Reproductive den selection and its consequences for fisher neonates, a cavity-obligate mustelid

Matthews, Sean M.; Green, David S.; Higley, J. Mark; Rennie, Kerry M.; Kelsey, Caylen M.; Green, Rebecca E.

doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyz069

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Resource use of the similar-sized fisher has been reasonably wellstudied. Fishers tend to select home ranges and resting sites in areas of complex forest structure that provide sufficient prey, escape cover, and suitable microstructures for reproduction and resting (Green et al, 2019;Matthews et al, 2019;Zielinski et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tayra (Eira barbara) landscape use as a function of cover types, forest protection, and the presence of puma and free‐ranging dogs

et al. 2021

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The tayra (Eira barbara) is a common and broadly distributed Neotropical carnivore, yet is not well-studied. While this species is apparently associated with forested habitats, it also appears tolerant of some anthropogenic disturbance. We deployed 57 unbaited camera traps (n = 4923 trap-days) in and around a protected area (Furnas do Bom Jesus State Park, São Paulo, Brazil) to survey for tayra and two potentially interactive species: puma (Puma concolor) and free-ranging dogs (Canis familiaris).We used encounter histories generated from photographs and occupancy models to quantify tayra landscape use in the human-dominated landscape composed of the protected area that was near a city and surrounded by agricultural lands dominated by small farms. We fit co-occurrence models to understand whether puma and freeranging dogs affected landscape use by tayra. We detected tayra at 44% of sites and found that tayra landscape use increased with the proportion of forest cover within 500 m of the sampling site. Other factors predicting tayra landscape use included whether the sampling site was within the protected area, its distance to water, and slope. Dogs, which are common on the periphery of the protected area, seem to have a weak negative effect on tayra landscape use. Because of the concentration of forest within the park, this is an important protected area for the carnivore population within this human-modified landscape. Thus, environmental variables, such as forest cover, distance to water, as well as administrative protection status, are important for understanding local-scale tayra distribution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tayra (Eira barbara) landscape use as a function of cover types, forest protection, and the presence of puma and free‐ranging dogs

et al. 2021

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“…Fishers are forest-dwelling meso-carnivores whose range in North America and the western states has substantially declined [ 29 , 30 ]. Fishers are associated with older forest elements such as large live trees, snags, and logs (e.g., [ 31 ]) and are a cavity denning obligate, thus they seek structures with specific shelter-providing cavities for parturition and kit development [ 32 ]. Fishers rest in similar structures throughout the year [ 23 , 33 ], and resting locations have been used to monitor habitat availability and trends [ 34 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying resting locations of a small elusive forest carnivore using a two-stage model accounting for GPS measurement error and hidden behavioral states

et al. 2021

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Background Studies of animal movement using location data are often faced with two challenges. First, time series of animal locations are likely to arise from multiple behavioral states (e.g., directed movement, resting) that cannot be observed directly. Second, location data can be affected by measurement error, including failed location fixes. Simultaneously addressing both problems in a single statistical model is analytically and computationally challenging. To both separate behavioral states and account for measurement error, we used a two-stage modeling approach to identify resting locations of fishers (Pekania pennanti) based on GPS and accelerometer data. Methods We developed a two-stage modelling approach to estimate when and where GPS-collared fishers were resting for 21 separate collar deployments on 9 individuals in southern Oregon. For each deployment, we first fit independent hidden Markov models (HMMs) to the time series of accelerometer-derived activity measurements and apparent step lengths to identify periods of movement and resting. Treating the state assignments as given, we next fit a set of linear Gaussian state space models (SSMs) to estimate the location of each resting event. Results Parameter estimates were similar across collar deployments. The HMMs successfully identified periods of resting and movement with posterior state assignment probabilities greater than 0.95 for 97% of all observations. On average, fishers were in the resting state 63% of the time. Rest events averaged 5 h (4.3 SD) and occurred most often at night. The SSMs allowed us to estimate the 95% credible ellipses with a median area of 0.12 ha for 3772 unique rest events. We identified 1176 geographically distinct rest locations; 13% of locations were used on > 1 occasion and 5% were used by > 1 fisher. Females and males traveled an average of 6.7 (3.5 SD) and 7.7 (6.8 SD) km/day, respectively. Conclusions We demonstrated that if auxiliary data are available (e.g., accelerometer data), a two-stage approach can successfully resolve both problems of latent behavioral states and GPS measurement error. Our relatively simple two-stage method is repeatable, computationally efficient, and yields directly interpretable estimates of resting site locations that can be used to guide conservation decisions.

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“…For example, some species such as the fisher change den sites as their young develop enabling changes in den quality to be compared. Matthews et al, (2019) found that natal cavities where parturition occurred had significantly smaller openings than late maternal dens or non-maternal dens, and linked this to predation and Figure 4 The percentage of individuals (n) captured in a year (February-July) on each plot. Large cavities were provisioned on both plots in year 2 but only on plot 1 in year 1 and only on plot 2 in year 3. male harassment.…”

Section: Hypotheses To Explain the Need For A Maternal Cavitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex and age differences in tree cavity dependence in a small arboreal marsupial

Goldingay

2020

Journal of Zoology

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Many mammal species depend on tree cavities for shelter and for breeding. Some species may use tree cavities as well as other varied shelters, but the extent of their dependence on tree cavities is unknown. One such species is the eastern pygmy‐possum (Cercartetus nanus) from eastern Australia which typically shelters alone. Four key questions were addressed: (1) do different age and sex classes differ in their preferences for small (4 cm diameter) and large (10 cm diameter) cavities, (2) does the availability of large cavities influence female breeding status, (3) does the availability of large cavities influence where adult females and males are detected, and (4) does the availability of large cavities influence survival and abundance? Two 9‐ha plots containing few (≤2 per ha) ‘large’ natural cavities were provisioned with artificial cavities in different years. When plots were provisioned with small and large cavities, breeding females (n = 46) showed a pronounced preference for sheltering in the large cavities while adult males (n = 67) and subadults (n = 40) preferred the small cavities. When one plot and not the other was provisioned with large cavities, adult females were significantly more likely to be reproductive and be detected on the plot with large cavities, but survival was not influenced. Detection of adult males did not vary with large cavity provisioning. The abundance of adult pygmy‐possums varied among years, being higher on the plot provisioned with large cavities when the other plot was not provisioned, but equivalent when both were provisioned. The findings of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that breeding females are dependent on a large cavity to raise a litter. Other mammal species around the world are likely to exhibit similar but currently unrecognized shelter site strategies which have implications for their management.

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Reproductive den selection and its consequences for fisher neonates, a cavity-obligate mustelid

Cited by 18 publications

References 49 publications

Tayra (Eira barbara) landscape use as a function of cover types, forest protection, and the presence of puma and free‐ranging dogs

Tayra (Eira barbara) landscape use as a function of cover types, forest protection, and the presence of puma and free‐ranging dogs

Identifying resting locations of a small elusive forest carnivore using a two-stage model accounting for GPS measurement error and hidden behavioral states

Sex and age differences in tree cavity dependence in a small arboreal marsupial

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