, California, and may be important for SJKF conservation.  We used a systematic camera station survey and occupancy analysis to identify suitable habitat for SJKF in Bakersfield and to estimate a conceptual carrying capacity.  We identified high, medium, and low suitability habitat totaling 121 km2, 196 km2, and 40 km2, respectively.  Based on a mean urban kit fox home range size of 0.78 km2 and an assumption of two adults in high suitability home ranges and one adult in medium suitability ranges, we estimated the adult carrying capacity in Bakersfield to be 561 foxes.  A carrying capacity of 561 adults would increase the estimated range-wide carrying capacity by as much as 38%.  Adult density estimates derived for the urban SJKF population based on the carrying capacity (1.57/km2) and home range size (2.56/km2) were higher than estimates for foxes in natural habitats.  The urban SJKF population in Bakersfield is substantial and therefore could contribute significantly to conservation and recovery efforts for SJKF.  Given our results, a potential conservation strategy may be to encourage or even establish additional urban SJKF populations.

Mammals III: Canids  InPerson Presentation