CONSERVATION STATUS OF THE PLAINS SPOTTED SKUNK IN TEXAS CLINT PERKINS PRESENTED TO EL CAMINO REAL CHAPTER TMNP 11 MAY 2017 SKUNKS OF TEXAS •Hooded Skunk •Striped Skunk •Hog-nosed Skunk •Western Spotted Skunk •Eastern Spotted Skunk PLAINS SPOTTED SKUNK • Order: Carnivora • Family: Mephitidae • Genus: Spilogale • Scientific name: Spilogale putorius interrupta • Colloquial Name: Civet Cat NATURAL HISTORY • Small in size: Body < 12”; tail • Habitats: Prairies, closed canopy < 4-6” forests, juniper forests (thicker is better) • Weight: Males – 1.25lbs; • Will readily acclimate to man- Females - < 1 lb. made structures (especially • 1.43lbs in Waller County! farms) • Pelage: black with multiple • Diet: insects, fruits (persimmons), small mammals, broken white stripes • More carnivorous skunk species • Body elongate and weasel like • Arboreal! HISTORICAL CONTEXT • The plains subspecies has experienced a range wide decline • In Texas, harvest records did not distinguish between “civet cats” DISTRIBUTION • 3 recognized subspecies • Plains subspecies found from southern Canada to Tamaulipas, Mexico DISTRIBUTION • Texas Ecoregions: high plains, rolling plains, cross timbers, blackland prairie, post oak savannah, gulf prairie • Edwards plateau (?), south Texas plains (?), piney woods (?) BACKGROUND INFORMATION • Is being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act (2012) • Texas species of greatest conservation need (S4) PROJECT GOALS • Create a species distribution model. • Test the efficacy of survey methods • Locate existing populations and areas with high localized abundance • Establish baseline genetic data to examine and test the overall genetic health of the species in Texas FIELD SURVEYS • Surveyed 10 counties • Used multiple techniques • 7 day sampling period • Deploy 120 devices SURVEY DEVICES TRACK PLATES TRAIL CAMERAS CROWD SOURCING • Historical museum records • Call for spotted skunk observations • Collaboration with academic, rehab, biological, and citizen scientist groups. CROWD SOURCING “Wanted poster” deployed to the public and citizen scientists Citizen scientist led trail camera surveys SURVEY RESULTS • Conducted from Sep. 2015 through Jan. 2017 • 8080 survey nights • 12 detections • Detected skunks using all 3 devices RESULTS: FIELD SURVEY • Traps>Cameras>TPs at detecting skunks • Traps: 6 (0.65%) • Cameras: 4(0.38%) • TPs: 2(0.21%) • Overall: 12(0.44%) RESULTS: CROWD SOURCING • 13 modern museum records from 9 counties • 29 from our Wanted poster and call for observations (14 counties) • 48 recent records from Fort Hood (2 counties) COMPARISON OF FIELD AND CROWD SOURCE SURVEYS RESULTS • 105 observations/detections • 26 total counties • Cross Timbers region: 9 counties and 59 observations • Gulf Prairies region: 4 counties and 24 observations Citizen scientist led camera surveys • Conducted in 6 counties • Great Results!!!! • 5 Detections in ~1100 camera nights (0.45%)! • 3 Surveys in Milam County USING GENETICS TO STUDY WILDLIFE • Helps determine the resiliency of populations to environmental change • Do they have the genetic variability present to adapt? • Helps answer many basic biological questions • Is population Y really different from population Z? • How do landscape alterations affect the dispersal of this organism? PROJECT GOALS • Assess the genetic variability of eastern spotted skunks in Texas • Compare genetic variability across the species range – from South Dakota, to Texas, to Florida, to North Carolina and everywhere in between • Test the validity of the three subspecies designations that were assigned on the basis of morphological differences MICROSATELLITE DATA DETECT STRUCTURE AND SUPPORT THE MORPHOLOGICAL SUBSPECIES DESIGNATIONS Principal Coordinates Analysis Texas S. p. interrupta South Dakota Florida S. p. putorius Alabama Axis Axis 2 (10.89%) North Carolina S. p. ambarvalis Axis 1 (25.58%) DISCUSSION • The plains spotted skunk is still widely distributed in Texas • Localized abundant populations: Fort Hood and Katy Prairie • Skunks detected in pristine prairie and juniper forests ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS • Texas Comptrollers Office • Texas Parks and Wildlife Department • Angelo State University • El Camino Real Chapter TMNP REPORTING SPOTTED SKUNK OBSERVATIONS • Email: [email protected] • Email: [email protected] • Cell: (318) 623-1678 • iNaturalist: http://www.inaturalist.org/proj ects/spotted-skunks-of-texas .