Explanipedia

Testing the repellent efficacy of a newly stabilised formula of d-pulegone on wild kea to assess potential for use during aerial poisoning operations Open

Laura Young, Linda L. Handley, Amy Whitehead, Ivor Yockney, Mark Watson , et al. · 2025

The influence of human presence and footprint on animal space use in US national parks Open

Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, Forest P. Hayes, Kezia R. Manlove, Nathan L. Galloway, John F. Benson , et al. · 2025

Given the importance of protected areas for biodiversity, the growth of visitation to many areas has raised concerns about the effects of humans on wildlife. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to temporary closure of national parks in the …

Spatial ecology of recolonized elk in agricultural landscapes of the Northern Great Plains Open

Tabitha A. Hughes, Todd Nordeen, Luke R. Meduna, S. G. Wilson, John F. Benson · 2025

Aversion training wild kea with anthraquinone-treated repellent in non-toxic baits prior to 1080 operations does not improve survival outcomes Open

Laura Young, Amy Whitehead, Linda L. Handley, Ivor Yockney, Mark Watson , et al. · 2025

A Functional Response in Resource Selection Links Multiscale Responses of a Large Carnivore to Human Mortality Risk Open

Kyle D. Dougherty, Justin A. Dellinger, Bogdan Cristescu, Daniel J. Gammons, David K. Garcelon , et al. · 2024

Theory suggests that animals make hierarchical, multiscale resource selection decisions to address the hierarchy of factors limiting their fitness. Ecologists have developed tools to link population‐level resource selection across scales; …

Intrinsic and environmental drivers of pairwise cohesion in wild Canis social groups Open

John F. Benson, David A. Keiter, Peter J. Mahoney, Benjamin L. Allen, Lee Allen , et al. · 2024

Animals within social groups respond to costs and benefits of sociality by adjusting the proportion of time they spend in close proximity to other individuals in the group (cohesion). Variation in cohesion between individuals, in turn, sha…

Human recreation influences activity of a large carnivore in an urban landscape Open

Ellen C. Bolas, Adam D. Pingatore, Maya B. Mathur, Daniel T. Blumstein, Jeff A. Sikich , et al. · 2024

Climate, food and humans predict communities of mammals in the United States Open

Roland Kays, Matthew H. Snider, George R. Hess, Michael V. Cove, Alex J. Jensen , et al. · 2024

Aim The assembly of species into communities and ecoregions is the result of interacting factors that affect plant and animal distribution and abundance at biogeographic scales. Here, we empirically derive ecoregions for mammals to test wh…

Humans drive spatial variation in mortality risk for a threatened wolf population in a Canis hybrid zone Open

John F. Benson, Peter J. Mahoney, Tyler J. Wheeldon, Connor A. Thompson, Mariah E. Ward , et al. · 2024

Large carnivores often exhibit high survival rates in protected areas, whereas intentional and unintentional human‐caused mortality may be greater in adjacent areas. These patterns can result in source‐sink dynamics and limit population ex…

Spatial and temporal activity patterns among sympatric tree-roosting bat species in an agriculturally dominated great plains landscape Open

Christopher T. Fill, Craig R. Allen, John F. Benson, Dirac Twidwell · 2023

In agroecosystems, bats can provide a critical ecosystem service by consuming night-flying insect pests. However, many bats also face intense population pressures from human landscape modification, global change and novel diseases. To bett…

The ecology of human-caused mortality for a protected large carnivore Open

John F. Benson, Kyle D. Dougherty, Paul Beier, Walter M. Boyce, Bogdan Cristescu , et al. · 2023

Mitigating human-caused mortality for large carnivores is a pressing global challenge for wildlife conservation. However, mortality is almost exclusively studied at local (within-population) scales creating a mismatch between our understan…

Habitat fragmentation reduces survival and drives source–sink dynamics for a large carnivore Open

Anna C. Nisi, John F. Benson, Richard B. King, Christopher C. Wilmers · 2023

Rigorous understanding of how environmental conditions impact population dynamics is essential for species conservation, especially in mixed‐use landscapes where source–sink dynamics may be at play. Conservation of large carnivore populati…

Spatiotemporal Patterns of Wolves, and Sympatric Predators and Prey Relative to Human Disturbance in Northwestern Greece Open

Maria Petridou, John F. Benson, Olivier Giménez, Vassiliki Kati · 2023

In an era of increasing human pressure on nature, understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of wildlife relative to human disturbance can inform conservation efforts, especially for large carnivores. We examined the temporal activity and s…

Puma responses to unreliable human cues suggest an ecological trap in a fragmented landscape Open

Anna C. Nisi, John F. Benson, Christopher C. Wilmers · 2022

Animals' fear of people is widespread across taxa and can mitigate the risk of human‐induced mortality, facilitating coexistence in human‐dominated landscapes. However, humans can be unpredictable predators and anthropogenic cues that anim…

Spatial distribution of bat activity in agricultural fields: implications for ecosystem service estimates Open

Christopher T. Fill, Craig R. Allen, Dirac Twidwell, John F. Benson · 2022

Bats provide a number of ecosystem services in agricultural areas, including the predation of night-flying insects, for which they are estimated to save agricultural industries billions of dollars per year. Intensive agriculture has many n…

Mountain lions reduce movement, increase efficiency during the Covid‐19 shutdown Open

John F. Benson, Heather N. Abernathy, Jeff A. Sikich, Seth P. D. Riley · 2021

Wildlife strongly alter behaviour in response to human disturbance; however, fundamental questions remain regarding the influence of human infrastructure and activity on animal movement. The Covid‐19 pandemic created a natural experiment p…

Resource selection at homesites by wolves and eastern coyotes in a Canis hybrid zone Open

Teresa Oliveira, John F. Benson, Connor A. Thompson, Brent R. Patterson · 2020

We modeled resource selection by wolves ( Canis spp.), eastern coyotes ( C. latrans ), and admixed canids during the pup‐rearing season at den and rendezvous sites (collectively, homesites) within a largely unprotected landscape proposed a…

Anthropogenic noise does not surpass land cover in explaining habitat selection of Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) Open

Edward J. Raynor, Jocelyn Olney Harrison, Cara E. Whalen, Jennifer A. Smith, Walter H. Schacht , et al. · 2019

Over the last century, increasing human populations and conversion of grassland to agriculture have had severe consequences for numbers of Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido). Understanding Greater Prairie-Chicken response to huma…

Population Genomic Analysis of North American Eastern Wolves (Canis lycaon) Supports Their Conservation Priority Status Open

Elizabeth Heppenheimer, Ryan J. Harrigan, Linda Y. Rutledge, Klaus‐Peter Koepfli, Alexandra L. DeCandia , et al. · 2018

The threatened eastern wolf is found predominantly in protected areas of central Ontario and has an evolutionary history obscured by interbreeding with coyotes and gray wolves, which challenges its conservation status and subsequent manage…

Juvenile survival, competing risks, and spatial variation in mortality risk of a marine apex predator Open

John F. Benson, Salvador J. Jorgensen, John B. O’Sullivan, Chuck Winkler, Connor F. White , et al. · 2018

Reliable estimates of mortality have been a major gap in our understanding of population ecology for marine animals. This is especially true for juveniles, which are often the most vulnerable age class and whose survival can strongly influ…

Interactions between demography, genetics, and landscape connectivity increase extinction probability for a small population of large carnivores in a major metropolitan area Open

John F. Benson, Peter J. Mahoney, Jeff A. Sikich, Laurel E. K. Serieys, John P. Pollinger , et al. · 2016

The extinction vortex is a theoretical model describing the process by which extinction risk is elevated in small, isolated populations owing to interactions between environmental, demographic, and genetic factors. However, empirical demon…

Survival and cause‐specific mortality of female eastern wild turkeys in two frequently‐burned longleaf pine savannas Open

Andrew R. Little, John F. Benson, Michael J. Chamberlain, L. Mike Conner, Robert J. Warren · 2016

Longleaf pine savannas have declined throughout the southeastern United States due to land‐use change. Fortunately, natural resource professionals are currently restoring these ecologically and economically important savannas. Although eff…

Individual and Population Level Resource Selection Patterns of Mountain Lions Preying on Mule Deer along an Urban-Wildland Gradient Open

John F. Benson, Jeff A. Sikich, Seth P. D. Riley · 2016

Understanding population and individual-level behavioral responses of large carnivores to human disturbance is important for conserving top predators in fragmented landscapes. However, previous research has not investigated resource select…

Does Predation Influence the Seasonal and Diel Timing of Moose Calving in Central Ontario, Canada? Open

Brent R. Patterson, Kenneth J. Mills, Kevin R. Middel, John F. Benson, Martyn E. Obbard · 2016

Birth synchrony is well documented among ungulates and is hypothesised to maximize neonate survival, either by minimizing the risk of predation through predator swamping or by synchronising birthing with increased seasonal food availabilit…

Appendix F. Secondary roads×eastern wolf: supporting analysis. Open