Roadkill, rat poison: Can O.C. bobcats survive?
By PAT BRENNAN
The nearest bobcat may be closer than you think. And that might or might not be a good thing for the bobcats.
Scientists who trap, tag and study the midsized felines say they seem adept at negotiating the urban edges of Orange County and other parts of Southern California, surviving even in pockets of wild habitat suprisingly close to buildings and roads. But at a bobcat workshop Thursday evening in Newport Beach, the scientists, including U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist Erin Boydston, will reveal the price the animals pay for urban proximity: debilitating outbreaks of mange apparently induced by rat poison, and death by car on busy streets as they try to thread through fragments of wild land.
Boydston, who trapped and tagged bobcats in Orange County in 2007 to try to map their routes through the urban maze, says roadkill is a major cause of bobcat death. Her findings and those of other researchers suggest that to preserve populations of bobcats -- which, unlike mountain lions, present virtually no threat to humans or their pets -- we'll have to preserve the wildlife corridors and connections they rely on to survive.
Boydston and another presenter, Lisa Lyren, work for the U.S.G.S. Western Ecological Research Center; Boydston answers a few questions about her work.
Q. What is the state of bobcats in Southern California, and in Orange County?
A. We certainly are seeing some threats to their existence. We are, I think, getting towards the answer to that question by working in common with multiple groups and sharing data and information, and beginning to figure out which patterns are happening regionwide, such as outbreaks of mange. In the Santa Monica Mountains, there have been a couple of published papers on outbreaks observed there a few years ago. Now we've seen an outbreak that happened in Orange County. And animals have been recorded with mange in lots of other parts of Southern California. We know it is something that occurs regionwide, and can be a real threat to local bobcat populations.
Q. Is the link to rodenticide established at this point?
A. Certainly, there's a compelling correlation.
Q. The work you did in Orange County showed that the bobcats were able to survive in smaller habitat fragments than previously thought. Is that still true?
A. Yes. They are found denning in people's backyards. And they show up in some areas of pretty small habitat. We need to work toward understanding what the population dynamics are in that kind of fragmented setting.
Q. Is that a plus for their ability to survive and reproduce?
A. It's unknown what it means for population survival. But we certainly see that individuals are surviving and reproducing in those settings. But those are also the same settings where we are probably are getting our animals hit on roads, and maybe being exposed to other threats as a result of the urban environment (such as rodenticides).
Q. What is your overall take on whether we'll be able to hang on to bobcats in Southern California?
A. We can hang on to bobcats in Southern California if we maintain the connectivity between varying habitats of varying sizes. If we maintain some large habitat areas, and keep those connected to smaller areas, then the future looks pretty good. That will be a common thread that weaves its way through a lot of the talks.
Boydston, who trapped and tagged bobcats in Orange County in 2007 to try to map their routes through the urban maze, says roadkill is a major cause of bobcat death. Her findings and those of other researchers suggest that to preserve populations of bobcats -- which, unlike mountain lions, present virtually no threat to humans or their pets -- we'll have to preserve the wildlife corridors and connections they rely on to survive.
Boydston and another presenter, Lisa Lyren, work for the U.S.G.S. Western Ecological Research Center; Boydston answers a few questions about her work.
Q. What is the state of bobcats in Southern California, and in Orange County?
A. We certainly are seeing some threats to their existence. We are, I think, getting towards the answer to that question by working in common with multiple groups and sharing data and information, and beginning to figure out which patterns are happening regionwide, such as outbreaks of mange. In the Santa Monica Mountains, there have been a couple of published papers on outbreaks observed there a few years ago. Now we've seen an outbreak that happened in Orange County. And animals have been recorded with mange in lots of other parts of Southern California. We know it is something that occurs regionwide, and can be a real threat to local bobcat populations.
Q. Is the link to rodenticide established at this point?
A. Certainly, there's a compelling correlation.
Q. The work you did in Orange County showed that the bobcats were able to survive in smaller habitat fragments than previously thought. Is that still true?
A. Yes. They are found denning in people's backyards. And they show up in some areas of pretty small habitat. We need to work toward understanding what the population dynamics are in that kind of fragmented setting.
Q. Is that a plus for their ability to survive and reproduce?
A. It's unknown what it means for population survival. But we certainly see that individuals are surviving and reproducing in those settings. But those are also the same settings where we are probably are getting our animals hit on roads, and maybe being exposed to other threats as a result of the urban environment (such as rodenticides).
Q. What is your overall take on whether we'll be able to hang on to bobcats in Southern California?
A. We can hang on to bobcats in Southern California if we maintain the connectivity between varying habitats of varying sizes. If we maintain some large habitat areas, and keep those connected to smaller areas, then the future looks pretty good. That will be a common thread that weaves its way through a lot of the talks.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment