Thesis (M.S.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on June 12, 2006). Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Robert A. Garrot. Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-52).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of British Columbia, 1977. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on May 28, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 566-585).

During 1987 through 1992, 85 wolves (Canis lupus) were captured, radio-collared, and relocated from aircraft 1,123 times in northwest Alaska. Wolf packs usually did not follow migratory caribou (Rangifer tarandus) but maintained year-round resident territories that averaged 3,652 km². During years when caribou were absent and moose densities were low, ≤ 25% of the wolf packs moved 64 to 272 km to the caribou wintering grounds. Wolves used different slopes, aspects, and habitats in summer versus winter. Twenty-five percent of the radio-collared wolves dispersed. Annual finite rates of increase ranged from 0.64 to 1.43. Annual wolf survival rates averaged 0.59. There were differences in survival rates among years. Sixty-one percent of the wolves died. Hunting was the main cause of death (69%) followed by rabies (21%). Rabies was a significant natural limiting factor. This wolf population could sustain mortality rates of about 53% annually. Caribou and moose composed 51 and 42%, respectively, of the observed wolf prey. Adjusted for prey size, each pack killed 1 adult moose equivalent per 6.7 days. Wolf pack sizes and adjusted kill rates and kgs of available prey per wolf per day were correlated from several areas across North America. When caribou were present they were the principal prey. However, when caribou densities were <100/1,000 km² wolves preyed upon moose. Wolves preyed upon relatively healthy caribou and moose that were in marginal condition. Wolves were killing about 6-7% of the caribou herd and from 11 to 14% of the moose population annually. Existing wolf predation may have serious impacts on resident, low-density moose populations. During spring 1990 I tested the line-intercept method of sampling tracks for estimating wolf densities for a known wolf population (i.e., 48 wolves). The population estimate based upon line-intercept sampling was 50.7 (80% CI = 33.4 to 67.9) suggesting that the survey method provided relatively accurate population estimates. I placed 23 satellite transmitters on wolves aged 10-months to 8 years with no apparent adverse effects on them. Accuracy of 1,855 relocations at 9 sites averaged 336 and 728 m for best and worst quality relocations, respectively. Satellite telemetry has potential for providing improved data sets for evaluation of wolf territory sizes and movements.

Thesis (M.S.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on June 10, 2006). Chairperson, Graduate Committee: David E. Buschena. Includes bibliographical references (p. 116-121).

Thesis (doctoral)--Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2007. / Thesis documentation sheet inserted. Includes appendix of five papers in press and submitted manuscripts, all co-authored with others. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued electronically via World Wide Web in PDF format; online version lacks appendix.

Host behavior, age, sex, diet, and condition, as well as variation in parasite specificity, drive variation in parasite infection, and ultimately determine the host parasite community. The objectives of this thesis were to 1) examine intraspecific variation in arctic fox parasites, 2) determine relationships between diet and parasites in sympatric arctic and red fox, and 3) compare wolf parasites and diet. Male arctic fox had more cestodes than females and juveniles had more nematodes than adults, likely due to diet and exposure. Red fox carried fewer parasites than arctic fox, likely due to diet, evolved resistance behaviors and higher immune investment, but diet affected cestode abundance in both species. Wolves that ate more white-tailed deer had more cestodes, suggesting increasing deer populations could enhance parasite transmission to moose. However, body condition was unaffected by parasites, suggesting northern canids may have not reached a threshold of infection.

Host behavior, age, sex, diet, and condition, as well as variation in parasite specificity, drive variation in parasite infection, and ultimately determine the host parasite community. The objectives of this thesis were to 1) examine intraspecific variation in arctic fox parasites, 2) determine relationships between diet and parasites in sympatric arctic and red fox, and 3) compare wolf parasites and diet. Male arctic fox had more cestodes than females and juveniles had more nematodes than adults, likely due to diet and exposure. Red fox carried fewer parasites than arctic fox, likely due to diet, evolved resistance behaviors and higher immune investment, but diet affected cestode abundance in both species. Wolves that ate more white-tailed deer had more cestodes, suggesting increasing deer populations could enhance parasite transmission to moose. However, body condition was unaffected by parasites, suggesting northern canids may have not reached a threshold of infection.

abstract: ABSTRACT Human and wildlife behavior, governance, and economics are often cited obstacles to wildlife conservation. Accordingly, conservation research has historically been conducted in the exterior terrains of behavior and systems, which can be empirically observed or known through systemic analysis and applied through institutional or technical fixes. However, conservation interventions are failing because they do not adequately address the influence of individual and collective interior phenomena including psychological states, worldviews, values, and identities of stakeholders, which can bear decisively on conservation outcomes. This critical analysis of wildlife conservation science and the social and political histories of Southwestern landscapes illustrates the mechanism of social, cultural, and media narrative linking four irreducible perspectives of the natural world: the I, WE, IT and ITS, or the psychological, cultural, behavioral and structural/systemic terrains, which ground contemporary conservation. Through the conceptual [Re]animation of conservation, this research justifies a more-than-human approach to wildlife conservation that resists the ontological privilege of the human and contemplates human and non-human animals as vitally linked in their mutually relational, perceptual and material environments. The approach extends the human to the natural environment and also accounts for the individual and social needs and perspectives of wild animals, which shape their adaptation to changing environments and conservation interventions. A qualitative analysis of emotion, metaphor, and narrative utilizing an Integral Ecology framework explores how psychological and cultural terrains link to, and influence, the behavioral and systemic terrains of Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) conservation in the U.S. Southwest. This research disentangles and comprehensively maps influential elements in the four terrains; enhancing relational knowledge on human-predator coexistence and conservation governance in the Southwest. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Environmental Social Science 2019

Wild canid populations exhibit different anatomical morphologies compared to domesticated dogs in North America. This is particularly important concerning archaeological sites, which may contain early domesticated species, for the proper identification of osteological remains. Previous studies have indicated domestic dogs exhibit a shorter rostrum accompanied by a crowded tooth row; however, none describe the overall complexity of these changes. Consequently, using a landmark-based geometric morphometric analysis, cranial morphological characteristics were examined in North American wild canids: the gray wolf (Canis lupus), coyote (Canis latrans), red wolf (Canis rufus), and the domestic dog (Canis familiaris). The shape and size of the cranium in lateral and ventral views were compared between the three wild species to the group of domesticated dogs. Wild canids clustered separately from the domestic group in all statistical analyses. Results indicate an expansion of the orbital region, a compression of the rostrum, and an overall warping in the shape and orientation of the skull. In domestic species, there is also a downward shift in the frontal portion of the skull accompanied by the braincase assuming a more upward position. This technique successfully depicted how slight changes in isolated areas of the cranium can have an impact on the overall shape and morphology of the skull. We presume these changes in cranial anatomy reflect the recent selective pressures domestic dogs have undergone since diverging from their wild ancestors.

Gray wolf (Canis lupus) depredation on beef calves has been studied extensively in recent years. As wolf populations increase throughout the United States there is a corresponding increase in wolf/livestock interactions. Most research concentrates on summaries of reported depredations and surveys of producers affected by depredations. The objective of this study was to present data on the fate of beef calves on 3 farms in Minnesota and Wisconsin over a 2-year period. Predator presence/absence was studied as an indicator of potential depredations. Also, data are presented comparing 2 techniques that may aid researchers and livestock producers with monitoring livestock. Radio telemetry collars and ear tags were applied to beef calves on 3 farms in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin during the spring and summer of 2006 and 2007. During this time, 4 calves were killed by wolves on the study farms. Wolves did not appear to be selecting the youngest calves and most depredations occurred from April through July. Although not statistically significant, wolf sign appeared at slightly higher rates on study farms than on land adjacent to these farms. Predator sign, including coyote (Canis latrans) and black bear (Ursus americanus), appeared more often in the heavily forested areas of the farms. Radio collars and radio ear tags were helpful for monitoring beef calves during this study. Radio collars had much longer transmitting distances than ear tags (2.3 ± 0.8 miles and 0.4 ± 0.2 miles, respectively). Radio ear tags had a potential for causing beef calves' ears to droop or were ripped out, possibly lowering their market value. Currently, cost is prohibitive for the widespread use of radio transmitters for monitoring livestock but as the price of new technologies decreases, transmitters may become an integral part of livestock production on farms with chronic wolf depredation.