No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Jacob L. Bowman, Dept. of Entomology & Wildlife Ecology. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in natural resource sciences)--Washington State University, August 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 21, 2009). "Department of Natural Resource Sciences." Includes bibliographical references (p. 18-21).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1964. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-214).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-77).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Washington State University, August 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 31-33).

This study of deer ecology was conducted from January, 1975, to May, 1976, in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. Plant communities within the annual range of a population of white-tailed deer were classified into habitat types and analysed for species composition, productivity and forage utilization. Relative levels of use of winter habitat types were determined from track and pellet group counts. Use of summer habitats was determined subjectively from ground and aerial surveys. Movements associated with changes in habitat use and season were documented by observation and radio tracking of marked individuals. Forest succession over much of the winter range was found to have resulted in substantial decreases in availability of herbaceous and deciduous browse, causing quantitative and qualitative changes in the diet of this deer population. To compensate for this situation deer feeding activity was concentrated in the open habitat types which provide maximum quantities and qualities of forage. However, snowdepth in one winter was found to reach levels which prevented deer from exploiting these areas and concentrated them in areas where a maturing overstory reduced snowpack. The impact of concentration in shelter types with consequent reduction of available food, compared to a very mild winter, was an apparent 30% reduction in the juvenile:100 adults ratio the following spring. Summer distribution also appeared to be affected by large-scale forest succession which has produced a pattern of widely scattered, small openings. These were found mainly along water courses or rocky slopes at mid- elevations on the west side of the Rock Mountain Trench. Deer density was low throughout the summer range, but preference was observed for the open areas just described. Spring dispersal from the winter range was related to snow melt and green-up of vegetation, particularly cultivated alfalfa fields. Summer home ranges were relatively small and summer movements limited. The average distance travelled to summer range by nine deer was greater than that reported elsewhere in the literature and may be related to summer range habitat condition. Fall movements were apparently stimulated by lasting snowfall. Although density of deer on the winter range varied greatly between years, home range loyalty was found to be relatively high. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

Identifying factors influencing kill rates or predation risk is crucial to relate predator effects on prey populations. In multi-predator landscapes, some predators may also perceive predation risk which may not only influence their distributions but also their effects on prey populations across landscapes. In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) exist in a multi-predator landscape which includes black bears (Ursus americanus), bobcats (Lynx rufus), coyotes (Canis latrans), and gray wolves (C. lupus). The objectives of this research were to examine spatial relationships among predators and their prey by identifying: 1) competition between wolves and coyotes, 2) factors influencing kill rates of predators, and 3) predator-specific predation risk for white-tailed deer fawns. We quantified the degree of temporal, dietary, and spatial overlap of wolves and coyotes at the population level to estimate the potential for interference competition and identify the mechanisms for how these sympatric canids coexist. We observed significant overlap across resource attributes yet the mechanisms through which wolves and coyotes coexist appear to be driven largely by how coyotes exploit differences in resource availability in heterogenous landscapes. We examined how heterogeneity in landscapes, search rate, and prey availability influence the time between kills for black bears, bobcats, coyotes, and wolves. Spatial heterogeneity in prey availability appeared to be a unifying extrinsic factor mediating time-to-kill across predators, potentially a consequence of more frequent reassessments of patch quality, which can reduce kill rates. We used white-tailed deer fawn predation sites to identify predator-specific predation risk with consideration for active predator occurrence, adult female white-tailed deer occurrence, linear features which may influence prey vulnerability, and habitat characteristics including horizontal cover and deer forage availability. Predator occurrence alone was a poor metric for predation risk. We identified differing landscapes of risk among ambush and cursorial foraging strategies which were more important for defining spatial variation in predation risk than predator density. These findings suggest that in a multi-predator landscape some predators may benefit from greater landscape heterogeneity due to availability of niche space, even though resource heterogeneity reduced predator efficacy and habitat complexity reduced predation risk for prey.