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The Brewer’s Sparrow (Spizella breweri) has significantly declined throughout its breeding range in the last 25 years (Ashley and Stoval 2004). Despite being thought of by many as the most common bird in spring and summer in shrubsteppe habitat, the Brewer’s Sparrow has been given special conservation status in several western states, including Wyoming (Knick and Rotenberry 2000). Habitat fragmentation and other processes threaten Brewer’s Sparrow populations in several ways. In this report, shrubsteppe is defined as habitat with a “…codominance of sagebrush [Artemesia spp.] and native bunch grass and moderate shrub cover” (B. Walker, personal communication). This report reviews key published literature,...
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Pocket gophers are small, vole-like members of the family Geomyidae. They inhabit much of the western half of the United States, a large area of southwestern Canada, and much of Mexico (Bailey 1915). They are powerfully built mammals that are strongly adapted to fossorial living, with small ears, small eyes, fur-lined cheek pouches used to carry food, and very strong front limbs with long nails used for digging. There are several species of pocket gophers in Wyoming and the surrounding states. All look very similar, making it difficult to distinguish specimens to species. Reliable identification has to involve chromosomal analysis (i.e., karyotyping to count chromosome number), with supporting information from geographic...
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Pocket gophers are members of the family Geomyidae, species of which inhabit virtually all of the United States, a large area of southwestern Canada, and much of Mexico. They are powerfully built mammals that are strongly adapted to fossorial living, with small ears, small eyes, fur-lined cheek pouches used to carry food, and very strong front limbs with long nails used for digging. Although considered pests in some agricultural situations, pocket gophers are important in soil development (incorporating organic matter), soil aeration, and promoting water storage in soil during spring runoff. The Wyoming pocket gopher (Thomomys clusius) is the only vertebrate animal that occurs exclusively in Wyoming; its...
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The Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) reaches its southern range limit in the mountains of Colorado and southern Wyoming. In the continuous boreal forests of Canada and Alaska lynx populations are widespread and stable (Quinn and Parker 1987). Boreal forests attenuate in the Central and Southern Rocky Mountains, where they occur only on discrete mountain ranges separated by dry shrub- and grass-dominated basins. Populations of boreo-alpine vertebrates like lynx are similarly fragmented in this region (Beauvais 2000). There is concern that populations of lynx in the contiguous United States are vulnerable to habitat limitations and lack of regulatory mechanisms to protect them. Consequently the USDI Fish...
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