By Leslie Reed | University Communication and Marketing
Human barriers compromise movement, gene flow required for healthy populations.
revious research set off alarm bells by showing that mountain lion populations across California are more different genetically than normal for a wide-roaming predator. New findings published Dec. 3 in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment have provided an explanation. A team of researchers has found that young mountain lions avoid highly developed areas and crossing busy roads as they navigate between populations seeking breeding territories in the Golden State.
The team tracked 87 "subadult" mountain lions with GPS collars to evaluate their ability to successfully move between different populations. Subadults are mountain lions from about 1 to 3 years old, recently independent of their mothers and trying to make it on their own in a difficult world. Through a process ecologists call "dispersal," they often move large distances seeking natural habitat to establish breeding ranges
“Long-distance dispersal by subadults is the key to maintaining connectivity between different mountain lion populations,” said Kyle Dougherty, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and lead author of the study. “When connectivity is disrupted and populations become isolated, it can result in reduced genetic diversity and population decline.”
Data from young, dispersing mountain lions is relatively rare. As a result, many studies evaluate connectivity by studying movements of adult, resident animals — which do not typically move between populations.
“Our findings suggest that human infrastructure like roads and development are inhibiting the ability of subadults to move through the landscape, access good habitat and connect populations genetically and demographically,” Dougherty said. “All of these things are essentially prerequisites for keeping mountain lion populations healthy at the statewide level.”
Read the complete article at https://news.unl.edu/article/roads-development-disrupt-movement-of-young-mountain-lions-in-california