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James W. Cain III

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Impact of Drought on Southwestern Pronghorn Population Trends and Predicted Trajectories in the Southwest in the Face of Climate Change
Climate often drives ungulate population dynamics, and as climates change, some areas may become unsuitable for species persistence. Unraveling the relationships between climate and population dynamics, and projecting them across time, advances ecological understanding that informs and steers sustainable conservation for species. Using pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) as an ecological model, we used a Bayesian approach to analyze long-term population, precipitation, and temperature data from 18 populations in the southwestern United States. We determined which long-term (12 and 24 months) or short-term (gestation trimester and lactation period) climatic conditions best predicted annual rate of population growth...
Abstract (from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0148795): Arid climates have unpredictable precipitation patterns, and wildlife managers often provide supplemental water to help desert ungulates endure the hottest, driest periods. When surface water is unavailable, the only source of water for ungulates comes from the forage they consume, and they must make resourceful foraging decisions to meet their requirements. We compared two desert bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis nelsoni) populations in Arizona, USA: a treatment population with supplemental water removed during treatment, and a control population. We examined whether sheep altered their seasonal diets without supplemental water....
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Grassland birds are among the most imperiled bird guilds in North America. Scaled quail (Callipepla squamata) are a semi-arid grassland bird whose populations have declined over the past half century. We monitored scaled quail in New Mexico to study the effects of habitat, temperature and precipitation on survival of scaled quail adults, nests, and broods.
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Grassland birds are among the most imperiled bird guilds in North America. Scaled quail (Callipepla squamata) are a semi-arid grassland bird whose populations have declined over the past half century. We monitored scaled quail in New Mexico to study the effects of habitat, temperature and precipitation on survival of scaled quail adults, nests, and broods.
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The Jemez elk herd resides in the Jemez Mountains within the Valles Caldera National Preserve. This herd was originally included in Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States, Volume 2 (Kauffman and others, 2022), but has been updated for this volume owing to the acquisition of new data from 40 additional adult females. The Jemez elk are only partially migratory, with some residents remaining within the Valles Caldera year-round, while others exhibit two distinct seasonal movement patterns. The first movement pattern occurs during midwinter (January–February; arrows labeled 1) when numerous individuals move to the lower elevation slopes of the Valles Caldera, primarily southeast towards Bandelier National...
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