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Geology topics

L.D. Mech

Publications and source records attributed to L.D. Mech.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
USGS1979

Wolf howling and its role in territory maintenance

An experimental study of the role of howling in wolf territory maintenance was conducted in the Superior National Forest, Minnesota. Vocal replies and behaviour of radio-collared wolves in response to human howls were analyzed for eight packs and 10 lone wolves during a 2-year period. Reply rate varied significantly throughout the year. A mid-winter increase was correlated with the breeding season, especially for groups containing breeding animals (alpha male or alpha female). A second, longer increase in reply rate started in midsummer, peaked about August, and declined to a low in early winter. The decline in autumn howling response occurred sooner in a pack whose pups developed faster. Through the year, the howling reply rate was significantly higher among all packs and lone wolves attending prey kills. The more food remaining at a kill, the higher the reply rate was. For wolves separated from their pack, the howling reply rate was dependent on their age and social role. Among adults, only alpha males ever replied alone, and their reply rate, and number of howls per session, exceeded those of other animals. Alpha males sometimes approached during howling sessions, whereas other adults usually retreated. Younger animals replied more often as pups than as yearlings, and then only during their first 7 months, after which they replied little more than most adults. Finally, larger packs replied more often than smaller packs. Specific behaviours noted during howling sessions, including movements away from the howler, indicated that howling was related to interpack agonism. In addition, three of the major factors influencing reply rate also significantly affect the level of agonism toward pack strangers : pack size, social role, and breeding season. The other two factors, kills and pups, are both important pack resources necessitating exclusive occupancy of a site. The high reply rates at sites containing kills or pups constitute strong circumstantial evidence that howling is important in territory maintenance. During howling sessions, wolves usually remained near their original site after replying, or retreated if they remained silent. This difference apparently was related to the problem of avoiding both accidental and deliberate encounters, and to cost/benefit considerations at the wolves' location. Howling was considered most effective in mediating avoidance in two situations : when two packs approached a common area of overlap, and when a pack returned to an area little used for weeks, in which scent posts would have lost effectiveness in deterring strangers. Both scent-marking and howling apparently are important in spacing. However, they differ in their roles and are complementary, with scent-marking being long-term and site-specific, and howling being immediate and long-range. Finally, lone wolves which do not possess territories, rarely replied, sharing the 'low-profile' behaviour expected of surplus animals in a territorial population.

Behaviour↗
USGS1979

An improved method of censusing deer in deciduous-coniferous forests

Aerial censusing has been used to determine densities of many large mammals, including deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) in agricultural areas or deciduous forests (Saugstad 1942, Morse 1946, Petrides 1953, Sanderson 1953, Berner pers. comm.). However, observability of deer from the air remains a problem in northern coniferous forests. LeResche and Rausch (1974) determined that even with the much larger and more observable moose ( Alces alces ) during ideal snow conditions, experienced observers counted only 68% of a known number of animals; inexperienced observers counted 43%. Caughley (1974) and Caughley et al. (1976) suggested that the best solution to the problem of observability in aerial censuses is to measure the magnitude of the biases that exist, and correct estimates accordingly. This paper describes an attempt to measure observability bias in an aerial census of deer in deciduous coniferous habitat and to produce an accurate estimate of numbers.

Minnesota↗
USGS1978

Howling at two Minnesota wolf pack summer homesites

Howling sessions were monitored at two Minnesota wolf pack homesites for 2255 h between 29 April and 3 August 1973. All sessions recorded occurred from dusk through early morning, with an evening peak for one pack. Within a night, multiple sessions were grouped temporally, most occurring within an hour of one another. Howling rates for both packs increased throughout the homesite season, with the larger pack howling twice as frequently. The role of howling in both intrapack and interpack contexts was considered. Much of the howling seemed to be involved in the coordination of pack activities. Further, the low frequency and clumped temporal distribution of sessions suggest that howling plays a secondary role in interpack contexts to other modes such as scent marking during the homesite season, but may increase in relative importance once homesites are abandoned and pack travel becomes nomadic.

Canadian Journal of Zoology↗
USGS1978

Metabolic indicators of habitat differences in four Minnesota deer populations

Blood samples were collected from 40 white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) from 4 winter yards in northeastern Minnesota from 17 March 1974 through 23 April 1975. The results of 26 blood assays were examined for the effects of age, sex, capture date, capture method, disease and location. Age-related effects were found for serum chloride, calcium, gamma globulin, creatine phosphokinase (CPK), lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), and alkaline phosphatase. The only sex difference was lower CPK in males. Date of collection effects were found for erythrocyte count, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), serum glucose, and nonesterified fatty acids (NEF A). Capture method affected serum glucose, acid base balance, and serum enzymes. Effects related primarily to capture location or habitat differences were found for erythrocyte count, MCV, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), serum urea, cholesterol, LDH, thyroxine, and NEF A. Animals whose assays indicated the poorest nutritional status inhabited wintering areas with the oldest vegetation. Habitat differences can be detected by measuring the physiological status of the local animal populations.

Minnesota↗
USGS1978

Relating wolf scat content to prey consumed

In 9 trials, captive wolves ( Canis lupus ) were fed prey varying in size from snowshoe hares ( Lepus americanus ) to adult deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ), and the resulting scats were counted. Field-collectible scats were distinguished from liquid, non-collectible stools. I n collectible scats, the remains of small prey occurred in greater proportion relative to the prey's weight, and in lesser proportion relative to the prey's numbers, than did the remains of larger prey. A regression equation with an excellent, fit to the data (r2 = 0.97) was derived to estimate the weight of prey eaten per collectible scat for any prey. With this information and average prey weights, the relative numbers of different prey eaten also can be calculated.

Journal of Wildlife Management↗
USGS1978

Wolf vocalization

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Book chapter↗
USGS1978

Foreword

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Book chapter↗
USGS1977

Wolf-pack buffer zones as prey reservoirs

In a declining herd, surviving deer inhabited overlapping edges of wolf-pack territories. There, wolves hunted little until desperate, in order to avoid fatal encounters with neighbors. Such encounters reduce wolf numbers and predation pressure and apparently allow surviving deer along territory edges to repopulate the area through dispersal of their prime, less vulnerable offspring into territory cores.

Science↗
USGS1977

Productivity, mortality, and population trends of wolves in northeastern Minnesota

Population parameters, mortality causes, and mechanisms of a population decline were studied in wolves ( Canis lupus lycaon ) from 1968 to 1976 in the Superior National Forest. The main method was aerial radio-tracking of 129 wolves and their packmates. Due to a decline in white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ), the wolf population decreased during most of the study. Average annual productivity varied from 1.5 to 3.3 pups per litter, and annual mortality rates from 7 to 65 percent. Malnutrition and intraspecific strife accounted equally for 58 percent of the mortality; human causes accounted for the remainder. As wolf numbers began to decline, pup starvation became apparent, followed by lower pup production, and then by increased intraspecific strife. At higher densities, adult pack wolves were the most secure members of the population, but as the population declined, they became the least secure because of intraspecific strife.

Minnesota↗