MEXICAN WOLF RECOVERY: HABITAT SUITABILITY AND DISPERSAL POTENTIAL
Abstract
For the first time since 1982, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
is in the process of updating the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Plan. In order to provide
comprehensive recommendations regarding the conservation of this species, potential
habitat must be delineated throughout its historic range. Assessments of favorable
habitat, dispersal potential, and reintroduction feasibility have been published for
the Pacific Northwest, the northeastern U.S., the Great Lakes, and the northern Rockies.
Such projects provide a strong methodological foundation for developing analogous
research in the Southwest, where relatively few studies have taken place.
The purpose of this study was to aid the USFWS in its efforts by completing a spatial
analysis of favorable Mexican wolf habitat and connectivity potential. With the use
of a geographic information system, habitat models were developed and tested within
the Mexican Gray Wolf Experimental Population Area. Results from this analysis were
then extrapolated to the majority of the Mexican gray wolf’s historic range, encompassing
New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.
Based on a literature review of landscape attributes observed to influence wolf habitat
selection and mortality, the following variables were selected to model wolf habitat:
land cover type, elevation, distance from roads, human density, and distance from
ranching operations. Patches of viable habitat were identified and connectivity between
them was analyzed. The results of this analysis present 181,584 km2 of suitable Mexican
wolf habitat throughout the four-state region. The largest patch comprises 23,202
km2 of land (approximately 30% of which is currently protected as designated Wilderness
Area, National Forest, or State Forest). This area alone is most likely capable of
supporting 240-480 individual wolves.
Five of the largest habitat patches identified are functionally connected through
a network of corridors. Deforestation and anthropogenic encroachment are endangering
one of these essential linkages, posing a threat to future wolf dispersal into southern
Colorado. Based on the conclusions developed from this study, recommendations were
provided to the USFWS to aid in the development of realistic recovery goals and possible
reintroduction sites for Mexican gray wolf conservation.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/3722Citation
Carnes, Rachael (2011). MEXICAN WOLF RECOVERY: HABITAT SUITABILITY AND DISPERSAL POTENTIAL. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/3722.Collections
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