Browsing by Author "Alexander, Shelley M."

Now showing 1 - 17 of 17
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    A GIS decision support system for resolving land allocation conflicts
    (1997) Alexander, Shelley M.; Waters, Nigel M.
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    A multi-species reserve network for the Evan-Thomas Valley, Alberta
    (2005) Etherington, Thomas R.; Alexander, Shelley M.
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    Comparing urban and rural parasitism of coyote feces using non-invasive methods in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
    (2011) Watts, Alexander G.; Alexander, Shelley M.
    Recent literature suggests that urban coyotes may have higher infection prevalence than rural inhabitants (Bradley and Altizer, 2006). This study was a comparative investiga­tion of differences in coyote gastrointestinal parasite prevalence, intensity, and diversity between urban and rural areas of Calgary, Alberta. Weekly sampling for coyote feces was conducted over one year along transects in independent urban and rural sites. 460 samples were analysed using common fecal flotation techniques. At least fifteen parasite species were recovered. No significant differences in species prevalence existed between ur­ban and rural areas, though some significant differences were identified seasonally among urban and rural sites. Toxascaris leonina had the highest prevalence and intensity in all sites. Parasite species richness was significantly higher in rural areas, while diversity was similar. Differences in parasite prevalence, intensity, diversity, and zoonotic potential were identified among individual sites. Zoonotic risks posed were low. Overall, the simi­lar parasitism patterns suggest presence of environmental reservoirs or range expansion of coyotes among sites.
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    Coyote diet and conflict in urban parks in Calgary, Alberta
    (2008) Lukasik, Victoria M.; Alexander, Shelley M.
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    Ideological Coyotes: A more-than-human geography of landowners’ discourse in the Foothills Parkland Region of Alberta, Canada
    (2021-09-14) Boesel, Alexandra V.M.; Alexander, Shelley M.; Draper, Dianne; Colpitts, George
    This thesis presents a critical animal geography analysis of human-coyote relationships in the Foothills Parkland Region of Alberta, Canada. Concerned by large-scale reports of coyote killing in rural parts of North America, this thesis reveals discursive themes in interviews of landowners living alongside coyotes in the study area. Previous studies in North America have predominantly focused on why killing predators is not sound ecological practice. While some studies have begun to address human dimensions of perceived wildlife conflict, research has not attended directly to the discourse and ideologies behind the perceived conflict with coyotes. In this thesis, I identify that coyote management practices appear sociocultural and ideological rather than ecological in reasoning. In the more-than-human landscape of the Foothills Parkland Region, where livestock industry abounds, coyotes are discursively framed as pestilant and threatening bodies to many agricultural landowners. Yet, as the region has developed, becoming more heterogenous, views on coyotes are increasingly divided and polarized. This research explores how coyotes become social, cultural, political, and ideological creatures. While, overall, I find practices regarding coyotes are dictated by speciesism, my discourse analysis also identifies that ideologies of rurality, masculinity, and capitalism influence the human-coyote relationship. The Foothills Coyote Initiative provided 47 audio interviews which I transcribed, coded, and analyzed, identifying emergent discursive themes in landowners’ reported relationships with coyotes. Bringing together disciplines of rural geographies and critical animal geographies, this thesis reveals the ideologies that sustain the practice of killing coyotes, offering insights on anti-predator attitudes across North America.
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    An Investigation of Five Decades of Canid Management Research in the United States and Canada
    (2019-07-24) Plotsky, Kyle; Alexander, Shelley M.; Draper, Dianne; Musiani, Marco; Collard, Rosemary-Claire; Pavelka, Mary McDonald
    Predator removal has been the dominant method of mitigating predator damage to livestock for centuries in the United States and Canada. The 1970s saw legislative and cultural shifts from predator eradication to selective and non-lethal mitigation strategies. Research concurrently increased and focused on which strategies were effective at reducing livestock depredations. I collected research findings published between 1970 and 2018 on mitigating livestock depredation by coyotes and wolves. I investigated potential issues in this literature with implications for current canid management, such as whether traditional management strategies have been properly evaluated or whether the research endorsed a particular strategy. I also investigated the characteristics of the research over time and whether the research showed evidence of publication bias. Lastly, I evaluated whether the confounding effect of context has been accounted for in the research. I found there were nearly three times as many non-lethal than lethal research findings and twice as many types of non-lethal strategies than lethal strategies. My results also justify the use of producer assessments in future research on mitigating livestock depredations. I found differences in research characteristics, such as the canid species evaluated and how research findings are disseminated, across the five decades between 1970 and 2018. I also report that research quality improved across the five decades as there were fewer lower quality research findings after the 1980s. There was no evidence of traditional success oriented publication bias. I did find evidence that non-success related research characteristics were associated with publication in journals and I termed these relationships ‘non-traditional publication bias’. Research findings that evaluated wolves, had academic Principal Investigators, or used statistical analyses were more likely to be published in journals. My final analysis focused on five contextual factors: historical/concurrent lethal control, wild prey, landscape, season, and anthropogenic characteristics. Research findings did not consistently report contextual information. Similarly, there were only a few instances of authors reporting an effect of contextual factors on their results. Based on the CONSORT checklist used in medical research, I developed guidelines for the reporting of future research to ensure replicability and usability in meta-analyses.
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    Lethal Control, Tradition, and Politics: Anthropocentric Large Carnivore Management in Western Canada
    (2018-05-04) Lukasik, Victoria M.; Alexander, Shelley M.; Draper, Dianne L.; Paquet, Paul C.
    Contemporary large carnivore management in North America employs a variety of lethal management practices, some of which are beginning to garner public and scientific scrutiny. These practices are questioned from an ethical and animal welfare perspective, leading some to call for a shift to a compassionate conservation approach. From a pragmatic perspective, mounting scientific evidence questions the efficacy of many of these practices. To better understand which tools are used to manage carnivores and why, I interviewed wildlife managers across Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon, including provincial or territorial wildlife managers, Parks Canada biologists, and conservation practitioners working for environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs). Interviews were semi-structured, covering a broad range of topics related to carnivore management. Transcribed interviews were coded in NVivo to identify trends and themes in carnivore management. Interviews confirmed a preponderance of lethal management techniques and identified a prioritization of hunting and industrial land-use by provincial and territorial governments. Managers acknowledged the inefficacy of some management techniques (e.g. bounties, hunting), but often tolerated or valued these as means to placate members of the public. Lethal management was often rationalized as acceptable for “resilient” carnivore species (e.g. wolves, coyotes), demonstrating a priority for maintaining sustainable populations. While managers expressed concern over animal suffering, they felt that ethical questions were reserved for politicians and members of the public. In order to maintain sustainable wildlife populations, wildlife habitat must be managed. However, managers discussed their lack of involvement in land-use decisions, particularly with regard to oil and gas leases in Alberta. In general, industrial development is frequently prioritized over even critical wildlife habitat, limiting managers from their ability to manage sustainable populations. Agriculture and forestry are also frequently prioritized over wildlife habitat. Managers described resorting to manipulating other species’ populations in a reactionary manner, as a result of these political influences. Managers suggested a need for members of the Canadian public to become more aware and vocal about how they value wildlife. Greater involvement and prioritization of wildlife and wild spaces amongst the citizenry could generate greater political will to improve wildlife regulations and plan implementation.
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    Making Movement Matter: Modelling Connectivity with Spatial Interaction Models
    (2018-07-10) Koenig, Shantel Julene; Bender, Darren J.; Bertazzon, Stefania; Galpern, Paul; Alexander, Shelley M.
    While the idea of landscape connectivity is conceptually straightforward, practically assessing connectivity is substantially more complicated. Behavioural interactions and the composition and configuration of the landscape ultimately determine an animal’s movement between locations; however, when it comes to modelling connectivity, the comprehensive integration of these key determinants into models is lacking. Interestingly, models used by geographers to model human movement and connectivity are centered on the similar key themes of composition and configuration, but also incorporate the components commonly missing in ecological connectivity models. Specifically, spatial interaction models (SIMs) include variables to describe locational traits and offer a model structure that can account for many of the factors that may influence movement across the landscape. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation was to examine to what extent the SIM framework could be adapted and applied to more fully model landscape connectivity. Using both theoretical and empirical approaches, connectivity modelling using SIMs was explored in several ways. A simulation-based study explored the effect that matrix generalization has on assessments of connectivity at both the landscape and patch scale. As well, the ability of SIMs to model the movement landscape was explored using a simulation model and a case study on Ord’s kangaroo rat, and methods for interpreting and assessing model outputs were developed and presented. Overall, SIMs were successful at assessing connectivity and provided new insights into how connectivity varies across landscape and patch scales. SIM outputs showed that as connectivity models were varied, there were no consistent trends or patterns in the differences in assessments, suggesting that connectivity assessments can be highly sensitive to the landscape representation and the model inputs used. Especially when there is uncertainty in the landscape representation or in understanding how a species interacts with the landscape during movement, uncertainty analysis is required, and SIMs provide a meaningful way to do so. Ultimately, and overall, SIMs proved to be a useful, straightforward, and flexible way to model connectivity, especially in cases that warrant incorporating more information than just distance and patch area.
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    Predictors of agonism and affiliation in black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata)
    (2020-08) Chen, Li-Dunn; Johnson, Steig E.; Alexander, Shelley M.; Pavelka, Mary Susan Mc Donald
    Agonism and affiliation work complementarily to influence social ranking in primate social systems, which ultimately impacts reproductive success. In this two-part study, I investigated social behaviour of the Critically Endangered black-and-white ruffed lemur, a highly frugivorous species characterized by female dominance, fission-fusion dynamics, synchronized breeding, and communal care of offspring. Although ruffed lemur sociality has been described in the literature, specific seasonal and ecological predictors of agonism and affiliation have not been quantitatively investigated. Behavioural data were collected in the Kianjavato commune of southeastern Madagascar. I first investigated fluctuating food availability and reproductive season as predictors of agonism. Food availability had no effect on group-wide agonism rates, but subgroup size and breeding seasons were highly predictive of increased agonism. Increased agonism rates were observed when subgroups were larger as well as during the mating and birthing seasons, but only in years when mating and birthing occurred. I speculate these patterns of agonism function as reproductive strategies, as male-male competition for access to mates is expected to increase during the mating season, and parents likely exhibit more agonism while guarding their offspring during the birthing season. In order to better understand the behavioural strategies employed by ruffed lemurs during the mating season, I also investigated how male individuals vary in their expression of agonistic and affiliative behaviours with respect to reproductive season and dominance rank. I found that males exhibited higher rates of both agonism and affiliation during the mating season compared to the post-mating season, and that dominant males expressed higher rates of agonism but not affiliation compared to low-ranking males. I also evaluated female agonism rates and ranks to determine if they were higher in females compared to males. Although females occupied the highest ranks within their subgroups, males surprisingly exhibited higher rates of agonism than females throughout the study period, which was unexpected in this female-dominated species. Overall, the results presented here indicate that agonism and affiliation may function as reproductive strategies, but additional research is required to better understand the patterns observed.
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    Selection of gray wolf (canis lupus) homesites on the central coast of British Columbia
    (2007) Rozalska, Katherine N.; Alexander, Shelley M.
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    Specifying Caribou Migratory Behaviours to Identify and Preserve Intraspecies Diversity
    (2020-11-30) Theoret, Jessica L.; Musiani, Marco; Alexander, Shelley M.; Laskin, David N.
    Preserving intraspecies diversity, a fundamental conservation goal, strengthens species adaptability. Across most of their range, caribou are declining, with some recent population extirpations. Migratory or sedentary movement behaviours are considered adaptive relative to local ecological conditions of Barren-ground and Woodland Caribou populations (respectively). In addition, these behaviours may be genetically influenced. As populations decline and are lost, local characteristics, including movement ecology and genetic traits (or their links) that may be adaptive, are also at risk of disappearing. In this Thesis, I describe the prevalence of migratory, resident, and other seasonal movement behaviours for Barren-ground and Woodland Caribou in northern and western Canada. I exemplify that caribou behaviour is diverse and complex, requiring a combination of methods to categorize, and I challenge traditional distinctions between, and binary categorization of, migratory and resident behaviour. I also develop an equation for quantifying between-year individual behavioural plasticity to estimate how flexible caribou can be in their movement behaviour. Finally, I assess the potential for reproductive isolation between migratory versus non-migratory caribou in populations where both seasonal behaviours co-occur. I therefore determine the location of, and separation between, migratory and non-migratory individuals during the rutting season to evaluate if individuals exhibiting the same movement behaviour are associated with one another during the period of genetic exchange. Despite the common description of Woodland Caribou as primarily non-migratory, migratory behaviour was found to occur widely in Woodland Caribou populations. Additionally, individuals were flexible in their migratory behaviours between years. Populations may therefore be more behaviourally diverse and perhaps behaviourally adaptable than previously thought. However, I also found that migratory and non-migratory caribou could be separate during the rutting season, indicating potential for reproductive isolation. From these results, correlations of seasonal movement behaviours with environmental conditions and with genetic traits could be determined to evaluate if caribou respond to the environment plastically or if instead, they are limited by their genes. Specifying seasonal migratory behaviours, evaluating between-year behavioural plasticity, and testing for genetic predispositions for seasonal movement patterns may help refine conservation and management strategies to aid caribou recovery.
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    The diet and human interactions of urban coyotes in Calgary, Alberta
    (2009) Lukasik, Victoria M.; Alexander, Shelley M.
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    Use of non-invasive methods to examine species distribution relative to a highway in the Calakmul region, Mexico
    (2012) Brichieri-Colombi, Typhenn; Alexander, Shelley M.
    In 2007, the Mexican government started to widen Highway 186 that traverses the Calakmul region from two to four lanes. This study uses wildlife occurrence data obtained from systematic sampling and citizen science to examine 1) focal species and functional guild distribution in the road-effect zone of Highway 186; 2) wildlife crossing hotspots using citizen science data; and 3) the use of quantitative and qualitative methods to describe road effects on wildlife. Wildlife was detected using four non-invasive methods: 1) tracks collected on 10 secondary roads perpendicular to the highway, 2) remotely triggered cameras placed along each road at 50m, 750m and 2000m from the highway, 3) community maps placed in four villages along the highway on which residents and non residents indicated where, when and what species they encountered, and 4) interviews with local residents. Differences in species relative activity along sampled roads were compared using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests for camera and track data. Wildlife sightings reported in community mapping and interviews were digitized into a GIS and crossing hotspots were identified. Participant comments also were examined qualitatively to explore community perceptions of wildlife. Finally, species accumulation curves, latency to first detection and relative efficiency were compared for each detection method, and a data transformation model of the triangle design was used to corroborate qualitative and quantitative methods to describe overall effects of Highway 186 on wildlife. Cameras and tracking indicated species were more active farther from the highway, but activity differed between species. Crossing hotspots along the highway identified by community mapping and interview data changed between years; overall, four mortality hotspots were identified. Cameras and tracks were more effective at detecting species than community mapping and interviews, but the latter two methods detected some species earlier due to the qualitative nature of the data. Although the quality and information provided by data from each collection method varied, together they provide a more comprehensive view of road effects on wildlife in the region.