ABSTRACT
Introduction ............................................................................................................ 136 Development of Wildlife Conservation along the Rural-Urban Gradient ........ 137
Deœnitions .............................................................................................................. 139 Reptiles and Amphibians ....................................................................................... 140 Avifauna ................................................................................................................. 143
Management for Avifauna in Altered Landscapes ............................................ 148 Mammals ................................................................................................................ 150
Small Mammals ................................................................................................ 150 Chiroptera .......................................................................................................... 151 Mesopredators ................................................................................................... 151 Larger Predators ................................................................................................ 152
The Problem ................................................................................................. 152 Coyotes .............................................................................................................. 153
The Problem ................................................................................................. 153 Biophysical-Behavioral Forces .................................................................... 154 Home-Range Sizes ....................................................................................... 154 Habitats in Urban Areas ............................................................................... 154 Diet ............................................................................................................... 156 Activity ......................................................................................................... 157 Survival ......................................................................................................... 157
Human-Coyote Con™icts .................................................................................. 158 Case Study: Glendale, California ................................................................. 158
Management ...................................................................................................... 159 American Black Bears....................................................................................... 160
The Problem ................................................................................................. 160 Deterrents to Reduce Human-Black Bear Con™icts .................................... 161
Community Case Studies .................................................................................. 164 Juneau, Alaska .............................................................................................. 164
Urbanization is the primary cause of species endangerment and a leading threat to biodiversity in the contiguous United States (Czech et al. 2000). It represents one of the most severe forms of unregulated cumulative effects impacting wildlife and their habitats. Rural, suburban, and exurban development in the United States consumes ~1,000,000 ha of land/year (Milder et al. 2008) and contributes to increased anthropogenic mortality of wildlife from collisions with vehicles and windows, dog and cat predations, malicious gun shot, monoœlament line injuries, tar, oil, ™y paper contact, and pesticide toxicities (Burton and Doblar 2004). Diseases also contribute to mortality factors of urban wildlife (Krausman 2002): house œnch conjunctivitis, trichomoniasis, salmonellosis, sarcoptic mange, and rabies (Krausman 2002; Burton and Doblar 2004). Cities, towns, and villages in the United States make up approximately 5% of the land mass, but nearly 80% of the population lives in them and the surrounding suburbs (U.S. Census Bureau 2000). Thus, cumulative effects are continual and largely unmitigated. This anthropogenic development results in the modiœcation of landscapes so severe that native habitat for wildlife is altered and eliminated (McKinney 2002). Most alteration occurs around cities, and the in™uences of development decrease as human activity decreases from the core through suburban and into rural landscapes. This expansion of residential areas into rural landscapes is urban sprawl (Lindstrom and Bartling 2003), which creates new habitats from the native landscapes: cemeteries, parks, gardens, golf courses, lakes, and tons of asphalt and concrete. Although some species adapt well to urban sprawl (e.g., some amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, birds), many more are negatively impacted (Randa and Yunger 2006) due to abrupt habitat boundaries, road construction (Hawbaker et al. 2006), introduction of exotic ™ora and fauna, degradation of landscapes by humans causing long-term habitat loss, and increased extinction rates (McKinney 2002) leading to international biotic homogenization (McKinney 2006). As “cities expand across the planet, biological homogenization increases because the same ‘urban-adaptable’ species become increasingly widespread and locally abundant in cities across the planet” (McKinney 2006, p. 247). These “global homogenizers” combined with native species that adapt well to suburban environments
Mammoth Lakes, California ......................................................................... 165 West Yellowstone, Montana ......................................................................... 166 Gatlinburg, Tennessee .................................................................................. 166
Ungulates........................................................................................................... 168 The Problem ................................................................................................. 168 White-Tailed Deer ........................................................................................ 169 Mule Deer ..................................................................................................... 174 Elk ................................................................................................................ 180 The Ungulate-Vehicle Collision Crisis ........................................................ 180 Desert Bighorn Sheep ................................................................................... 183
General Management of Urban and Exurban Landscapes for Wildlife ............ 184 Research Needs ................................................................................................. 188
Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 190
(i.e., early successional plants and edge animal species, ground-foraging, omnivorous and frugivorous birds that use gardens, forest fragments, and other suburban landscapes) provide some developed areas a rich assemblage of ™ora and fauna even though many native species declined. This has likely received little attention because many humans that live in suburban and exurban habitats (of all income levels) become increasingly disconnected from local indigenous species and their roles in the natural ecosystem (McKinney 2006).
