Abstract

SOTELO-GALLARDO, Hugo; GARCIA-SALAS, Juan A.  and  CONTRERAS-BALDERAS, Armando J.. Influence of the density of Odocoileus hemionus crooki Mearns, 1897, (Artiodactyla: Cervidae) in the relative abundance of puma Concolor stanleyana Goldman, 1938, (Carnivora: Felidae) and the predatory relationship with a reintroduced population of Ovis canadensis mexicana Merriam, 1901, (Artiodactyla: Bovidae) at Coahuila, Mexico. Acta Zool. Mex [online]. 2018, vol.34, e3412128.  Epub Nov 12, 2018. ISSN 2448-8445.  https://doi.org/10.21829/azm.2018.3412128.

Translocations have been an important management tool for the restoration of bighorn sheep populations (Ovis canadensis mexicana Merriam, 1901) in their historical range in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Recent studies have suggested that puma (Puma concolor stanleyana Goldman, 1938) predation has important effects on population dynamics in reintroduced groups and native population of bighorn sheep in areas where it is sympatric with mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus crooki Mearns, 1897). Our hypothesis is that the size of the population of mule deer will determine the size of the population of the puma exerting a pressure on the population of the bighorn sheep. The study was based on 69 bighorn sheep (28 males, 41 females) captured using a hand-held net gun fired from a helicopter; 43 sheep (3 males, 40 females) were attached radio collars with mortality sensors and released in 3 periods between the years 2009, 2012 and 2014; we measure the puma predation on bighorn sheep with radio collar through MICROMORTS and the estimation of the density of mule deer through physical count of and relative puma abundance index through count tracks in the years of 2009 to 2016. We analyze the variables using a multiple regression model, finding an association between the variables and the pressure it exerts in the bighorn sheep population.

Keywords : Mexico; predation; translocation; sympatric ungulates; dependent density.

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