Spatial ecology of south texas wild felids in the context of roads and wildlife crossing structures
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South Texas is home to the last remaining breeding populations of ocelots in the U.S. Wildlife-vehicle collisions are the primary known cause of ocelot mortality, and mitigating for this source of mortality is essential to ensure the persistence of this federally endangered felid. In collaboration with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Ocelot Monitoring and Recovery Program, M.S. student Greta Schmidt is using multiple datasets to gain a better understanding of south Texas wild felid road interactions in order to assess the effectiveness of recently installed wildlife underpasses and inform future road mitigation efforts.
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Historic Road Mortality
We will compile a database of south Texas ocelot mortality records from 1983 - 2018 to understand landscape and demographic predictors of road mortality risk to inform future road mitigation efforts
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Road Interactions
We will use fine-scale location data from GPS-collared ocelots and bobcats to better understand how roads and wildlife underpasses influence wild felid movement and habitat use
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Crossing Structure Use
By monitoring recently installed wildlife underpasses with remote cameras, we will determine landscape and structural features of underpass sites that are associated with use by wild felids
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All photos used with permission, property of USFWS
