One challenge for wildlife biologists in the 21st century is to maintain a balance for wildlife and human use of the landscape. Using an aggregation of fine-scaled movement patterns to describe broad-scale distributions can provide a mechanistic link to many ecological processes and provide an understanding of anthropogenic influences on wildlife. Because mountain lion (Puma concolor) habitat is adjacent to urbanization in Arizona, they are ideal models to examine how human alteration of their habitats influences their life history characteristics both to their ability to adapt to a variety of environments. We calculated 95% and 50% fixed kernel home ranges for 8 female and 21 male mountain lions that were radio collared in Payson, Prescott, and Tucson Arizona from August 2005 through August 2008. Using compositional analysis, we assessed use of vegetation associations and urban areas at second order selection.
Results/Conclusions
Home range sizes for resident males ranged from 5,286 ha to 83,859 ha transient males covered up to 409,195 ha. Home ranges for females ranged from 2,860 ha to 21,772 ha. In Tucson, lions avoided agriculture and selected for chaparral and woodland habitats. Lions adjacent to Payson and Prescott avoided agriculture and shrub lands and were also found more often in chaparral and woodlands. All lions avoided urban areas. Intensive development and conversion of large open spaces to small properties and subdivisions has led to increased habitat loss and encroachment. Preserving habitat for movement of species between fragments is important to maintain landscape connectivity to maintain viable populations adjacent to urbanization. Protection of habitat mosaics that include critical habitat for lions will maintain the conservation of these populations.
