Space use of cougars at the northern edge of their range

Abstract

The space use strategies animals use to acquire resources needed for survival and reproduction reflect life history traits and individual behaviors. For large solitary carnivores, such as cougars (Puma concolor), prey, mates, and safe habitat in which to raise offspring, are resources that influence space use. Most animal home range studies investigate differences between sexes but fail to explore the space use patterns among individuals. We first used 95% minimum convex polygon (MCP), kernel density estimate (KDE), and Brownian bridge estimator (BB), to estimate the home range of 43 cougars satellite-collared in west-central Alberta, Canada, in 2016–2018. We found that adult males (MCP = 498 km2; KDE = 623 km2; BB = 547 km2) had home ranges that were more than twice the size of those of adult females (MCP = 181 km2; KDE = 273 km2; BB = 217 km2). We then used net squared displacement, path segmentation analysis, and multi-response permutation procedure, to examine the space use patterns of 27 female and 16 male cougars. We constructed a decision tree and found that 23% of cougars were dispersers (12% of females and 44% of males), 47% were residents (58% of females and 31% of males), 9% were seasonal home range shifters (12% of females and 6% of males), and 19% shifted to a new area during the study period (19% of females and 19% of males). We learned that dispersers all were subadults, whereas all residents, seasonal shifters, and shifters, were adults, except for one subadult male. Our study provides insights on animal home ranges with methods to categorize different space use strategies which could be used to help assess the dynamics of a population.

Native prey, not landscape change or novel prey, drive cougar (Puma concolor) distribution at a boreal forest range edge

“…The images captured of multiple subadult cougars in our study across all seasons indicate that there may be resident individuals breeding in this area (Figure 1c; F I G U R E 3 Predicted relationship between the probability of cougar (Puma concolor) occurrence (±95% confidence intervals) and the best-supported model at all spatial scales, the relative activity of native prey (summed relative activity of moose, Alces alces, and snowshoe hare, Lepus americanus). Mallory et al, 2012;Smereka et al, 2021). Although this is speculative based on camera images, few studies to our knowledge have considered cougar presence at this boreal range edge, and with increasing population densities and extensive home range sizes, increased cougar presence at this range edge may be expected as cougars recover from past persecution (Anderson Jr. et al, 2009;Smereka et al, 2021).…”

“…Mallory et al, 2012;Smereka et al, 2021). Although this is speculative based on camera images, few studies to our knowledge have considered cougar presence at this boreal range edge, and with increasing population densities and extensive home range sizes, increased cougar presence at this range edge may be expected as cougars recover from past persecution (Anderson Jr. et al, 2009;Smereka et al, 2021). As cougar populations rebound across eastern Alberta, cougars have the potential to keep moving north into previously (or at least recently) unoccupied boreal forest landscapes where there are suitable forage opportunities to support breeding populations (Winkel et al, 2023).…”

“…None of the other candidate models were better at explaining cougar occurrence than the null model. Schmidt et al, 2018;Bhandari et al, 2021;Smereka et al, 2021).…”

“…Increased forage from regenerating natural landscape features, combined with milder winters, have facilitated white‐tailed deer invasions in formerly deer‐limited regions (Angert et al., 2020 ; Dawe & Boutin, 2016 ; Pattison et al., 2020 ; Tattersall et al., 2020b ). Thus, cougars can benefit from industrialized landscapes, without significant human presence, due to increased accessibility of ungulate and small‐bodied prey (Knopff, Knopff, et al., 2014a ; Moss, Alldredge, & Pauli, 2016b ; Smith et al., 2016 ; Smereka et al., 2021 ; Stoner et al., 2021 ). These trends are observed in other large carnivores in anthropogenically modified landscapes (Boydston et al., 2003 ; Gantchoff et al., 2022 ; Hebblewhite & Merrill, 2008 ; Martin et al., 2010 ).…”

Leapfrog migration and residents: New migratory habits in Swedish Greylag geese

“…The net squared displacement Applied ecology; Behavioural ecology; Conservation ecology; Evolutionary ecology; Population ecology; Zoology (NSD) statistical framework sets out to"(i) separate migration from other movement behaviours, (ii) quantify migration parameters without the need for arbitrary cut-off criteria and (iii) test the predictability across individuals, time and space" (Bunnefeld et al, 2011). NSD has been used successfully to study drivers of migration in a wide range of taxa, mainly ungulates and carnivores, but also geese and cranes (Bunnefeld et al, 2011;Leopold & Hess, 2014;Smereka et al, 2021;Wolfson et al, 2020). For a Greylag goose population undergoing changes in migratory habits, NSD can be used to differentiate migrants from residents and to quantify key migration parameters (i.e., distance, timing, and duration).…”