EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021
(Virtually the same conference, without elevators, airplane tickets, or hotel room keys)
8/23/2017 | 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM | Influence of Feral Horses on Native Wildlife in the Great Basin | Salon F
Influence of Feral Horses on Native Wildlife in the Great Basin
Exotic or feral species can have negative direct and indirect impacts on communities of native wildlife. Exotic species may directly compete with native wildlife for resources or indirectly alter structure and quality of habitat for native species. These direct and indirect effects should be most apparent in areas of high community overlap or use where the potential for interspecific interactions is greatest. In arid regions, water is generally limiting and locations with water are likely areas of communal aggregation that may become flash points for interspecific interactions. Our objective was to determine if feral (a.k.a. wild or exotic) horses (Equus caballus) negatively influenced the community of native wildlife. More specifically, we compared richness and diversity of wildlife communities at water sources with and without feral horses in the Great Basin Desert, Utah. We predicted that feral horses would negatively influence richness and diversity of native communities. We used infrared-triggered cameras to detect mammalian and avian species at 32 water sources. We obtained 67,458 photographs of mammals (comprised of 16 species) and 34,038 photographs of birds (comprised of 60 species). Richness and diversity were greater—nearly double—at water sources where horses were absent than at water sources where horses were present. Further, presence of horses influenced timing of water use and vigilance behavior by native species. There were no differences among water sources in landscape juxtaposition or surrounding habitat beyond the very local scale suggesting the differences are likely due to the presence of feral horses. Water sources and the immediate surroundings that were used by horses were typically degraded and denuded of natural vegetation (due to trampling). Our results indicate that feral horses may exclude native species from access to a limited resource. At very least, feral horses alter the behavior of native species which may decrease fitness.
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Presenters/Authors
Brock McMillan
(), Brigham Young University, brock_mcmillan@byu.edu;
Brock is a Professor of wildlife ecology and Chair of the Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences at Brigham Young University. His research interests are primarily focused on the ecology, behavior and conservation of mammals. Current projects include 1) interactions between feral horses and native wildlife, 2) population and behavioral ecology of elk, 3) population and behavioral ecology of mule deer, 4) conservation of the kit fox, 5) population ecology of mouflon sheep, 6) population and community ecology of small mammals, and 7) small mammals as top-down regulators of desert systems.
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Randy Larsen
(), Brigham Young University, randy_larsen@byu.edu;
Randy is an Associate Professor of wildlife ecology in the Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences at Brigham Young University. He is also the Assistant Curator of Birds in the Monte L. Bean Museum. He has worked on the relationships between wildlife and water for more than a decade and published multiple papers on this topic. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family and fishing for striped bass.
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Lucas Hall
(), Claremont College, lucashall4@gmail.com;
Lucas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Claremont College.
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Robbie Knight
(), U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, robert.n.knight.civ@mail.mil;
Robbie is a wildlife biologist and supervisor of the Environmental Program at Dugway Proving Ground.
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