Go West, Young Lion: New Study Shows Mountain Lions Dispersing from Nevada to California

[xchrom]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121009093231.htm

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This is a female mountain lion captured and collared in western Nevada for the field component of study. (Credit: Jake Willers)

ScienceDaily (Oct. 5, 2012) — Using data collected over the course of seven years, the study looked at DNA in tissue samples collected from 739 mountain lions. In the first-of-its-kind study at this scale, the authors used only the gathered genetic information to discover population structures and history, and to identify what areas in the region serve as "sinks" (habitat that animals move to at a greater rate than they disperse from) and "sources" (areas that animals disperse from at a greater rate to live elsewhere).

The study, "Identification of Source-Sink Dynamics in Mountain Lions of the Great Basin" appears online in August's early-view edition of the journal Molecular Ecology. Authors of the study include: Alyson M. Andreasen of the University of Nevada; Jon P. Beckmann of WCS; and Matthew L. Forester, William S. Longland, and Kelley M. Stewart of the University of Nevada.

The scientists expected to see an influx of lions from California, where lions are not hunted, into Nevada where mountain lion hunting is allowed and leaves vacant territories for outside lions to claim. The opposite occurred. Lions mostly moved in a north and south direction following the topography of the many mountain ranges throughout the area, resulting in distinct genetic populations. However, when moving between populations in an east or west direction, the results suggested that more lions moved west from Central Nevada to the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, than vice versa -- potentially taking advantage of better habitat quality.

[Bonhomme Richard]

1. There is no doubt in my mind that we now have them....

in CT.
I have been trying to get pics of a mom and cubs locally for the past month.

[pscot]

2. CT stands for Connecticut, right?

There are pumas in Connecticut?

[Bonhomme Richard]

3. Yup.

Actually last spring one was hit by a car on the merrit parkway near Greenwich.

[Ghost Dog]

4. Mmmm. Rrrrr.

[hunter]

5. If people in Nevada were shooting at me...

... I'd sure as hell move to place where they were not shooting at me.

[Nihil]

6. Interesting article but the thing that really struck me ...

... was "Wow, what a seriously pissed-off looking cat!"

I really wouldn't want to be in the vicinity when the drugs wear off as I suspect
she was making a careful note of the appearance of the photographer ...