Desert puma : evolutionary ecology and conservation of an enduring carnivore / Kenneth A. Logan and Linda L. Sweanor.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 423-448) and index.

Print version record.

Pumas Past and Present -- Puma Phylogeny -- Puma Distribution and Status -- Pumas in the Southwest -- Taxonomy -- Description -- Statistic -- Our Outdoor Laboratory -- Physiography and Geology -- Climate -- Flora -- Fauna -- History of Human Use -- History of Puma Exploitation -- Studying Wild Pumas -- Life Afield -- To Catch a Puma -- Monitoring Desert Mule Deer and Desert Bighorn Sheep -- Radiotelemetry -- Investigating the Dead -- Overview of Analytical and Statistical Methods -- Puma Life History Strategies and Population Dynamics -- A Puma Population in the Desert -- Research Hypotheses and Predictions -- Terms for Pumas -- Counting Pumas -- Puma Population Structure -- Sex Structure -- Cubs -- Subadults -- Adults -- Age Structure -- The Population -- Adult Pumas -- Statistics -- Reproduction -- Natality -- Timing of Births -- Mating, Gestation, and Birth Intervals -- Puberty and First Litters -- Parental Investment -- Reproductive Success -- Females -- Males -- Statistics -- Mortality and Survival -- Human-Caused Mortality -- Natural Mortality -- Cubs -- Subadults -- Adults -- Why Do Pumas Kill Other Pumas? -- Statistics -- Independence of Puma Progeny, and Philopatry, Emigration, and Immigration -- Independence of Progeny -- Philopatry and Dispersal -- Emigration -- Recruitment of Progeny and Immigrants -- Puma Population Density, Growth, and Metapopulation Structure -- Experimentally Removing Pumas -- Density -- Rates of Population Increase -- Metapopulation Dynamics.

Annotation Scientists and conservationists are beginning to understand the importance of top carnivores to the health and integrity of fully functioning ecosystems. As burgeoning human populations continue to impinge on natural landscapes, the need for understanding carnivore populations and how we affect them is becoming increasingly acute. Desert Pumarepresents one of the most detailed assessments ever produced of the biology and ecology of a top carnivore. The husband-and-wife team of Kenneth Logan and Linda Sweanor set forth extensive data gathered from their ten-year field study of pumas in the Chihuahua Desert of New Mexico, also drawing on other reliable scientific data gathered throughout the puma's geographic range. Chapters examine: the evolutionary and modern history of pumas, their taxonomy, and physical description a detailed description and history of the study area in the Chihuahua Desert field techniques that were used in the research puma population dynamics and life history strategies the implications of puma behavior and social organization the relationships of pumas and their preyThe authors provide important new information about both the biology of pumas and their evolutionary ecology -- not only what pumas do, but why they do it. Logan and Sweanor explain how an understanding of puma evolutionary ecology can, and must, inform long-term conservation strategies. They end the book with their ideas regarding strategies for puma management and conservation, along with a consideration of the future of pumas and humans. Desert Pumamakes a significant and original contribution to the science not only of pumas in desert ecosystems but of the role of top predators in all environments. It is an essential contribution to the bookshelf of any wildlife biologist or conservationist involved in large-scale land management or wildlife management.

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