Spatial and behavioral scales of habitat selection and activity by river otters at latrine sites

Crowley, Shannon M.; Johnson, Chris J.; Hodder, Dexter P.

doi:10.1644/10-mamm-a-362.1

Cited by 29 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A site was considered a latrine only if it contained !3 scats combined across all visits, and was used !3 times over the duration of the study (Crowley et al 2012). Unique latrine sites were delimited as sites at least 10 m apart.…”

Section: Survey Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hog badger (Arctonyx collaris) latrine use in relation to food abundance: evidence of the scarce factor paradox

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

2015. Hog badger (Arctonyx collaris) latrine use in relation to food abundance: evidence of the scarce factor paradox.Ecosphere 6(1):19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00155.1Abstract. Many carnivores use latrines, and investigations of latrine use have typically been concerned with territorial defense, often at the expense of fully evaluating other, not mutually exclusive, functions. In particular, the relationship between food abundance and latrine use patterns has been explored inadequately, where latrine location may be used to aid spatial memory, to stake a claim on access to temporally variable food resources, or to signal the local depletion of resources. Little is known about the hog badger (Arctonyx collaris), however the consensus is that they are solitary, but nonetheless deposit their feces in latrines, but without any group-territory defense function. This provides an ideal study system to investigate how temporal and spatial variation in latrine use strategy is associated with food resource availability throughout the year. We use generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) and an informationtheoretic approach to test the hypothesis that seasonal latrine use patterns signal the resources most valued (i.e., the foraging book keeping hypothesis). We found that latrine use showed significant seasonal and habitat-related variations, where the number of feces per latrine reached seasonal maxima in early summer but was lowest in autumn, and was significantly higher in logged forest and selectively logged forest but lowest in farmland. The intensity of latrine use exhibited a significant negative relationship with environmental food abundance, and was related to dietary output (fecal contents). That is, hog badgers invested most in 'marking' those more limited resources, concurring with the scarce factor paradox, which asserts that the value of any commodity is a function of its rarity.

show abstract

Section: Survey Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hog badger (Arctonyx collaris) latrine use in relation to food abundance: evidence of the scarce factor paradox

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Frequently used monitoring and census techniques for river otter involve indirect counts of presence, such as track and scat surveys (Sulkava et al 2008, Jeffress et al 2011, Stevens et al 2011, Crowley et al 2012), which provide useful information regarding aspects of demography. When these methods are applied to population estimates, however, individual identification is not possible, which reduces accuracy (Arrendal et al 2007, Gallant et al 2007.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating river otter demography using noninvasive genetic methods

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The decline in river otter (Lontra canadensis) populations during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries throughout North America has led to protective status and strict harvest regulations. Despite sustained interest in protecting river otters, relatively few contemporary studies have evaluated the current status of populations, especially in California. An effective way to estimate river otter population sizes and facilitate monitoring is with noninvasive genetic methods. Our objective was to establish baseline demographic information for an understudied river otter population in northern California by estimating river otter abundance using noninvasive genetic sampling, supplemented with data obtained from an observation‐based citizen science project focusing on river otters. We extracted DNA from scat and genotyped samples at 6 microsatellite loci. We used Program MARK to build mark‐recapture models to estimate river otter abundance and pooled visual observations from a citizen science project maintained in Humboldt County, California to supplement population estimates with information regarding pups and group size. Between 41 and 44 river otters were in the study area based on noninvasive genetic samples, and group sizes ranged 1–7 or 2–12 based on observational and genetic data, respectively. The Humboldt Bay region had a high density of river otters (0.93 otters/km) as compared to other coastal systems; resource attributes of Humboldt Bay could contribute to this difference. Results reported herein demonstrate methods appropriate for establishing baseline river otter demographics. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.

show abstract

“…Repeatability and reproducibility are important aspects of ecological research with implications for the management of top‐trophic predators such as river otters (Cassey and Blackburn ). Failure to provide detailed descriptions of survey methods facilitate errors in the extrapolation of resulting data, undermining our ability to evaluate and understand variables that influence otter activity and ways in which otter activity patterns influence ecosystem dynamics (Estes et al , Santos et al , Crowley et al ). For example, lack of methodological clarity may contribute to the variability in published results of fecal counts (Gallant et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparison of three methods to evaluate otter latrine activity

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We compared methods commonly used in the field of river otter (Lontra canadensis) ecology to estimate visitation rates. We evaluated visitation rates estimated from 2 survey protocols based on video detection-individual visitation rate (IVR) and recording visitation rate (RVR)-and one indirect method based on scat detection-scat visitation rate (SVR). From August 2011 through August 2012, overall scat detection and cumulative video data from 403 camera-days in 2 latrine sites (River and Pond, at a study site adjacent to the Salt Fork of the Vermilion River near Fairmount, Illinois, USA) located <50 m apart did not reveal monthly or seasonal differences between SVR and video detection methods. We identified positive correlations among the 3 visitation rates and differences between overall IVR and RVR. All 3 methods resulted in peak visitation rates during winter. However, when these data were stratified by latrine site, we found both positive and negative correlations at the River latrine. Our work supports that SVR, IVR, and RVR are valuable methods to estimate otter visitation rates at latrine sites. However, it is clear that even within such a short distance between these 2 latrines, these methods detected differences in site utilization. The significant positive correlation observed between IVR and RVR (overall and by latrine site) suggests these methods can be used interchangeably. Otter detection using SVR may serve as a complementary assessment tool for IVR and RVR. To optimize cross-study comparisons and interpretation of results, future studies should detail the type of otter detection and visitation rate used, how variables are measured, formulas used in the calculation of the visitation rates, and detailed descriptions of scat counting efforts when using scat as a tool to evaluate otter visitation rates. Ó

show abstract

Spatial and behavioral scales of habitat selection and activity by river otters at latrine sites

Cited by 29 publications

References 40 publications

Hog badger (Arctonyx collaris) latrine use in relation to food abundance: evidence of the scarce factor paradox

Hog badger (Arctonyx collaris) latrine use in relation to food abundance: evidence of the scarce factor paradox

Evaluating river otter demography using noninvasive genetic methods

A comparison of three methods to evaluate otter latrine activity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About