Monitoring program and assessment of coyote predation for Olympic marmots
Witczuk JJ. 2007. Monitoring program and assessment of coyote predation for Olympic marmots. University of Montana
From the Abstract: "The Olympic marmot (Marmota olympus) is an endemic species to the Olympic Peninsula, Washington State. Although nearly all of its range is enclosed within Olympic National Park, declines and local extirpations of the species have been documented. The most plausible driver of the decline appears to be an increase in predator pressure. My thesis had two main objectives. First I investigated the role of non-native coyotes (Canis latrans) in causing marmot mortalit. Through park-wide carnivore scat analysis I determined the spatial extent of coyote predation on the Olympic marmots and the magnitude of coyote predation relative to other carnivoer species. I used mDNA analysis of scats to determine carniver species and microsatellite markers for individual coyote identification. ... Among 79 scats with marmot remains for which predator species identification with mDNA was successful, 85% arose from coyote, 10% from bobcat (Lynx rufus) and 5% from cougar (Puma concolor). ... For my second objective, I designed a large scale, long-term monitoring program for marmot populations in Olympic National Park accounting for financial constraints."
- Type
- Academic
- Authors
- Witczuk, Julia
- Date of Issue
- 2007
- Publisher
- University of Montana
- Units
- OLYM
- Keywords
- coyote predation, Endemic, Monitoring, Olympic marmot (Marmota olympus), Thesis