Year-round water management for desert bighorn sheep corresponds with visits by predators not bighorn sheep.

ABSTRACT: Managing water (e.g., catchments) to increase the abundance and distribution of game is popular in arid regions, especially throughout the southwest United States, where biologists often manage water year-round for desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni). Bighorn may visit water when predators (e.g., mountain lions [Puma concolor], coyotes [Canis latrans]) do not, suggesting that differences in species ecology or their surface water requirements influence visit timing. Alternatively, visits by desert bighorn sheep and predators may align. The former outcome identifies opportunities to improve water management by providing water when desert bighorn sheep visit most, which hypothetically may reduce predator presence, range expansion and predation, thereby supporting objectives to incr

SUBMITTER: Harris GM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7685489 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature