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Daily Activity Patterns of Mountain Lions (Puma Concolor)

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Daily Activity Patterns of Mountain Lions (Puma Concolor) DAILY ACTIVITY PATTERNS OF MOUNTAIN LIONS ( PUMA CONCOLOR ) IN RELATION TO THE ACTIVITY OF THEIR PREY SPECIES IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA By Emil B. McCain A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Humboldt State University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Natural Resources: Wildlife August, 2008 ABSTRACT Daily Activity Patterns of Mountain Lions ( Puma concolor ) in Relation to the Activity of their Prey Species in Southern Arizona Emil B. McCain Food resources are not evenly distributed over space or time, and therefore, changes in prey abundance and availability may influence predator behavior both spatially and temporally. It has been suggested that mountain lions ( Puma concolor ) follow the daily activity patterns of their main prey species. In the Sonoran Desert the javelina ( Pecari tajacu ) is an important prey item for mountain lions and it has been shown that javelina shift from a diurnal activity pattern during winter months to a nocturnal pattern in the summer. I examined whether mountain lions shift their activity patterns between summer and winter following the activity of the javelina. Alternatively, I examined whether mountain lions shifted their diet to other species that were more active during the period when mountain lions were active. I analyzed 117 mountain lion fecal samples to determine their diet during summer (16 April – 15 October) and winter (16 October – 15 April) and I used the date/time stamps from 4,528 trail-camera photographs collected during March 2001-September 2006 in southern Arizona to index daily activity patterns of mountain lions and their prey species. Mountain lions did not track the activity of one particular prey species, but appeared to shift their daily activity patterns and diet according to temperature and availability of different prey species in a given season. Coues white-tailed deer iii (Odocoileus virginianus couesi ) were the most common prey in both winter and summer, but the mountain lion diet was supplemented with seasonally abundant and vulnerable domestic calves (Bos taurus ) in summer and javelina in winter. Because mountain lion activity patterns and their diet both changed between winter and summer, it was difficult to discern exactly what drove these seasonal shifts. High temperatures may have influenced mountain lions to shift towards nocturnal activity in the summer. Coues white- tailed deer remained primarily diurnal through the summer, while the excessive daytime temperatures may have limited mountain lion movements and reduced their ability to exploit this resource. The occurrence of deer in mountain lion diet decreased in summer, and cattle increased. With the cooler daytime temperatures and the absence of calves of domestic cattle in the winter, mountain lions became more diurnal, which coincided with the activity of Coues white-tailed deer and javelina, both of which became more prevalent in the mountain lion diet at that time. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank my advisory committee at Humboldt State University; Dr. T. Luke George and Dr. Richard T. Golightly of the Wildlife Department, and Dr. William Zielinski of Redwood Sciences Laboratory. Mr. Jack L. Childs of the Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project provided tremendous field instruction, guidance, encouragement, partnership, and friendship; thank you. The Integral Ecology Research Center and G. Wengert and M. Gabriel provided financial and logistic support and managed funding from the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, Switzer Foundation, Woodland Park Zoo, Milwaukee Zoo, Bergin County Zoo, Coronado National Forest, USDA Pacific Southwest Research Station, Redwood Sciences Laboratory, Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, and several individual donors, thank you all. The Bell family provided accommodations within the study site, and continuous technical and logistical support; I am forever grateful. M. Abbott, with instruction from C. Hass, conducted microscopic identification of hair remains in the diet study. M. Culver, Z. Hackle and S. Carrillo conducted genetic analysis, with funding from the Arizona-New Mexico Jaguar Conservation Team, its chairmen (T. Johnson and B. Van Pelt), and agency signatories. A. Childs, L. Colvin, M. Colvin, J. Conklin, S. Bell, S. Bless, J. Brun, M. Holister, C. McGary, J. McCain, A. Neils, Pancho, S. Pavlik, G. Paz, M. Pruss, W. Rizzo, K. Shallcross, T. Snow, Sundog, M. Terrio, V. Walkosak, S. Walkosak, and T. Wright all assisted with field work. R. Borque contributed the site map. Last, but not least, I thank my loving parents, Jim and Roz McCain, for their support and encouragement. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii LIST OF APPENDICES ......................................................................................................x INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 MATERIALS AND METHODS .........................................................................................5 Study Site .................................................................................................................5 Diet ...........................................................................................................................5 Activity Patterns.......................................................................................................8 Data Analysis .........................................................................................................10 RESULTS ..........................................................................................................................12 Diet .........................................................................................................................12 Activity Patterns.....................................................................................................16 DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................................23 LITERATURE CITED ......................................................................................................29 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Prey items present in mountain lions scats (n = 117) from southern Arizona 2004-2005. Data is presented for all prey items found in scats and the most dominant prey item in each scat. Percent of occurrence is the number of times a specific item was found as a percentage of all items found. Frequency of occurrence is the percentage of total scats in which an item was found (Ackerman et al. 1984), where n = the number of scats. .........13 2 Frequency of occurrence of the dominant prey species found in 117 mountain lion scats in southern Arizona 2004-2005 during summer (16 April – 15 October) and winter (16 October – 15 April). The frequency of occurrence was the percentage of total scats in which each prey item was found. P-values are Chi-square tests for the null hypothesis of no difference in the frequency of occurrence of prey species between summer and winter. Expected values were calculated for each species as the proportion of that species in the total annual diet multiplied by the number of scats in each respective season. .........................................................................14 3 Total number of trail camera photographs taken of mountain lions and their top six prey species during summer (16 April – 15 October) and winter (16 October – 15 April) in southern Arizona from 2001 – 2006. Skunks could not be identified to species in all photographs and therefore were lumped ...........................................................................................................17 4 Pearson Correlation coefficients (r) and associated P-values between daily activity patterns of mountain lion and the activity patterns of their top six prey species in southern Arizona from March 2001-September 2006. Activity was measured as the number of trail camera photographs taken of each species during each of the 8 time bins throughout the 24-h period. Skunks could not be identified to species in all photographs and therefore were lumped ...........................................................................................................21 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Topographic relief of the study area, showing Tucson, Arizona (black polygon), the U.S. / Mexico border (black line) and the major mountain ranges and valleys within the study area. The study area extended from the crest of the Baboquivari Mountains east to the San Rafael Valley and approximately 80 km north of the International border, specifically focusing within the mountain ranges (white ovals). Exact camera locations cannot be given due to the confidentiality of jaguar location data generated on this study.............................................................................................6 2 Frequency of occurrence of the top six prey species in mountain lion scat in southern Arizona from 2004-2005 during
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