Cougar habitat and prey selection on reclaimed coal mines in west-central Alberta

• Author / Creator

  Beale, Meghan

• Two reclaimed coal mines in west-central Alberta host a complex assemblage of large-bodied predator and prey populations, including cougars (Puma concolor), bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), elk (Cervus elaphus), and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). The presence of ungulate and predator populations are linked to landscape features that arose through mine reclamation. Although reclamation has been successful at attracting a diverse set of large mammals, reclamation also might be facilitating increased predation on bighorn sheep. Thus, our main objectives were to model habitat selection for bighorn sheep, elk, mule deer, and cougars on reclaimed mines to determine how ungulates responded to reclamation features, and to determine how cougars exploited landscape configuration while hunting. To evaluate ungulate habitat selection, we used direct ground counts on a fixed survey route between 2004-2017. We created a grid of 200 x 200-m non-overlapping sampling units for our study area and assigned each ungulate group to a sampling unit. We also assigned landscape features to each sampling unit to represent changes due to mining and reclamation. We modelled habitat selection pooled over four seasons by fitting exponential resource selection functions (RSFs) in a used vs. available design. Our results demonstrate that bighorn sheep, elk, and mule deer selected landscape features to increase access to quality forage and decrease predation risk. Bighorn sheep strongly selected high walls while elk and mule deer selected reclaimed grasslands. To model cougar habitat selection, we outfitted seven cougars with GPS collars between March 2017 – January 2018 and collected a GPS location every 1.5 hours. We visited clusters of GPS points to determine successful cougar predation events, and collected species, age, and sex of prey. We estimated RSFs and step selection functions, using landscape features as covariates. At a fine scale, cougars selected rocky outcrops, forests, forest edges, and high relative availability of bighorn sheep when on the reclaimed mines. Further, cougar predation events on bighorn sheep were closer to forest edges than randomly expected, which supported that cougars exploited landscape configuration when hunting. Cougars specialized on bighorn sheep when on reclaimed mines. Findings from our study become increasingly relevant as government approve end land-use strategies for reclaimed mines in our study area. We recommend that ecologists consider wildlife to be a target for evaluating the success of ecological reclamation. Also, we suggest that managers consider configuring landscapes to reduce predation on bighorn sheep.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Bighorn sheep
  • Reclaimed mines
  • Puma concolor
  • West-central Alberta
  • Cougar
  • Ovis canadensis
  • Habitat selection

• Graduation date

  Fall 2019

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-wcq6-vp87

• License

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