Space-use, movement and dispersal of sub-adult cougars in a geographically isolated population.

ABSTRACT: Cougar (Puma concolor) observations have increased in Midwest North America, with breeding populations re-establishing in several regions east of their contemporary range. The Cypress Hills Uplands, located in southwest Saskatchewan and southeast Alberta, was recently re-colonized by cougars and now supports the easternmost confirmed breeding population of cougars in Canada. A number of factors contribute to this cougar range expansion, but it is dispersal that provides the mechanism for re-colonization of historic range. We used GPS-collar data to examine space-use and movement behavior of sub-adult cougars, the age class associated with dispersal, in the Cypress Hills. Conditional logistic regression and a two-stage modeling approach were used to estimate resource selection functions (RS

SUBMITTER: Morrison CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4540023 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature