An extraordinary Raccoon, Procyon lotor, density at an urban park

Smith, Henry T.; Engeman, Richard M.

doi:10.5962/p.363516

The Canadian Field-Naturalist

2002

DOI: 10.5962/p.363516

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An extraordinary Raccoon, Procyon lotor, density at an urban park

Henry T. Smith,

Richard M. Engeman

Abstract: We report on a high density Raccoon (Procyon lotor) population at a 70.9 ha urban park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where in a 5-day period 160 raccoons were removed and 9 others observed without capture. This represents a minimum density of 238 raccoons/km?, and is one of the densest Raccoon populations reported. We discuss the ramifications of high density urban Raccoon populations relative to wildlife disease contagions and endangered species protection.

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Cited by 47 publications

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Life in a northern town: rural villages in the boreal forest are islands of habitat for an endangered bat

Thomas

Jung

2019

Ecosphere

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Citation: Thomas, J. P., and T. S. Jung. 2019. Life in a northern town: rural villages in the boreal forest are islands of habitat for an endangered bat.Abstract. Urban development is detrimental to many wildlife species; however, endangered little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) may be attracted to human settlements, making them a synurbic species. Buildings likely provide high-quality roosting habitat, which may be a limiting factor in the boreal forest where trees are typically small and potentially unsuitable for hosting large maternity colonies. In the boreal forest, there are relatively few urban developments in a matrix of wilderness and apparently suboptimal natural roosting habitat; thus, we hypothesized that isolated rural villages were islands of summer habitat for little brown bats that may be important for their conservation and recovery. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the relationship between little brown bat activity, foraging rates, and proximity to rural villages. We expected bat activity and foraging rates to increase with proximity to villages, as bats should optimally forage near their roosts to minimize flight costs. We used ultrasonic detectors to passively monitor bat activity near three rural villages in Yukon, Canada, and characterized bat habitat with forest measurements and remotely sensed data. Bat activity increased with proximity to village centers, but foraging activity did not, suggesting that human settlements in the boreal forest were important as roosting rather than foraging habitat. Bat activity was higher near water bodies and areas with relatively high densities of linear features (e.g., roads and transmission lines), perhaps because prey were most abundant near water features and along forest edges. The island phenomenon we observed (i.e., higher bat activity near villages) has also been documented in larger human settlements at lower latitudes, where urban areas provided better roosting habitat than surrounding agricultural matrices. Given that little brown bats were concentrated near rural villages, small human settlements should be a focus of conservation efforts in the boreal forest-particularly the identification and protection of buildings used as maternity colonies. Our study advances knowledge of little brown bat habitat requirements in the boreal forest and identifies habitats that may be important for their recovery.

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Life in a northern town: rural villages in the boreal forest are islands of habitat for an endangered bat

Thomas

Jung

2019

Ecosphere

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A retrospective analysis of sea turtle nest depredation patterns

2011

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Nest predation can significantly reduce hatchling recruitment in sea turtle populations. We examined 20 yr of data from Canaveral National Seashore, Florida, which has pristine and altered beaches. We used chi-squared test to determine if secondary predation events were related to the nests' primary predation events, and proportional hazard regression analysis to determine the relative risk of individual nest predation. To determine if human beach use and nest predation risk were spatially or temporally linked, we ranked human beach use and examined predation frequency across all screened and marked nests. We found that once a nest has experienced predation it has an increased likelihood of experiencing a subsequent predation event when compared to other nests on the beach. Primary and multiple predation events occurred with greater frequency in limited beach use areas and with lowest frequency in moderate use areas. Predation risk decreased by an average of 29.5% from 2000 to 2008, relative to the initial year of study. Nests deposited mid-season were 9.8% more likely to be predated than early or late season nests. We conclude that where anti-nest predator management efforts are required but restricted (e.g., by funds, available personnel, or multiple management goals) resources should be concentrated to protect mid-season nests and those in limited access areas, if enhancing hatchling numbers is a management goal. ß 2011 The Wildlife Society.

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Effects of predator exclusion on nest and hatchling survival in the gopher tortoise

et al. 2012

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Gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) populations are declining throughout the Southeast, and high levels of predation on nests and juveniles have been suggested as a potential contributor to this decline. Therefore, we documented gopher tortoise nest success and hatchling survival relative to mammalian predator control. We used 4, large (approx. 40-ha) fenced, predator exclosures to exclude mid-sized mammalian predators: bobcat (Lynx rufus), raccoon (Procyon lotor), Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginianus), fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus and Vulpes vulpes), coyote (Canis latrans), nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), and skunk (Mephitis mephitis); 4 unfenced plots served as controls. We monitored nests for survival through hatching and used radio-telemetry to examine hatchling survival. We radio-tracked 40 hatchlings for up to 329 days, but we were only able to track 8 individuals from a single nest at an unfenced plot because of high nest predation. Mean nest survival was greater at exclosures than at unfenced controls (F 1, 2 ¼ 45.80, P ¼ 0.0001). Hatchling survival differed (x 2 ¼ 5.839, P ¼ 0.016) between unfenced plots (37.5%) and exclosures (74.4%), suggesting that mammals also were significant predators of hatchlings. The number of juvenile (<13 cm in diameter) and subadult tortoise burrows (13-21.9 cm) increased over a 6-year period in exclosures, providing further support for an effect of excluding mammalian predators on nest and juvenile tortoise survival. ß 2012 The Wildlife Society.

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An extraordinary Raccoon, Procyon lotor, density at an urban park

Cited by 47 publications

References 22 publications

Life in a northern town: rural villages in the boreal forest are islands of habitat for an endangered bat

Life in a northern town: rural villages in the boreal forest are islands of habitat for an endangered bat

A retrospective analysis of sea turtle nest depredation patterns

Effects of predator exclusion on nest and hatchling survival in the gopher tortoise

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