Implications of forage quality for population recovery of bighorn sheep following a pneumonia epizootic

Author:

Wagler Brittany L.1ORCID,Smiley Rachel A.1ORCID,Courtemanch Alyson B.2,Lutz Daryl3,McWhirter Doug2,Brimeyer Doug4,Hnilicka Patrick5,Robinson Timothy J.6ORCID,Monteith Kevin L.1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Haub School of the Environment and Natural Resources, Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Zoology and Physiology University of Wyoming 804 E Fremont Street Laramie WY 82071 USA

2. Wyoming Game and Fish Department 420 N Cache Street Jackson WY 83001 USA

3. Wyoming Game and Fish Department 260 Buena Vista Drive Lander WY 82520 USA

4. Wyoming Game and Fish Department 5400 Bishop Boulevard Cheyenne WY 82006 USA

5. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 170 N First Street Lander WY 82520 USA

6. Department of Statistics University of Wyoming 1000 E. University Avenue Laramie WY 82072 USA

Abstract

AbstractAnimals are inherently tied to nutritional resources of the landscape. Added cost of coping with environmental stressors, like disease, can exacerbate nutritional limitations. Pneumonia, a respiratory disease caused primarily by bacterial pathogens, has caused massive declines in populations of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) throughout western North America. Nevertheless, population dynamics following a pneumonia epizootic vary across populations, which has spawned the idea that ecological conditions may play a role in regulating populations after a die‐off. We used 2 bighorn sheep populations with contrasting dynamics to test the hypothesis that habitat quality on summer range affects population dynamics following a pneumonia epizootic. We sampled over 700 vegetation transects and quantified nutrient content of 2,093 forage samples of 127 genera on summer ranges to compare habitat quality (macro‐ and micronutrients in forage, biomass, plant cover, and species diversity) between the ranges. The population exhibiting growth, higher recruitment, and better nutritional condition had over double the herbaceous biomass in their core foraging areas in summer than the population exhibiting decline, lower recruitment, and poorer nutritional status. The population experiencing growth also had more macro‐ and micronutrients available on their summer range as a function of higher biomass along with higher species diversity. Although winter range often is considered the nutritional bottleneck for ungulates, we demonstrate that the conditions of summer range can have consequences for population dynamics. Habitat quality should be incorporated when considering management objectives and population recovery of large herbivores in the presence of disease; interactions between habitat quality and population dynamics still apply and likely are amplified with additional stressors like disease.

Publisher

Wiley

Subject

Nature and Landscape Conservation,Ecology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics,Nature and Landscape Conservation,Ecology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Reference137 articles.

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