Landscape connectivity for an endangered carnivore: habitat conservation and road mitigation for ocelots in the US

Veals, Amanda M.; Holbrook, Joseph D.; Cherry, Michael J.; Campbell, Tyler A.; Young, John H.; Tewes, Michael E.

doi:10.1007/s10980-022-01569-8

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 86 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We have plans to collar nilgai groups on either side of the fence to determine movements before and after construction of fencing. Ocelots are already fitted with radio tracking devices to follow their movements (Veals et al 2022). Other than stretches of fencing flanking the existing ocelot fence at Los Fresnos, they should be able to easily cross through proposed game fencing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Preventative Methods to Reduce the Spread of Cattle Fever Ticks on Wildlife and Protect Local Endangered Species in South Texas

Goolsby

Maestas

Garcia

et al. 2023

Southwestern Entomologist

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reintroduction and dispersal of the livestock and wildlife pest, southern cattle fever tick, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (Canestrini), along the U.S.-Mexico border in the southernmost counties of Cameron and Willacy has been attributed mostly to nilgai antelope, Boselaphus tragocamelus (Pallas), and to a lesser extent, white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmerman). Nilgai are competent hosts of R. microplus, have large home ranges, and are distributed from southern Texas into northeastern Mexico where R. microplus, a vector of bovine babesiosis, is endemic. The study documents movement of nilgai and white-tailed deer through gaps in game fencing previously built to redirect movements of the endangered ocelot, Leopardus pardalis (L.), to wildlife crossings. Game fencing limits movement of nilgai and white-tailed deer and thus reduces the spread of cattle fever ticks. Additional game fencing is proposed to limit movement of tick-infested nilgai, white-tailed deer, and further redirect ocelots to crossings to avoid mortality on roads. In other parts of Cameron and Willacy counties where road mortality to ocelots is not an issue, game fencing is designed with large openings to block nilgai but allow free movement for endangered feline species. This research demonstrates how efforts to protect livestock from an exotic pest can also merge with goals of protecting endangered species in the same environment.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One example is use of game fencing to reduce road mortalities of endangered ocelots, ( Leopardus pardalis L.). Roads were determined to be a major cause of mortality for ocelots (Veals et al 2022). To mitigate the risk, the Texas Department of Transportation and the U.S.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preventative Methods to Reduce the Spread of Cattle Fever Ticks on Wildlife and Protect Local Endangered Species in South Texas

Goolsby

Maestas

Garcia

et al. 2023

Southwestern Entomologist

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Urbanization levels with greater ratios of road-killed observations but fewer overall detections might express signals of past high mortality and elevated extirpation risks [ 37 , 62 , 63 ]. That is, roadkill rates increase until they negatively affect animal populations [ 17 , 21 ] or behaviours [ 1 , 8 , 32 ]. Given our classification of rural routes (i.e.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…fragmentation, degradation and loss; [5,6]), or behaviour (e.g. attractance/avoidance of roads; [7][8][9][10]) that can lead to intrinsic or extrinsic barriers [11][12][13][14]. Road mortality (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropogenic, environmental and temporal associations with vertebrate road mortality in a wildland–urban interface of a biodiverse desert ecoregion

Blais,

Shaw,

Brocka

et al. 2024

R. Soc. Open Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Road mortality adversely affects wildlife populations. As urbanization and infrastructure densities expand, transportation and wildlife management aim to mitigate wildlife–vehicle conflicts while conserving biodiversity. Roadways in aridland ecosystems can invariably and adversely impact wildlife differently from temperate and other biomes, yet these rapidly urbanizing regions are understudied as are urban–rural gradients. We conducted road-cruise surveys ( n = 204; 2018–2023) to assess anthropogenic, environmental, and temporal factors associated with vertebrate roadkill across the wildland–urban interface of Arizona’s biodiverse Sonoran Desert ecoregion—already subjected to increased human development and climate change. Of n = 2019 vertebrates observed, 28.5% were roadkill. Increasing urbanization levels were associated with reduced vertebrate abundance on roads and increased road-killed endothermic vertebrates. Traffic volume was strongly associated with reduced vertebrate abundance and increased roadkill; additive effects on roadkill began at approximately 20 vehicles. Daily low temperature and/or relative humidity were also associated with roadkill across vertebrate groups. We provide empirical evidence to understand wildlife–roadkill associations across expanding wildland–urban interfaces to inform effective roadkill mitigation and wildlife conservation management strategies in biodiverse aridland regions. We recommend that managers mitigate or avoid development in rural areas that possess high biodiversity, valuable waterways or migration corridors, and populations of vulnerable species.

show abstract

Long live the cat: Ocelot population viability in a planned reintroduced population in Texas, USA

Martinez,

Lombardi,

Parker

et al. 2024

Ecosphere

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reintroductions are often needed to recover carnivore populations and restore ecological processes. Felids are common subjects of reintroduction efforts, but published population models informing felid reintroduction plans are uncommon, and poor planning has sometimes caused issues in felid reintroduction programs. In the United States, ocelots (Leopardus pardalis pardalis) are classified as endangered, and recovery requires population expansion into historic habitat. A multi‐organization effort is underway to establish a new ocelot population in Texas by releasing ocelots into an area of 478 km2 of suitable habitat in ocelots' historic but now unoccupied range. In this study, we used population viability analyses to compare different ocelot reintroduction strategies for the identified reintroduction area. Based on a potential ocelot breeding program's limitations, we modeled reintroduction using a founding population of no more than six ocelots and no more than four ocelots released per year for no more than 15 subsequent years. Within these limitations, we assessed projected population abundances and extinction risks after 30 years for 20 different reintroduction strategies. We found that long‐term releases are necessary to establish a viable population; under conservative model assumptions, releasing six ocelots in the initial year and then releasing four individuals annually for an additional 10–15 years is necessary for attaining a projected population greater than 36.62 ocelots (baseline) with <6% extinction risk. We also found that ocelot population abundance is about equally sensitive to post‐release mortality and inbreeding depression. This highlights the importance of not only supporting reintroduced ocelots' survival but also managing for high genetic diversity in the reintroduction program. Further, we found that realistic but more liberal assumptions on the carrying capacity of the reintroduction area and the age of first reproduction for ocelots increase projected population abundances (53.95 individuals and 61.26 individuals, respectively), and thus reintroduction success. The model's sensitivity to carrying capacity suggests that long‐term habitat protection and expansion are among the most important management actions to support ocelot reintroduction. Our study establishes the first population viability model for an ocelot reintroduction plan anywhere across the species' wide geographic range, and it reinforces several key considerations for wildlife reintroduction efforts worldwide.

show abstract

Landscape connectivity for an endangered carnivore: habitat conservation and road mitigation for ocelots in the US

Cited by 11 publications

References 86 publications

Preventative Methods to Reduce the Spread of Cattle Fever Ticks on Wildlife and Protect Local Endangered Species in South Texas

Preventative Methods to Reduce the Spread of Cattle Fever Ticks on Wildlife and Protect Local Endangered Species in South Texas

Anthropogenic, environmental and temporal associations with vertebrate road mortality in a wildland–urban interface of a biodiverse desert ecoregion

Long live the cat: Ocelot population viability in a planned reintroduced population in Texas, USA

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About