 | Brazil scientists warn on dwindling jaguar population
Source: digitaljournal.com
The jaguar could soon become extinct in Brazil's tropical Atlantic forest, threatening the shrinking primitive forest itself, Brazilian scientists warned Monday.
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.Brazil scientists warn on dwindling jaguar population
The jaguar could soon become extinct in Brazil's tropical Atlantic forest, threatening the shrinking primitive forest itself, Brazilian scientists warned Monday.
A study by the Brazilian conservation authority Cenap indicated the adult jaguar population in the region may have fallen to just 250, "an 80 percent slide over the past 15 years." And just a fifth of the remaining jaguars are of reproductive age, the study asserted. The 'Mata Atlantica' or Atlantic forest ecosystem, home to unique species and comprising a variety of tropical forest habitats, has itself lost more than 90 percent of its original volume over the centuries. It once made up more than 1.2 million square kilometers (463,300 square miles) -- roughly 25 percent of the Amazon region and around 15 percent of Brazilian territory. But deforestation, ranching and increased urbanization have seen that shrink to just 28,600 square kilometers, according to the SOS Mata Atlantica Foundation. The habitat loss puts pressure on the jaguars both in terms of seeking food sources and from hunting. Agricultural workers will, for example, not hesitate to kill a jaguar if it has eaten a cow, biologist Pedro Galetti told Folha. Yet with the jaguar at the top of the region's food chain, its slumping numbers pose a clear threat to forest biodiversity, warned Cenap head Ronaldo Morato. Morato told the Folha de Sao Paulo daily the jaguar's disappearance would cause major environmental imbalance and "the prompt demise of the Atlantic forest." Cenap will next week embark upon new research to monitor the remaining jaguars using satellite imaging to track their movements. Given widespread alarm at the decline of the forest, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization conferred world heritage status on the region in 1999. Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/brazil-scientists-warn-on-dwindling-jaguar-population/article/367689#ixzz2rehPUrZT | |||
Monday, January 27, 2014
While we are all fighting to keep as much of the interior Rain Forest of South America intact and functioning fully, Brazil's once extensive tropical Atlantic Forest has been chopped to hell and is in danger of having it's Jaguar population blink out.............What once harbored over 3000 Jaguars 15 years ago now has a remnant population of 250....................The Atlantic Forest was once 1.2million square km. of unbroken forest,,,,,,,,,,now down to a measly 29,000 sq. km.........................Agriculture and cattle grazing gone wild is the culprit for this "land rape" despite this region having been declared a UN World Heritage Site back in 1999.................Do we have the will to stop the carnage or will Economic Growth snuff out the iconic Jag?
I still find it confounding that Nebraska State Biologists such as the one featured in the article below(John Carroll) can defend a Puma hunt with only some 20 CATS existing in the Pine Ridge section of the state...........Mr.Carroll can only keep repeating that it is a "complicated" process managing large carnivores..............He uses the word complicated as it refers to the pressure put on him and his colleagues to keep Pumas from killing livestock................He tells you that they(Pumas) have some place in the ecological circle but then rebuts himself saying that there is not much room for them in his Nebraska because we humans have manipulated the envronment since the plowbusting days of the 19th century.............So interesting that folks like him can actually seem to believe when they say--------“Management(killing) of the species(Pumas) is a benefit to the species.............2 thumbs up for State Senator Ernie Chambers who is seeking to repeal the Puma hunt.................As many of you know, Chambers has introduced a bill to repeal the mountain lion hunt vowing to fight any Game and Parks legislation until they do so............. Chambers quoted the poet William Blake, and said he doesn’t like to see living things killed: “’A robin redbreast in a cage; puts all heaven in a rage"........... "These animals have a place in this universe"...................."I think when you kill these animals for sport or fun or to get trophies, that indicates something very wrong in a society"
Do we need to hunt mountain lions in Nebraska?
January 27th, 2014
Omaha, NE — The big predator cats, also called cougars or pumas, used to roam throughout the country until settlers nearly wiped them out. Seven years ago, camera traps captured the first solid evidence mountain lions were once again breeding in Nebraska.
Mountain lions, once completely eliminated from Nebraska, have made a comeback in recent years. Wildlife biologists believe many are connected to the population in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
(Map source: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission)
(Map source: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission)
“We have an established population that we’ve learned more about through research in Pine Ridge area in the northwest corner of state. In that area we believe we have between 15-22 mountain lions,” said Sam Wilson, furbearer and carnivore program manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
Wilson said there’s also evidence of even smaller populations near Valentine and Scottsbluff. Mountain lions generally prefer forested, hilly areas to corn fields. After a 2012 law allowed mountain lion hunting in Nebraska, Game and Parks opened two of four hunting areas in the state to hunting this year: the Pine Ridge, where most of the lions live and hunting is very limited, and the Prairie Unit, most of the rest of the state, where mountain lions are rare and hunting tags are unlimited.
“Management of the species is to benefit the species,” said Scott Smathers, executive director of the Nebraska Sportsman’s Foundation. He said his group supports mountain lion hunting partly to protect the animals.
Nebraska Game and Parks offered unlimited mountain lion tags in the Prairie Unit (in red) in 2014.
The first season in the Pine Ridge Unit already closed. The second runs from February 15 – March 31.
100 mountain lion tags were drawn for that season but it only lasts until two males or one female lion are killed, whichever happens first.
The Upper Platte and Keya Paha units have not been opened to any mountain lion hunting in 2014.
(Map source: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission)
The first season in the Pine Ridge Unit already closed. The second runs from February 15 – March 31.
100 mountain lion tags were drawn for that season but it only lasts until two males or one female lion are killed, whichever happens first.
The Upper Platte and Keya Paha units have not been opened to any mountain lion hunting in 2014.
(Map source: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission)
“If you travel to rural Nebraska, there’s a large number of folks that believe in the shoot, shovel and shut up procedure with mountain lions. We wanted to take that away, put it in the hands of folks who are educated, skilled and dedicated to the management of wildlife, and that’s Game and Parks,” Smathers said.
Smathers said mountain lions benefit from Game and Parks management because there’s more public awareness and money for research. At auction, one man paid more than $13,000 for one tag—much of which went to Game and Parks. The only other first season permit went to a 16-year old boy chosen by lottery. With the help of hunting dogs, each killed a male cat in early January.
“First of all, I don’t call it hunting, I call it butchery. I feel very strongly about it, and when I saw the picture of that animal in a tree, and this boy shooting him, it infuriated me. I was more outraged and enraged than I had been about anything than I can remember,” State Sen. Ernie Chambers said.
Chambers has introduced a bill to repeal the mountain lion hunt, and vowed to fight any Game and Parks legislation until they do so. Chambers quoted the poet William Blake, and said he doesn’t like to see living things killed: “’A robin redbreast in a cage; puts all heaven in a rage.’ These animals have a place in this universe. I think when you kill these animals for sport or fun or to get trophies, that indicates something very wrong in a society,” Chambers said.
Game and Parks Deputy Director Tim McCoy acknowledged there are very diverse opinions regarding hunting predators or other species. That’s part of what complicates their work.
“Those are all valid opinions and philosophies people hold,” McCoy said. “We try to stay in that management standpoint, somewhere in the middle of that balance as an agency.”
Chambers also believes there’s an important ecological role of the big cats: “It’s more than poetry or sentimentality to say that nature has set up a very delicate, intricate balance, and if you take one piece out of that puzzle, the rest of it collapses. And that’s what’s happening in places like Nebraska,” Chambers said.
“Mountain lions certainly play an important ecological role,” Wilson of Game and Parks said. Mountain lions have positive impacts by preying on Nebraska’s abundant deer population, Wilson said. Research has shown big predators have numerous cascading impacts in an ecosystem, affecting crop damage, disease dynamics and even stream beds. Without big predators, deer and elk can over-consume riverbank vegetation and change the stream flow. But mountain lions have been gone from the state for more than a century.
(Photo courtesy of UNL)
Director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s School of Natural Resources, John Carroll was trained as a population biologist and has taught wildlife ecology for 25 years. He talked with NET News about the complex relationships between humans and big predators in an ecosystem. Below is an excerpt of the conversation:
What is the current thinking among wildlife professionals about the value of predators in an ecosystem?
Obviously they’re part of ecosystems, and they do contribute to top-down effects in term of population regulation and so on, but it’s extremely complicated depending on predator-prey relationships, predator communities, and what context that’s in, within a particular predator community but also in the context of the prey community. And it can vary from place to place even when you’re talking about the same species. It’s very complicated, which is why it’s the subject of so much research.
What has recent research shown about the impacts of these big predators?
The whole issue of predator-prey relationship and various levels of predators involved is pretty interesting. There’s quite a bit of research, not just on direct predator effect: that wolves eat elk which obviously removes elk from the system.
It’s much more complicated than that, because wolves being present in an ecosystem can impact behavior. And larger predators can impact smaller predators. For example, there’s been a lot of great work done in the plains on the impact of coyotes on red fox, and how that fundamentally affects duck nesting. So in an area where you have coyotes, there are many fewer red fox, and duck nest success increases as a result of one predator being present which doesn’t really eat duck nests but which removes another predator from that system.
How has it changed in recent years?
We’re starting to see more of the nuances and complexities of these relationships than we have in the past. In the case of a lot of big predators in the U.S., we’ve had this pretty long period of time after European settlement during which those big predators were basically removed from most of our ecosystems. Now, due to conservation efforts and changes in our landscape, many of those predators are increasing or have increased and are expanding in distribution, so you actually have these interactions to study which were restricted to very small situations for a very long period of time. We haven’t had that in the last 50 years of wildlife management in North America.
Director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s School of Natural Resources, John Carroll was trained as a population biologist and has taught wildlife ecology for 25 years. He talked with NET News about the complex relationships between humans and big predators in an ecosystem. Below is an excerpt of the conversation:
What is the current thinking among wildlife professionals about the value of predators in an ecosystem?
Obviously they’re part of ecosystems, and they do contribute to top-down effects in term of population regulation and so on, but it’s extremely complicated depending on predator-prey relationships, predator communities, and what context that’s in, within a particular predator community but also in the context of the prey community. And it can vary from place to place even when you’re talking about the same species. It’s very complicated, which is why it’s the subject of so much research.
What has recent research shown about the impacts of these big predators?
The whole issue of predator-prey relationship and various levels of predators involved is pretty interesting. There’s quite a bit of research, not just on direct predator effect: that wolves eat elk which obviously removes elk from the system.
It’s much more complicated than that, because wolves being present in an ecosystem can impact behavior. And larger predators can impact smaller predators. For example, there’s been a lot of great work done in the plains on the impact of coyotes on red fox, and how that fundamentally affects duck nesting. So in an area where you have coyotes, there are many fewer red fox, and duck nest success increases as a result of one predator being present which doesn’t really eat duck nests but which removes another predator from that system.
How has it changed in recent years?
We’re starting to see more of the nuances and complexities of these relationships than we have in the past. In the case of a lot of big predators in the U.S., we’ve had this pretty long period of time after European settlement during which those big predators were basically removed from most of our ecosystems. Now, due to conservation efforts and changes in our landscape, many of those predators are increasing or have increased and are expanding in distribution, so you actually have these interactions to study which were restricted to very small situations for a very long period of time. We haven’t had that in the last 50 years of wildlife management in North America.
Some great pictures of the Eastern Coyotes(Coywolves) that are making Eastern Massachusetts their home.............These Coyote pictures give you a real good look at the difference between Eastern Coyotes that have a good 10% Eastern Wolf genes running through their veins.............A very different looking Coyote than those found in the Prairie States--Wolf-like face with a body weighing in at 35-60 pounds versus the largest Western Coyotes that top off at 25 to 30 pounds-------Massachusetts Coywolf(Eastern Coyote) biologist Jon Way(who should have been featured in the recent PBS special, MEET THE COYWOLF) provides further insight on the species in the article below
Courtesy of: Steve ChiccoCoyotes have been spotted in Marion and Mattapoisett. This one was spotted in Marion earlier this month.
Coyotes spotted in Mattapoisett
Coyotes spotted in Mattapoisett
By Matthew Bernat | Jan 24, 2014
MATTAPOISETT — While recent “coyote” sightings are causing a howl among residents, an expert on the animals says the term isn’t entirely accurate.
“We don’t have any ‘coyotes’ here in the Northeast and Massachusetts specifically,” said Jonathan Way, who studies coyotes on Cape Cod and the South Coast.Way, a research scientist at Clark University, said the animals recently seen cruising backyards and town streets are a hybrid of sorts.
“All eastern coyotes have wolf DNA and I argue we should be calling them ‘coywolves’ instead,” he said. The coywolves have been spotted in Marion village and more recently in Mattapoisett.
In 2007, Way’s research confirmed that area coyotes are part wolf.
Largely a predator of the prairie, western coyotes migrated to Canada around 1900 and bred with red wolves. In the 1950s, coyotes arrived in Massachusetts. Before that the animals were not found in the state.
The eastern coyote is larger than ones found out west.
Chris Demakis, owner of Mattapoisett's Town Wharf General store, described one of the animals as being about the size of a German shepherd.
On Jan. 16, he was putting things into his car near his business on Water Street when he saw it about 15 feet away.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s an enormous coyote,’ and then it went running up Barstow Street,” said Demakis.
He didn’t get a picture, but mentioned the encounter on the store's Facebook page. Soon after neighbors posted their own photographs and stories about eastern coyotes.
Animal Control Officer Kathy Massey said she has received reports about the animal throughout town.
“He shows up in the morning and I get calls anywhere from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” said Massey. “He likes us and he’s all over the place apparently.”
The Mattapoisett reports follow a rash of sightings in Marion village. Police there released information on what residents should do to keep themselves and pets safe.
In suburban areas the animals can feed on, squirrels, chipmunks, trash and pet food. Massey has the following tip for residents: “If you don’t want them in your backyard get rid of your bird feeder.”
Other tips include: Make trashcans “critter proof.” Keep small pets or poultry in enclosed areas that wildlife will not be able to get into. Don't leave pet food outside.
If you have a picture of a coyote to share, email it to matthew@sippicanweek.comand it will posted online.
For information on Way and his research, visit www.easterncoyoteresearch.com.
(Courtesy of: Steve Chicco)
Steve Chicco snapped this photograph of a coyote in Marion earlier this month. (Courtesy of: Steve Chicco)
(Courtesy of: Steve Chicco)
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Will the Polar Vortex that has brought "generational" cold temperatures to the upper Midwest freeze enough ice that will allow one or more wolves to cross from Ontario to Isle Royale so as to "gene"invigorate the remaining 8 Wolves that are not currently reproducing pups?.................Satellite maps show northern Lake Superior socked in with ice.............. On Isle Royale, as late as Thursday, wolf researcher Rolf Peterson of Michigan Tech said by email that he could still see gaps in the ice and it was premature to say a bridge had formed.............. Biologists hope that will happen — the last time ice fully formed was 2008.............. The last time a wolf migrated across the ice was 1997.
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Saturday, January 25, 2014
While so many state biologists would "knee-jerk" that the reason that Mule Deer in Colorado are declining is because the resident Coyotes, Black Bears and Pumas(no Wolves or Griz currently in Colorado) are decimating fawn populations, it is refreshing to hear Brad Weinmeister, a terrestrial biologist in CPW’s Durango office, say that the downward trend is likely attributable to the extended drought, less nutritious range and increasing human development and populations..........“Coyotes don’t drive the mule deer population"............... "When rabbit populations go down, they might take an occasional fawn"............ “Mountain lions have more of an impact, but we found it is not significant"...............Wake up hunters of the USA!!!!!!, It is we(people) who are stressing our habitat and climate to such a degree that all of life is going to take a hit, including the animals that you like to hunt!!!!..........Weinmeister goes on to say--------"The recent expansion in housing developments, gas-and-oil production, recreation trails and roads are threats to mule deer".............. “We’re all guilty of(letting this development go unchecked) "................"The last 10 to 20 years there has been a lot of growth in homes in the country with the new roads, driveways, dogs, horse pastures and traffic". ............"It takes away habitat, and puts stress on the animal"........... "Trails bisecting deer habitat also are harmful, especially in winter, when deer are in a nutrition deficit mode and are trying to conserve energy"............. “Biking in summer habitat does not seem that crucial, but in winter, expending unnecessary energy running from trail users, there is an impact"
Mule deer population falls in S.W. Colorado
To view the contents on DurangoHerald.com, go to: http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20140122/NEWS06/140129872
Mule deer population falls in S.W. Colorado
Drought, development may be hurting numbers
Mule deer populations have been declining in Southwest Colorado for years, but the exact reasons are not clear to wildlife biologists.
Enlarge photo
Durango Herald file photo
Mule deer numbers are declining in Southwest Colorado. Populations near Groundhog Reservoir and Mesa Verde National Park have experienced the largest declines.
Trends for the past 15 years show a consistent drop in estimated populations in the region. Fly-over surveys, fawn-to-doe ratios, hunting data and on-the-ground observations are used to track population trends.
In 2011, Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists estimated 22,700 mule deer regionally. For 2012, population estimates dropped to 21,100.
Mule deer numbers near Groundhog Reservoir and Mesa Verde National Park have been especially hard-hit.
Brad Weinmeister, a terrestrial biologist in CPW’s Durango office, said the downward trend is likely attributable to the extended drought, less nutritious range and increasing development and populations.
“Since 2000, the forage has taken a huge hit, so that is a big portion of what is going on,” he said. “It’s a concern, and quite a bit of money has been spent trying to figure it out, but we have not pinpointed the problem.”
Hunters are reporting fewer mule deer in the field, and the dropping population numbers have led to fewer hunting permits for the animal.
“It has been harder to get mule deer permits,” said Michael Hall, owner of Westfork Outfitters. “We’re seeing less in some areas, but there has been an increase of mature animals.”
A common misconception is that mule deer must be doing relatively well because of frequent sightings in urban areas. But Weinmeister said that there are two distinct population groups of the mule deer: the migrating wildland deer, and the resident deer who have adapted to living year-round in towns, parks, yards and on the edge of farms and ranches.
“In the urban areas they are doing OK, but the bigger picture is that most of the population is in the wildlands, and we are seeing decreasing numbers across the board,” he said. “It translates to less deer permits issued to hunters.”
One bright spot is that fawn-doe rations for mule deer populations in the Groundhog area seem to be recovering somewhat. In 2012, data showed a ratio of 30 fawns to 100 does, while 2013 is showing 50 fawns per 100 does.
“We might be gaining a bit in that area. The fawn-doe ratios have leveled off so we are at least not losing ground,” Weinmeister said. “We’re also seeing more two-point bucks, so that is also encouraging.”
Deer suffer more during winter. Unlike elk, which are generalists, deer are more finicky and rely more on shrubs such as sage, mountain mahogany and serviceberry. In winter, they don’t digest grasses as well, Weinmeister said.
Predation of deer by coyotes and mountain lions does not appear to be causing the overall mule deer decline either, he said.
“Coyotes don’t drive the mule deer population. When rabbit populations go down, they might take an occasional fawn,” Weinmeister said. “Mountain lions have more of an impact, but we found it is not significant.”
Development a factor
The recent expansion in housing developments, gas-and-oil production, recreation trails and roads are threats to mule deer. “We’re all guilty of it. The last 10 to 20 years there has been a lot of growth in homes in the country with the new roads, driveways, dogs, horse pastures and traffic. It takes away habitat, and puts stress on the animal,” Weinmeister said. Trails bisecting deer habitat also are harmful, especially in winter, when deer are in a nutrition deficit mode and are trying to conserve energy. “Biking in summer habitat does not seem that crucial, but in winter expending unnecessary energy running from trail users, there is an impact,” Weinmeister said.
Winter range for deer and elk is sometimes closed to vehicles, such as in the House Creek area, or to hikers and bikers, such as in the Animas Mountain and Horse Gulch areas in Durango.
But the recent dry weather has led to violations of closed winter ranges by hikers and bikers, said Shannon Borders, a Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman.
“The trails are drying out, and we’re seeing more trespassing in the Durango area. So our rangers will be monitoring those areas more and increasing awareness that even in mild winters, the areas are still closed to protect wildlife getting through the tougher winter months,” she said.
In the Pagosa Springs area, recent studies have been done on mule deer migration patterns using radio collars.
Aran Johnson, a biologist with the Southern Ute Wildlife Department, conducted a 10-year survey where 89 deer were fitted with GPS collars in the Piedra River area and monitored to determine seasonal ranges and migration patterns.
The study showed deer migrate between summer, winter ranges and calving areas between May and October. Mule deer fatalities crossing roads tend to occur between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. when deer are more active.
CPW uses signs along roads that indicate migration periods and warn drivers of increased fines for speeding during those times.
Deer migration is often misinterpreted, Johnson said. The gas-and-oil industry likes to claim deer are all gone in the spring, he said, but really, they are just out of sight and have not migrated to higher ground yet.
In the early winter, Johnson added, the perception is often that deer and elk migrate to New Mexico when in reality they are in the same square mile but are just out of sight of roads.
Diseases a potential threat
Mule deer disease does not seem to be a major factor in their decline, but the risk is always there. The fatal chronic wasting disease has not been found in Southwest Colorado, but cases have turned up in Utah, Weinmeister said.
Mule deer are typically more immune to epizootic hemorrhagic disease, which has decimated the white-tail deer populations in the East. The EHD virus is more prevalent during hot dry years, and “a few” local mule deer have tested positive for it.
Mule deer are taken for granted because they seem so commonplace in the neighborhood. But biologists know there is a more widespread problem, and finding the answer has not been easy.
“If we get some good moisture and improved range we might see a rebound, but it could be a couple of more years,” Weinmeister said. “There could be other factors to the decline that we have not identified.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife conducted public surveys about future management of mule deer in Southwest Colorado in the Four Corners area. The results are pending.
“It has not impacted our business because we know where they are and where they migrate,” said Hall of Westfork Outfitters. “We have been doing this a long time, so our clients are still successful in their hunts.”
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