Near-Extinction of Porcupines by Mountain Lions and Consequences of Ecosystem Change in the Great Basin Desert

In North America's Great Basin Desert changes in plant communities that occurred after the introduction of domestic livestock in the late 1800s resulted in the irruption of mule deer (Ocodoileus hemionus) and expansion of mountain lions (Felis concolor). We report on a situation in which mounta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Conservation biology 1997-12, Vol.11 (6), p.1407-1417
Main Authors: Sweitzer, Richard A., Jenkins, Stephen H., Berger, Joel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Conservation biology
Demecology
Depopulation
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Granite
Lions
Livestock
Mammalia
Mule deer
Population size
Porcupines
Predation
Snow
Vertebrata
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Summary:In North America's Great Basin Desert changes in plant communities that occurred after the introduction of domestic livestock in the late 1800s resulted in the irruption of mule deer (Ocodoileus hemionus) and expansion of mountain lions (Felis concolor). We report on a situation in which mountain lion predation caused the near-extinction of another native species, porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum). We used demographic information collected over 8 years on an individually identified population and long term climatic data in a stochastic population model to examine the hypothesis that predation and not weather-induced starvation or random population fluctuations threatened the persistence of a naturally small population of porcupines. Whether drought-related reductions in mule deer densities induced mountain lions to prey on porcupines is unclear, but our results suggest predation and not climatic conditions caused the decline of a once robust population of over 80 to
ISSN:0888-8892
1523-1739
DOI:10.1046/j.1523-1739.1997.96138.x