@article{hooker_cove_watersmith_hodges_seay_jenkins_kaeser_2024, title={Camera traps strengthen inference about endangered beach mouse activity}, volume={5}, ISSN={2199-2401 2199-241X}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13364-024-00752-3}, DOI={10.1007/s13364-024-00752-3}, journal={Mammal Research}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Hooker, Katie R. and Cove, Michael V. and Watersmith, E. Claire and Hodges, India R. and Seay, David and Jenkins, Amy and Kaeser, Melanie J.}, year={2024}, month={May} }
 @article{kays_snider_hess_cove_jensen_shamon_mcshea_rooney_allen_pekins_et al._2024, title={Climate, food and humans predict communities of mammals in the United States}, url={https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13900}, DOI={10.1111/ddi.13900}, abstractNote={Abstract 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 whether human disturbance has become more important than climate and habitat resources in structuring communities. Location Conterminous United States. Time Period 2010–2021. Major Taxa Studied Twenty‐five species of mammals. Methods We analysed data from 25 mammal species recorded by camera traps at 6645 locations across the conterminous United States in a joint modelling framework to estimate relative abundance of each species. We then used a clustering analysis to describe 8 broad and 16 narrow mammal communities. Results Climate was the most important predictor of mammal abundance overall, while human population density and agriculture were less important, with mixed effects across species. Seed production by forests also predicted mammal abundance, especially hard‐mast tree species. The mammal community maps are similar to those of plants, with an east–west split driven by different dominant species of deer and squirrels. Communities vary along gradients of temperature in the east and precipitation in the west. Most fine‐scale mammal community boundaries aligned with established plant ecoregions and were distinguished by the presence of regional specialists or shifts in relative abundance of widespread species. Maps of potential ecosystem services provided by these communities suggest high herbivory in the Rocky Mountains and eastern forests, high invertebrate predation in the subtropical south and greater predation pressure on large vertebrates in the west. Main Conclusions Our results highlight the importance of climate to modern mammals and suggest that climate change will have strong impacts on these communities. Our new empirical approach to recognizing ecoregions has potential to be applied to expanded communities of mammals or other taxa.}, journal={Diversity and Distributions}, author={Kays, Roland and Snider, Matthew H. and Hess, George and Cove, Michael V. and Jensen, Alex and Shamon, Hila and McShea, William J. and Rooney, Brigit and Allen, Maximilian L. and Pekins, Charles E. and et al.}, year={2024}, month={Jun} }
 @article{cove_dietz_anderson_jenkins_hooker_kaeser_2024, title={Endangered beach mouse resistance to a Category 5 hurricane is mediated by elevation and dune habitat}, url={https://doi.org/10.1002/inc3.42}, DOI={10.1002/inc3.42}, abstractNote={Abstract Coastal ecosystems and their endemic taxa are under threat from hurricanes that are increasingly frequent and severe due to climate change—leading to a need to better understand factors associated with species' resistance (capacity to withstand) and resilience (capacity to rebound) to these storms. The beach mouse species complex ( Peromyscus polionotus spp.) is a representative endangered group of rodents tightly associated with such coastal habitats. We examined track‐tube monitoring data of beach mice from Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, USA, before and after the 2018 strike of Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 hurricane, and again before and after the 2020 strike of Hurricane Sally, a Category 2 hurricane. We applied dynamic occupancy models to track‐tube survey data to assess environmental factors associated with beach mouse initial occupancy and local extinction following Hurricane Michael. Beach mice exhibited high probabilities of detection and initial occupancy across most sites and all representative habitats before Hurricane Michael. Dynamic models revealed that local extinction probabilities of beach mice decreased with increasing elevation and dune habitat, followed by grassland, and scrub—highlighting high elevation dune as the primary driver of beach mouse resistance to storms. Extinction probability was not related to other factors like plant species percent cover or proximity to storm strike. Beach mice occurred at 100% of track‐tubes before and after Hurricane Sally. Beach mice are adapted to persist in dynamic coastal environments with regular hurricane strikes, as evidenced by their resistance and resilience following Hurricane Michael to reach 100% occupancy with high resistance to the weaker Hurricane Sally. However, as hurricanes become stronger and more frequent with global change, isolated populations of beach mice may be more susceptible to local extinction with the corresponding loss of elevation and dunes. High elevation, particularly in dune habitats, is an important mediator of resistance and resilience to hurricane impacts and should be considered in habitat restoration and reintroduction strategies, especially if relative elevation decreases with sea‐level rise.}, journal={Integrative Conservation}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Dietz, Samantha L. and Anderson, Chad T. and Jenkins, Amy M. and Hooker, Katie R. and Kaeser, Melanie J.}, year={2024}, month={Mar} }
 @article{jensen_cove_goldstein_kays_mcshea_pacifici_rooney_kierepka_2024, title={Geographic barriers but not life history traits shape the phylogeography of North American mammals}, volume={6}, ISSN={1466-822X 1466-8238}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/geb.13875}, DOI={10.1111/geb.13875}, abstractNote={Abstract Aim Synthesize literature on genetic structure within species to understand how geographic features and species traits influence past responses to climate change. Location North America. Time Period We synthesized phylogeographic studies from 1978 to 2023, which describe genetic lineages that diverged during the Pleistocene (≥11,700 years ago). Major Taxa Studied Mammals. Methods We conducted a literature review to map genetic breaks in species distributions, then tested a set of geographic hypotheses (e.g., mountains, rivers) to explain their position by comparing break locations to a grid within each species' sampled range using logistic regression. We then conducted a meta‐analysis using species‐specific model estimates to ask if life‐history traits explained variation in which barriers were most important in species' past response to climate change. Results Our findings reveal heterogeneity in both where North American mammal phylogeography has been studied and the density of genetic breaks across 229 species. We found relatively high concordance among carnivores, ungulates and lagomorphs, where breaks were associated with mountains, major water bodies and relatively even terrain. In contrast, we found high variability within rodents and shrews, and no evidence that intrinsic factors related to dispersal ability explained the importance of hypothesized barriers across all species. Main Conclusions Southern Mexico is a hotspot for genetic breaks that has yet to be integrated into the broader story of North American phylogeography. We show that mountains and major water bodies play particularly important roles as barriers, but substantial variation across species within orders suggests that there is more to the story besides shared climatic or phylogenetic histories. Thus, understanding the phylogeography of individual species will continue to be important given that our results suggest high variability in how species may respond to future global change.}, journal={Global Ecology and Biogeography}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Jensen, Alex J. and Cove, Michael V. and Goldstein, Benjamin R. and Kays, Roland and McShea, William and Pacifici, Krishna and Rooney, Brigit and Kierepka, Elizabeth}, year={2024}, month={Jun} }
 @article{goldstein_jensen_kays_cove_mcshea_rooney_kierepka_pacifici_2024, title={Guidelines for estimating occupancy from autocorrelated camera trap detections}, volume={5}, ISSN={["2041-2096"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14359}, DOI={10.1111/2041-210X.14359}, abstractNote={Abstract Site occupancy models (SOMs) are a common tool for studying the spatial ecology of wildlife. When observational data are collected using passive monitoring field methods, including camera traps or autonomous recorders, detections of animals may be temporally autocorrelated, leading to biased estimates and incorrectly quantified uncertainty. We presently lack clear guidance for understanding and mitigating the consequences of temporal autocorrelation when estimating occupancy models with camera trap data. We use simulations to explore when and how autocorrelation gives rise to biased or overconfident estimates of occupancy. We explore the impact of sampling design and biological conditions on model performance in the presence of autocorrelation, investigate the usefulness of several techniques for identifying and mitigating bias and compare performance of the SOM to a model that explicitly estimates autocorrelation. We also conduct a case study using detections of 22 North American mammals. We show that a join count goodness‐of‐fit test previously proposed for identifying clustered detections is effective for detecting autocorrelation across a range of conditions. We find that strong bias occurs in the estimated occupancy intercept when survey durations are short and detection rates are low. We provide a reference table for assessing the degree of bias to be expected under all conditions. We further find that discretizing data with larger windows decreases the magnitude of bias introduced by autocorrelation. In our case study, we find that detections of most species are autocorrelated and demonstrate how larger detection windows might mitigate the resulting bias. Our findings suggest that autocorrelation is likely widespread in camera trap data and that many previous studies of occupancy based on camera trap data may have systematically underestimated occupancy probabilities. Moving forward, we recommend that ecologists estimating occupancy from camera trap data use the join count goodness‐of‐fit test to determine whether autocorrelation is present in their data. If it is, SOMs should use large detection windows to mitigate bias and more accurately quantify uncertainty in occupancy model parameters. Ecologists should not use gaps between detection periods, which are ineffective at mitigating temporal structure in data and discard useful data.}, journal={METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION}, author={Goldstein, Benjamin R. and Jensen, Alex J. and Kays, Roland and Cove, Michael V. and Mcshea, William J. and Rooney, Brigit and Kierepka, Elizabeth M. and Pacifici, Krishna}, year={2024}, month={May} }
 @article{burton_beirne_gaynor_sun_granados_allen_alston_alvarenga_calderón_amir_et al._2024, title={Mammal responses to global changes in human activity vary by trophic group and landscape}, volume={8}, ISSN={2397-334X}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02363-2}, DOI={10.1038/s41559-024-02363-2}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={5}, journal={Nature Ecology & Evolution}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Burton, A. Cole and Beirne, Christopher and Gaynor, Kaitlyn M. and Sun, Catherine and Granados, Alys and Allen, Maximilian L. and Alston, Jesse M. and Alvarenga, Guilherme C. and Calderón, Francisco Samuel Álvarez and Amir, Zachary and et al.}, year={2024}, month={Mar}, pages={924–935} }
 @article{shamon_maor_cove_kays_adley_alexander_allen_allen_appel_barr_et al._2024, title={SNAPSHOT USA 2021: A third coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States}, url={https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4318}, DOI={10.1002/ecy.4318}, abstractNote={Abstract SNAPSHOT USA is a multicontributor, long‐term camera trap survey designed to survey mammals across the United States. Participants are recruited through community networks and directly through a website application ( https://www.snapshot-usa.org/ ). The growing Snapshot dataset is useful, for example, for tracking wildlife population responses to land use, land cover, and climate changes across spatial and temporal scales. Here we present the SNAPSHOT USA 2021 dataset, the third national camera trap survey across the US. Data were collected across 109 camera trap arrays and included 1711 camera sites. The total effort equaled 71,519 camera trap nights and resulted in 172,507 sequences of animal observations. Sampling effort varied among camera trap arrays, with a minimum of 126 camera trap nights, a maximum of 3355 nights, a median 546 nights, and a mean 656 ± 431 nights. This third dataset comprises 51 camera trap arrays that were surveyed during 2019, 2020, and 2021, along with 71 camera trap arrays that were surveyed in 2020 and 2021. All raw data and accompanying metadata are stored on Wildlife Insights ( https://www.wildlifeinsights.org/ ), and are publicly available upon acceptance of the data papers. SNAPSHOT USA aims to sample multiple ecoregions in the United States with adequate representation of each ecoregion according to its relative size. Currently, the relative density of camera trap arrays varies by an order of magnitude for the various ecoregions (0.22–5.9 arrays per 100,000 km 2 ), emphasizing the need to increase sampling effort by further recruiting and retaining contributors. There are no copyright restrictions on these data. We request that authors cite this paper when using these data, or a subset of these data, for publication. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government.}, journal={Ecology}, author={Shamon, Hila and Maor, Roi and Cove, Michael V. and Kays, Roland and Adley, Jessie and Alexander, Peter D. and Allen, David N. and Allen, Maximilian L. and Appel, Cara L. and Barr, Evan and et al.}, year={2024}, month={Jun} }
 @article{twining_sutherland_zalewski_cove_birks_wearn_haysom_wereszczuk_manzo_bartolommei_et al._2024, title={Using global remote camera data of a solitary species complex to evaluate the drivers of group formation}, volume={121}, ISSN={0027-8424 1091-6490}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2312252121}, DOI={10.1073/pnas.2312252121}, abstractNote={The social system of animals involves a complex interplay between physiology, natural history, and the environment. Long relied upon discrete categorizations of “social” and “solitary” inhibit our capacity to understand species and their interactions with the world around them. Here, we use a globally distributed camera trapping dataset to test the drivers of aggregating into groups in a species complex (martens and relatives, family Mustelidae , Order Carnivora ) assumed to be obligately solitary. We use a simple quantification, the probability of being detected in a group, that was applied across our globally derived camera trap dataset. Using a series of binomial generalized mixed-effects models applied to a dataset of 16,483 independent detections across 17 countries on four continents we test explicit hypotheses about potential drivers of group formation. We observe a wide range of probabilities of being detected in groups within the solitary model system, with the probability of aggregating in groups varying by more than an order of magnitude. We demonstrate that a species’ context-dependent proclivity toward aggregating in groups is underpinned by a range of resource-related factors, primarily the distribution of resources, with increasing patchiness of resources facilitating group formation, as well as interactions between environmental conditions (resource constancy/winter severity) and physiology (energy storage capabilities). The wide variation in propensities to aggregate with conspecifics observed here highlights how continued failure to recognize complexities in the social behaviors of apparently solitary species limits our understanding not only of the individual species but also the causes and consequences of group formation.}, number={12}, journal={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, publisher={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, author={Twining, Joshua P. and Sutherland, Chris and Zalewski, Andrzej and Cove, Michael V. and Birks, Johnny and Wearn, Oliver R. and Haysom, Jessica and Wereszczuk, Anna and Manzo, Emiliano and Bartolommei, Paola and et al.}, year={2024}, month={Mar} }
 @article{watersmith_mcdonald_dixon_cove_2023, title={Biodiversity benefits of an ecosystem engineer are negated by an invasive predator}, volume={35}, ISSN={2352-2496}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2023.e00286}, DOI={10.1016/j.fooweb.2023.e00286}, abstractNote={Ecosystem engineers play a vital role in community assembly by modifying the environment to create novel habitat features. Woodrats (Neotoma sp.) build and maintain intricate stick-nests that stockpile organic materials and create habitat for other small species. The Key Largo woodrat (Neotoma floridana smalli) is an endangered subspecies endemic to Key Largo, Florida, USA, that has undergone substantial declines due to habitat loss and predation by invasive predators. We leveraged data from a camera trap monitoring grid at supplemental woodrat nest structures to survey bird communities to evaluate the role of woodrat nest use and stick-nest building related to bird abundance using generalized linear models. We predicted that woodrat occurrence and stick-nest building would positively correlate with bird species richness and abundance due to the creation of habitat structures that support prey for birds. To test this, we analyzed the relationship that bird abundance and species richness have with several indicators of woodrat activity along with other environmental and predator variables. Bird abundance was positively associated with woodrat supplemental nest use and stick-nest building. However, these positive associations were largely negated by the presence of free-roaming cats (Felis catus), an invasive predator, and dampened by proximity to human development. We provide evidence that woodrats may have cascading effects on their local food webs by creating foraging grounds for birds, but this positive relationship is disrupted by the presence of an introduced predator.}, journal={Food Webs}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Watersmith, E. Claire and McDonald, Brandon and Dixon, Jeremy and Cove, Michael V.}, year={2023}, month={Jun}, pages={e00286} }
 @article{cove_herrmann_herrera_augustine_flockhart_mcshea_2023, title={Counting the Capital's cats: Estimating drivers of abundance of free‐roaming cats with a novel hierarchical model}, url={https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2790}, DOI={10.1002/eap.2790}, abstractNote={Abstract Free‐roaming cats are a conservation concern in many areas but identifying their impacts and developing mitigation strategies requires a robust understanding of their distribution and density patterns. Urban and residential areas may be especially relevant in this process because free‐roaming cats are abundant in these anthropogenic landscapes. Here, we estimate the occupancy and density of free‐roaming cats in Washington D.C. and relate these metrics to known landscape and social factors. We conducted an extended camera trap survey of public and private spaces across D.C. and analyzed data collected from 1483 camera deployments from 2018 to 2020. We estimated citywide cat distribution by fitting hierarchical occupancy models and further estimated cat abundance using a novel random thinning spatial capture‐recapture model that allows for the use of photos that can and cannot be identified to individual. Within this model, we utilized individual covariates that provided identity exclusions between photos of unidentifiable cats with inconsistent coat patterns, thus increasing the precision of abundance estimates. This combined model also allowed for unbiased estimation of density when animals cannot be identified to individual at the same rate as for free‐roaming cats whose identifiability depended on their coat characteristics. Cat occupancy and abundance declined with increasing distance from residential areas, an effect that was more pronounced in wealthier neighborhoods. There was noteworthy absence of cats detected in larger public spaces and forests. Realized densities ranged from 0.02 to 1.75 cats/ha in sampled areas, resulting in a district‐wide estimate of ~7296 free‐roaming cats. Ninety percent of cat detections lacked collars and nearly 35% of known individuals were ear‐tipped, indicative of district Trap‐Neuter‐Return (TNR) programs. These results suggest that we mainly sampled and estimated the unowned cat subpopulation, such that indoor/outdoor housecats were not well represented. The precise estimation of cat population densities is difficult due to the varied behavior of subpopulations within free‐roaming cat populations (housecats, stray and feral cats), but our methods provide a first step in establishing citywide baselines to inform data‐driven management plans for free‐roaming cats in urban environments.}, journal={Ecological Applications}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Herrmann, Valentine and Herrera, Daniel J. and Augustine, Ben C. and Flockhart, D. T. Tyler and McShea, William J.}, year={2023}, month={Mar} }
 @article{redinger_lord_dixon_cove_2023, title={Mammal declines correspond with increasing prevalence of Burmese pythons at their southern invasion front in the Florida Keys}, volume={26}, ISSN={1387-3547 1573-1464}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10530-023-03217-x}, DOI={10.1007/s10530-023-03217-x}, number={3}, journal={Biological Invasions}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Redinger, Joseph and Lord, Isaac and Dixon, Jeremy and Cove, Michael V.}, year={2023}, month={Dec}, pages={889–903} }
 @article{crandall_pease_simmons_adamovicz_cove_2023, title={Raccoon Roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis) Undetected in Endangered Key Largo Woodrat (Neotoma floridana smalli) Endemic Range}, volume={59}, ISSN={0090-3558}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.7589/jwd-d-22-00133}, DOI={10.7589/jwd-d-22-00133}, abstractNote={Raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis) negatively affects woodrat (Neotoma spp.) populations but is not known to occur in the endemic range of endangered Key Largo woodrats (Neotoma floridana smalli). Rectal swabs from 23 raccoons (Procyon lotor) in Key Largo were screened for raccoon roundworm by PCR. All tests were negative, suggesting continued absence.}, number={3}, journal={Journal of Wildlife Diseases}, publisher={Wildlife Disease Association}, author={Crandall, Kelly A. and Pease, Brent S. and Simmons, Amber L. and Adamovicz, Laura A. and Cove, Michael V.}, year={2023}, month={Jun} }
 @article{baruzzi_barton_cove_strickland_lashley_2023, title={Scavenger and herbivore functional role impairment modulates changes in plant communities following mass mortality events}, volume={37}, ISSN={0269-8463 1365-2435}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14376}, DOI={10.1111/1365-2435.14376}, abstractNote={Abstract Mass mortality events (MMEs) of wildlife are increasingly frequent and may destabilize communities. MMEs provide a unique ecological context because they simultaneously produce a resource pulse that is sometimes coupled with the loss or severe impairment of functional roles such as predation or herbivory. Moreover, these effects are complicated by global declines in obligate vertebrate scavengers. We designed an experiment to measure the relative importance of bottom‐up (nutrient addition) and top‐down (impairment of obligate scavenger and herbivore functional roles) forces experienced during MMEs on the local plant community. Increasing carrion biomass shifted local plant assemblages from the original state promoting plants more resistant to soil disturbance (i.e. annual plants), but this effect was unique to carrion as the same amount of macronutrients entering the system did not affect the plant community. This may indicate that the effects of carrion are primarily driven by interactions with consumers rather than bottom‐up processes. Additionally, restricting obligate vertebrate scavenger access to increasing amounts of carrion biomass shifted the net effects of the carrion on the plant community by limiting perennial vines. Impairment of the herbivore functional role released plants from top‐down control, increasing plant growth and survival. Our experiment indicates that top‐down forces may have strong effects on plant communities following MMEs. As such, the global increase in wildlife MMEs may have broad consequences on ecological communities, not only on the species affected. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.}, number={8}, journal={Functional Ecology}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Baruzzi, C. and Barton, B. T. and Cove, M. V. and Strickland, B. K. and Lashley, M. A.}, year={2023}, month={Jun}, pages={2207–2216} }
 @article{mcdonald_baruzzi_mccleery_cove_lashley_2023, title={Simulated extreme climate event alters a plant-frugivore mutualism}, volume={545}, ISSN={0378-1127}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121294}, DOI={10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121294}, abstractNote={Anthropogenic climate change is contributing to an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events. These extreme events may affect interactions in mutualisms that provide key ecosystem functions, especially when the event is rare for a given system and participants are differentially affected. The tropical hardwood hammocks of Key Largo, Florida, USA are inhabited by a highly specialized endangered rodent, the Key Largo woodrat (Neotoma floridana smalli), which may be an important seed disperser of many native fleshy-fruited plant species. Other potential mammalian dispersers are generalist omnivores, northern raccoons (Procyon lotor) and Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana), that are less selective. We sought to demonstrate that extreme climate events could alter seed dispersal mutualisms by differentially affecting fruit preference of potential dispersers. We designed a replicated cafeteria-style experiment across the entire range of the Key Largo woodrat with fruit from sixteen native plant species and simulated an extreme climate event by exposing half of the fruits to sub-freezing temperatures. Freezing temperatures are rare in this tropical environment, but increased frequencies of these types of extreme events are predicted with climate change. Using camera traps, we monitored the removal of fruit and seeds by woodrats and the generalist consumers, predicting that changes in fruit quality resulting from exposure to sub-freezing temperatures would reduce preference by the more specialized woodrat relative to its generalist consumers. Indeed, exposure to subfreezing temperatures decreased the probability of fruit and seed removal by woodrats while generalist consumers preferentially removed more of the fruits and seeds exposed to sub-freezing temperatures. These data provide evidence that extreme climate events may affect species preferences for food asymmetrically, which may shift the dynamics of seed dispersal mutualisms. Over time, increasing frequencies of extreme weather events could indirectly affect communities and ecosystem services by shifting interactions between organisms.}, journal={Forest Ecology and Management}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={McDonald, Brandon W. and Baruzzi, Carolina and McCleery, Robert A. and Cove, Michael V. and Lashley, Marcus A.}, year={2023}, month={Oct}, pages={121294} }
 @article{cove_dixon_king_willson_hart_2023, title={Survey optimization for invasive Burmese pythons informed by camera traps}, volume={1}, ISSN={2832-5869 2832-5869}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wll2.12021}, DOI={10.1002/wll2.12021}, abstractNote={Abstract The Burmese python ( Python bivittatus ) is an invasive predator responsible for broad mammal declines in South Florida, United States. Despite their large size, pythons remain cryptic and require multifaceted approaches for detection. We evaluated a novel technique by deploying camera traps at known locations of radiotagged pythons in the Florida Keys. We estimated daily detection probabilities of snakes and plotted diel activity patterns. Our results suggest camera traps can effectively survey pythons but seasonality and camera trigger mechanisms affect utility. Pythons were most detectable with time‐lapse camera traps and more detectable in winter. The diel activity pattern of pythons peaked midday through early afternoon, indicating an optimal survey time for other search methods. Artificial intelligence can alleviate photo volume, so we recommend a combination of motion detection and time‐lapse with shorter time (1 min) intervals for python‐specific surveys and where camera traps are deployed to monitor mammals to improve passive python detection.}, number={3}, journal={Wildlife Letters}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Dixon, Jeremy and King, Katherine and Willson, Matthew and Hart, Kristen M.}, year={2023}, month={Sep}, pages={143–148} }
 @article{lord_redinger_dixon_hart_guzy_romagosa_cove_2023, title={Telescoping prey selection in invasive Burmese pythons spells trouble for endangered rodents}, volume={37}, ISSN={2352-2496}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2023.e00307}, DOI={10.1016/j.fooweb.2023.e00307}, abstractNote={The allometric scaling of predators and their prey is well established within snakes (i.e., gape-width limits maximum prey sizes). However, while some species exhibit ontogenetic shifts to larger prey as they grow, others exhibit telescoping prey selection and continue to consume small prey in addition to larger prey. The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is a large dietary generalist constrictor native to Southeast Asia that is established in South Florida (USA). As part of survey efforts at the southern invasion front in the Florida Keys, we used camera traps to document predation on endangered Key Largo cotton mice (Peromyscus gossypinus allapaticola) by an adult female Burmese python. These images represent the first photo documentation of predation attempts upon a federally endangered species in the python's invasive range, but we note three additional instances of Key Largo cotton mice in the gut contents of euthanized pythons from Key Largo. These observations suggest Burmese pythons exhibit telescoping prey selection behavior where even small rodents (<30 g) are viable prey for adult snakes. However, based on the number of documented strikes with failed predation events and low frequency of occurrence in gut contents, we suspect mice may be less common prey items for adult (i.e., >185 cm SVL) pythons relative to cotton mouse abundance in the environment. However, we also documented endangered Key Largo woodrats (Neotoma floridana smalli) and Key Largo cotton mice collecting and consuming the shed skins of pythons, which suggests the two rodent species remain naïve to the threat of these invasive predators. Further understanding of the impact of Burmese pythons on native prey communities can help inform efforts to minimize biodiversity loss along their invasion fronts.}, journal={Food Webs}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Lord, Isaac and Redinger, Joseph and Dixon, Jeremy and Hart, Kristen M. and Guzy, Jacquelyn and Romagosa, Christina M. and Cove, Michael V.}, year={2023}, month={Dec}, pages={e00307} }
 @article{calver_cherkassky_cove_fleming_lepczyk_longcore_marzluff_rich_sizemore_2023, title={The animal welfare, environmental impact, pest control functions, and disease effects of free‐ranging cats can be generalized and all are grounds for humanely reducing their numbers}, volume={5}, ISSN={2578-4854 2578-4854}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13018}, DOI={10.1111/csp2.13018}, abstractNote={Abstract Although the domestic cat Felis catus is implicated in multiple faunal extinctions and threatens many extant species, there is widespread, well‐funded advocacy for desexing unowned cats near human habitation and returning them to site to be fed by volunteers, arguing that this prevents euthanasia, is unlikely to be hazardous to wildlife or a public health risk, and controls non‐native rodents. To the contrary, we present unequivocal evidence that this approach harms cat welfare, does threaten wildlife and public health, and exacerbates rather than controls rodent problems. We argue instead that unowned cats near human habitation can be controlled effectively by intensive adoption and responsible euthanasia when necessary, supported by licensing and containment of adopted/owned cats.}, number={10}, journal={Conservation Science and Practice}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Calver, Michael C. and Cherkassky, Linda and Cove, Michael V. and Fleming, Patricia A. and Lepczyk, Christopher A. and Longcore, Travis and Marzluff, John and Rich, Catherine and Sizemore, Grant}, year={2023}, month={Sep} }
 @article{flockhart_lipsey_herrera_belsley_decker_moore_robinson_kilgour_gramza_mcshea_et al._2022, title={Estimates of Domestic Cats in Urban Areas Using Interdisciplinary Science: The Washington D.C. Cat Count}, volume={30}, ISSN={1063-1119 1568-5306}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685306-bja10097}, DOI={10.1163/15685306-bja10097}, abstractNote={Abstract Accurate information about the number of cats living outdoors and how they respond to different kinds of management are necessary to quell debates about outdoor cat policy. The DC Cat Count will develop the tools and methodologies needed to realize this possibility and make them available for broader use. This three-year initiative represents a major collaboration between animal welfare organizations and wildlife scientists. Its unique and innovative approach is to use the best scientific methods to quantify all subpopulations of cats in the District of Columbia (outdoor, owned, and shelter cats), concurrently test and optimize simpler methods that can be used to measure cat populations by diverse users at scale, and identify the types of interventions that are likely to accomplish desired outcomes most efficiently. Ultimately, we believe that this approach is more likely to improve outcomes for both cats and wildlife than a continuation of the status quo.}, number={7}, journal={Society & Animals}, publisher={Brill}, author={Flockhart, D.T. Tyler and Lipsey, Lauren and Herrera, Daniel J. and Belsley, Justin and Decker, Samuel T. and Moore, Sophie M. and Robinson, Erin and Kilgour, R. Julia and Gramza, Ashley and McShea, William and et al.}, year={2022}, month={Jun}, pages={703–720} }
 @misc{cove_o'connell_2022, title={Global Review of the Effects of Small Carnivores on Threatened Species}, ISBN={9781118943281 9781118943274}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118943274.ch21}, DOI={10.1002/9781118943274.ch21}, abstractNote={Chapter 21 Global Review of the Effects of Small Carnivores on Threatened Species Michael V. Cove, Michael V. Cove Department of Applied Ecology and NC Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USASearch for more papers by this authorAllan F. O'Connell, Allan F. O'Connell USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD, USASearch for more papers by this author Michael V. Cove, Michael V. Cove Department of Applied Ecology and NC Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USASearch for more papers by this authorAllan F. O'Connell, Allan F. O'Connell USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD, USASearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Emmanuel Do Linh San, Emmanuel Do Linh San University of Fort Hare, Alice, South AfricaSearch for more papers by this authorJun J. Sato, Jun J. Sato Fukuyama University, Fukuyama, JapanSearch for more papers by this authorJerrold L. Belant, Jerrold L. Belant Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USASearch for more papers by this authorMichael J. Somers, Michael J. Somers University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South AfricaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 05 August 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118943274.ch21 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Summary The absences of large carnivores from many ecosystems, human-induced landscape changes, and resource supplementation have been theorized to increase the abundance of small carnivore species around the world. Overabundant and/or unconstrained small carnivores can have significant effects on specific prey species that, in some cases, can cascade through entire ecosystems. Here, we review the effects of small carnivores on threatened species. We focus on four well-studied families (Procyonidae, Mephitidae, Mustelidae, and Herpestidae) and emphasize that this is a global conservation issue with consequences for biodiversity. We review and compare the impacts that small carnivores can have on a variety of prey taxa including small mammals, nesting avian and reptilian species, and rare invertebrates. We differentiate between native and exotic small carnivores because this is often an important distinction in terms of the impact severity and range of effects. In addition to direct lethal effects (i.e. predation), small carnivores can also impact threatened species as disease vectors and through competition or overexploitation, which can disrupt communities via ecological release or extinction. Furthermore, we explore other case studies in which small carnivores have had positive effects on threatened species and discuss studies that reveal other taxa responsible for exerting stronger negative effects on threatened prey. We offer some concluding remarks about global small carnivore conservation and emphasize the need for decision-analytic approaches and robust analyses that can improve our assessment of how populations of threatened species can be affected. To date, indirect effects are especially difficult to measure in the field and many studies have provided only anecdotal or correlative results, signalling a need for improving our scientific methodologies and management approaches. Small Carnivores: Evolution, Ecology, Behaviour, and Conservation RelatedInformation}, journal={Small Carnivores}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Cove, Michael V. and O'Connell, Allan F.}, year={2022}, month={Aug}, pages={471–488} }
 @article{hubbard_cove_green_iannarilli_allen_larose_nagy_compton_lafferty_2022, title={Human presence drives bobcat interactions among the U.S. carnivore guild}, volume={31}, ISSN={0960-3115 1572-9710}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-022-02445-2}, DOI={10.1007/s10531-022-02445-2}, number={11}, journal={Biodiversity and Conservation}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Hubbard, Tru and Cove, Michael V. and Green, Austin M. and Iannarilli, Fabiola and Allen, Maximilian L. and LaRose, Summer H. and Nagy, Chris and Compton, Justin A. and Lafferty, Diana J.R.}, year={2022}, month={Jun}, pages={2607–2624} }
 @article{herrera_dixon_cove_2022, title={Long-term monitoring reveals the value of continuous trapping to curtail the effects of free-roaming cats in protected island habitats}, volume={40}, ISSN={2351-9894}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02334}, DOI={10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02334}, abstractNote={Free-roaming domestic cats (Felis catus) pose numerous risks to biodiversity conservation, especially in island ecosystems. However, the removal of cats is costly, labor-intensive, and often demands more resources than land managers have at their disposal. These costs might be reduced, however, if trapping effort is regularly scaled to match the prevalence of cats on the landscape rather than consistently exhausting trapping resources even when cats are scarce. Here we analyze the efficacy of a long-term (2014 – 2021) cat removal program which uses motion-activated camera traps to determine monthly trapping effort in the Florida Keys. Furthermore, we compare the trapping effort required for this program against that of a hypothetical removal program with the same resources which does not use surveillance-informed trapping. We hypothesized that cat detections would decline over the study period as a result of the removal program, and that the surveillance-informed approach would require less trapping effort than uninformed trapping would. Our analyses reveal that the sustained, year-round trapping program has reduced the volume and geographic extent of cat detections within the study area. Furthermore, the use of camera traps to inform removal efforts has reduced the number of trap nights required to achieve these goals compared to the hypothetical removal program that did not use surveillance-informed trapping. While climatic and landscape variables also contribute to monthly cat detections, our study reveals that long-term surveillance-informed trapping reduces cat detections without exhausting resources. Such an approach may aid other land managers in their efforts to conserve biodiversity by removing invasive predators.}, journal={Global Ecology and Conservation}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Herrera, D.J. and Dixon, J.D. and Cove, M.V.}, year={2022}, month={Dec}, pages={e02334} }
 @article{baruzzi_barton_cove_lashley_2022, title={Mass mortality events and declining obligate scavengers in the Anthropocene: Social feeders may be critical}, volume={269}, ISSN={0006-3207}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109527}, DOI={10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109527}, abstractNote={A pervasive but understudied global change is occurring in the Anthropocene. Wildlife mass mortality events (MMEs) are increasing in frequency causing the abrupt entry of unusually large amounts of carrion into ecosystems, while most vertebrate obligate scavenger species are declining. We hypothesized that behavioral plasticity could still allow obligate-vertebrate scavengers to maintain carrion recycling with increasing carrion biomass as a result of relaxed competition, and that consumption is likely to be driven by those species less behaviorally constrained. We designed an experiment by establishing plots with increasing carrion biomass. The lowest carrion biomass represented a normal level of carrion with a single carcass, with each subsequent level of carrion biomass roughly doubling until reaching a carrion density similar to a recent MME. We monitored behavior of two obligate scavenger species: a social feeder (i.e., black vulture, Coragyps atratus) and a relatively solitary feeder (i.e., turkey vulture, Cathartes aura). In support of our hypothesis, group size and number of individuals feeding increased at the highest carrion biomass level for the more social feeder, while the less social increased solely the number of individuals feeding. Likewise, activity pattern overlap between the species increased with carrion biomass likely because both spent more of the day consuming larger carrion inputs. The effects of these behavioral changes resulted in an increase in estimated consumption with carrion biomass, which was primarily driven by the more social species. Our results indicate that vulture behavioral plasticity may be critical to maintain carrion recycling services in the Anthropocene.}, journal={Biological Conservation}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Baruzzi, C. and Barton, B.T. and Cove, M.V. and Lashley, M.A.}, year={2022}, month={May}, pages={109527} }
 @article{cove_2022, title={Opossums: an adaptive radiation of new world marsupials. Robert S.Voss and Sharon A.Jansa. 2021. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, USA. 313 pp. $59.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9781421439785}, volume={86}, url={https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22183}, DOI={10.1002/jwmg.22183}, abstractNote={The Journal of Wildlife ManagementVolume 86, Issue 3 e22183 BOOK REVIEW Opossums: an adaptive radiation of new world marsupials. Robert S. Voss and Sharon A. Jansa. 2021. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, USA. 313 pp. $59.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9781421439785 Michael V. Cove, Corresponding Author Michael V. Cove mvcove@ncsu.edu orcid.org/0000-0001-5691-0634 North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC, 27601 USA Correspondence Michael V. Cove, North Caroling Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC, 27601, USA. Email: mvcove@ncsu.eduSearch for more papers by this author Michael V. Cove, Corresponding Author Michael V. Cove mvcove@ncsu.edu orcid.org/0000-0001-5691-0634 North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC, 27601 USA Correspondence Michael V. Cove, North Caroling Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC, 27601, USA. Email: mvcove@ncsu.eduSearch for more papers by this author First published: 18 January 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22183Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume86, Issue3April 2022e22183 RelatedInformation}, number={3}, journal={The Journal of Wildlife Management}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Cove, Michael V.}, year={2022}, month={Apr} }
 @article{herrera_cove_mcshea_flockhart_decker_moore_gallo_2022, title={Prey selection and predation behavior of free-roaming domestic cats (Felis catus) in an urban ecosystem: Implications for urban cat management}, volume={268}, ISSN={0006-3207}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109503}, DOI={10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109503}, abstractNote={The ecological impact of free-roaming domestic cats (Felis catus) is well-studied. However, despite receiving considerable attention in both the scientific and popular literature, predation behavior is rarely an explicit consideration when developing cat population management plans. We used motion-activated wildlife cameras to document predation events by cats in Washington, D.C. (U.S.A), and assessed the relationships between predation and local environmental characteristics. Our analyses reveal that predation by cats is greatest where supplemental food is most abundant, and that the probability of a cat preying upon a native species increases closer to forest edges. Conversely, we found that the probability of a cat depredating a non-native brown rat increases with increasing distance from forest edges. Therefore, we recommend the implementation of cat exclusionary buffer zones around urban forests and that free-roaming domestic cat management policies explicitly consider the spatial location of cat-feeding sites. Our findings provide a data-driven approach to free-roaming cat management.}, journal={Biological Conservation}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Herrera, D.J. and Cove, M.V. and McShea, W.J. and Flockhart, D.T. and Decker, S. and Moore, S.M. and Gallo, T.}, year={2022}, month={Apr}, pages={109503} }
 @article{kays_cove_diaz_todd_bresnan_snider_lee_jasper_douglas_crupi_et al._2022, title={SNAPSHOT USA 2020: A second coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic}, volume={6}, ISSN={["1939-9170"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3775}, DOI={10.1002/ecy.3775}, abstractNote={Abstract}, journal={ECOLOGY}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Kays, Roland and Cove, Michael V. and Diaz, Jose and Todd, Kimberly and Bresnan, Claire and Snider, Matt and Lee, Thomas E., Jr. and Jasper, Jonathan G. and Douglas, Brianna and Crupi, Anthony P. and et al.}, year={2022}, month={Jul} }
 @article{herrera_cove_mcshea_decker_flockhart_moore_gallo_2022, title={Spatial and temporal overlap of domestic cats (Felis catus) and native urban wildlife}, volume={10}, ISSN={2296-701X}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.1048585}, DOI={10.3389/fevo.2022.1048585}, abstractNote={Free-roaming domestic cats ( Felis catus ) are known to pose threats to ecosystem health via transmission of zoonotic diseases and predation of native wildlife. Likewise, free-roaming cats are also susceptible to predation or disease transmission from native wildlife. Physical interactions are required for many of these risks to be manifested, necessitating spatial and temporal overlap between cats and wildlife species. Therefore, knowledge of the location and extent of shared habitat and activity periods would benefit management programs. We used data from a 3-year camera trap survey to model species-specific occupancy and identify landscape variables that contribute to the distribution of free-roaming domestic cats and eight native mammal species in Washington, DC. (USA). Our analysis includes five species that are common prey items of domestic cats, and three species that are potential disease vectors or are otherwise known to be a risk to cats. We then predicted the probability of occupancy and estimated the probability of spatial overlap between cats and each native wildlife species at multiple scales. We also used kernel density estimations to calculate temporal overlap between cats and each native wildlife species. Across spatial scales, occupancy for potential disease vector species was generally positively correlated with canopy cover and open water. Prey species were also generally positively correlated with canopy cover, but displayed negative associations with human population density and inconsistent associations with average per capita income. Domestic cat occupancy was negatively correlated with natural habitat characteristics and positively correlated with human population density. Predicted spatial overlap between domestic cats and native wildlife was greatest for potential disease vector species. Temporal overlap was high (>0.50) between cats and all but two native wildlife species, indicating that temporal overlap is probable wherever species overlap spatially. Our findings indicate that the risk to and from domestic cats varies across urban landscapes, but primarily arises from human activities. As such, humans are implicated in the negative outcomes that result from cats interacting with wildlife. Data-driven management to reduce such interactions can aid in cat population management, biodiversity conservation, and public health campaigns.}, journal={Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, publisher={Frontiers Media SA}, author={Herrera, Daniel J. and Cove, Michael V. and McShea, William J. and Decker, Sam and Flockhart, D. T. Tyler and Moore, Sophie M. and Gallo, Travis}, year={2022}, month={Nov} }
 @article{nicholson_cove_2022, title={Stable isotopes point to anthropogenic subsidies in northern raccoons at the urban-wild interface}, volume={31}, ISSN={["2352-2496"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.fooweb.2022.e00233}, abstractNote={Increasing availability of anthropogenic food affects biological communities and can alter food webs at the urban interface. Although northern raccoons (Procyon lotor) are known to associate with anthropogenic environments, little research has been conducted examining the differences in raccoon diets across urban-wild gradients. The Florida Keys present a unique study system because they vary in levels of urbanization interspersed with wildlife refuges and natural habitats. We collected hair samples from the tails of road killed raccoons in undeveloped natural areas in Key Largo, highly developed areas in Big Pine Key, and from individuals caught in a trapping array from natural areas on Big Pine Key for analyses of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. We observed limited variation in δ15N ratios across the three different raccoon groups, but we did note slightly higher δ15N in raccoons from natural areas on Big Pine Key, suggesting more predatory behavior. However, we observed marked differences in the δ13C ratios of raccoons from natural areas in Key Largo and Big Pine Key as compared to individuals occurring in highly developed parts of Big Pine Key. These enriched carbon signatures correspond with human foods derived from corn (C4 plants) in the urban raccoons. Our results reveal that raccoons in developed areas benefit from the consumption of human-derived subsidies, but it might further put them at risk from conflict and vehicular strikes.}, journal={FOOD WEBS}, author={Nicholson, Molly and Cove, Michael V}, year={2022}, month={Jun} }
 @article{king_willson_dixon_cove_2022, title={Two Invasive Reptile Species Cohabitate in an Active Nest of the Endangered Key Largo Woodrat (Neotoma floridana smalli)}, volume={21}, ISSN={1528-7092}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1656/058.021.0206}, DOI={10.1656/058.021.0206}, abstractNote={Florida is renowned for its non-native reptile communities, with 2 such pervasive nonnative species including the apex predator Python bivittatus (Burmese Python) and the herbivorous Iguana iguana (Green Iguana) that showcase the spectrum of their ecological impacts. Both species have recently expanded into the Florida Keys. We used a camera trap to survey a radio-tagged Burmese Python and documented both non-native reptiles cohabitating in the active, natural stick-nest of an endangered rodent, Neotoma floridana smalli (Key Largo Woodrat), in Dagny Johnson Botanical State Park, Key Largo, FL. An additional nest visitor included Peromyscus gossypinus allapaticola (Key Largo Cotton Mouse), another endangered rodent and potential prey for the python. Camera placement allowed us to detect both rodents on the exterior of the stick-nest. The presence of the Key Largo Woodrat and Key Largo Cotton Mouse at the nest warrant continued monitoring of the 2 reptile species and their interactions with the endangered small mammals as their presence becomes more common in the Florida Keys.}, number={2}, journal={Southeastern Naturalist}, publisher={Humboldt Field Research Institute}, author={King, Katherine C. and Willson, Matthew and Dixon, Jeremy and Cove, Michael V.}, year={2022}, month={Jun} }
 @article{maurer_cove_siegal_lashley_2022, title={Urbanization affects the behavior of a predator-free ungulate in protected lands}, volume={222}, ISSN={0169-2046}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104391}, DOI={10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104391}, abstractNote={Natural habitats have been converted to urban areas across the globe such that many landscapes now represent matrices of developed and protected lands. As urbanization continues to expand, associated pressures on wildlife will increase, including effects on animals in adjacent protected habitats. For prey species (e.g., ungulates), an understanding of the ecological impacts of urbanization is typically confounded by coincident effects from co-occurring predators. Yet, understanding how urbanization affects prey behaviors in the absence of predators is becoming increasingly relevant as many top predators face extirpation. We placed camera traps at varying distances from urban areas within protected areas in the Florida Keys, USA, to evaluate the influence of urbanization on the behavior of the key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium), an endangered species that has been without non-human mammalian predators for ∼ 4000 years. We predicted that as distance to urban areas decreased, key deer would use sites at the same rate, exhibit bigger group sizes, and shift activity patterns to be more nocturnal. Our results indicate that intensity of site use decreased with proximity to urban areas, potentially reflecting human avoidance. Group size increased closer to urban areas, consistent with other studies relating this behavior to anthropogenic subsidies and vigilance for humans. Activity patterns changed but did not become more nocturnal near urban areas as predicted by global analyses relating human disturbance to wildlife nocturnality. Our results have important implications for ungulate behavioral ecology and, taken together, suggest that influences on protected species from adjacent land uses are an important consideration when planning land use and designing protected areas.}, journal={Landscape and Urban Planning}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Maurer, Andrew S. and Cove, Michael V. and Siegal, Olivia M. and Lashley, Marcus A.}, year={2022}, month={Jun}, pages={104391} }
 @article{kays_lasky_allen_dowler_hawkins_hope_kohli_mathis_mclean_olson_et al._2022, title={Which mammals can be identified from camera traps and crowdsourced photographs?}, volume={103}, ISSN={0022-2372 1545-1542}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyac021}, DOI={10.1093/jmammal/gyac021}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={4}, journal={Journal of Mammalogy}, publisher={Oxford University Press (OUP)}, author={Kays, Roland and Lasky, Monica and Allen, Maximilian L and Dowler, Robert C and Hawkins, Melissa T R and Hope, Andrew G and Kohli, Brooks A and Mathis, Verity L and McLean, Bryan and Olson, Link E and et al.}, editor={Moratelli, RicardoEditor}, year={2022}, month={Apr}, pages={767–775} }
 @article{herrera_moore_herrmann_mcshea_cove_2021, title={A shot in the dark: White and infrared LED flash camera traps yield similar detection probabilities for common urban mammal species}, volume={32}, DOI={10.4404/hystrix-00429-2021}, number={1}, journal={Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy}, author={Herrera, Daniel J. and Moore, S.M. and Herrmann, V. and McShea, W.J. and Cove, M.V.}, year={2021}, pages={72–75} }
 @article{villafañe-trujillo_kolowski_cove_medici_harmsen_foster_hidalgo-mihart_espinosa_ríos-alvear_reyes-puig_et al._2021, title={Activity patterns of tayra (<i>Eira barbara</i>) across their distribution}, volume={102}, ISSN={0022-2372 1545-1542}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyaa159}, DOI={10.1093/jmammal/gyaa159}, abstractNote={Abstract Species’ activity patterns are driven by the need to meet basic requirements of food, social interactions, movement, and rest, but often are influenced by a variety of biotic and abiotic factors. We used camera-trap data to describe and compare the activity patterns of the relatively poorly studied tayra (Eira barbara) across 10 populations distributed from the south of Mexico to the north of Argentina, and attempted to identify biotic or abiotic factors that may be associated with variation in level of diurnality. In a subset of sites we also aimed to document potential seasonal variation in activity. We used a kernel density estimator based on the time of independent photographic events to calculate the proportion of diurnal, crepuscular, and nocturnal activity of each population. Tayras were mostly active during diurnal periods (79.31%, 759 records), with a lower proportion of crepuscular activity (18.07%, 173 records) yet we documented some variation in patterns across the 10 study areas (activity overlap coefficient varied from Δ 4 = 0.64 to Δ 1 = 0.95). In northern localities, activity peaked twice during the day (bimodal) with most activity ocurring in the morning, whereas closer to the geographical equator, activity was constant (unimodal) throughout the day, peaking at midday: activity either was unimodal or bimodal in southern localities. Despite investigating multiple potential abiotic and biotic predictors, only latitude was associated with variation in the proportion of diurnal activity by tayras across its range, with increased diurnal activity closer to the equator. Seasonal comparisons in activity showed a tendency to reduce diurnality in dry versus rainy seasons, but the pattern was not consistently significant. This is the most comprehensive description of tayra activity patterns to date, and lends novel insight into the potential flexibility of the species to adapt to local conditions.}, number={3}, journal={Journal of Mammalogy}, publisher={Oxford University Press (OUP)}, author={Villafañe-Trujillo, Álvaro José and Kolowski, Joseph M and Cove, Michael V and Medici, Emilia Patricia and Harmsen, Bart J and Foster, Rebbeca J and Hidalgo-Mihart, Mircea G and Espinosa, Santiago and Ríos-Alvear, Gorky and Reyes-Puig, Carolina and et al.}, editor={Ojeda, RicardoEditor}, year={2021}, month={Jan}, pages={772–788} }
 @article{meyer_balkenhol_dutta_hofman_meyer_ritchie_alley_beranek_bugir_callen_et al._2021, title={Beyond species counts for assessing, valuing, and conserving biodiversity: response to Wallach et al. 2019}, volume={35}, ISSN={["1523-1739"]}, DOI={10.1111/cobi.13665}, abstractNote={Article impact statement: Combining native and non‐native species to evaluate biodiversity is overly simplistic and may undermine the conservation of ecosystems.}, number={1}, journal={CONSERVATION BIOLOGY}, author={Meyer, Ninon F. V. and Balkenhol, Niko and Dutta, Trishna and Hofman, Maarten and Meyer, Jean-Yves and Ritchie, Euan G. and Alley, Charlotte and Beranek, Chad and Bugir, Cassandra K. and Callen, Alex and et al.}, year={2021}, month={Feb}, pages={369–372} }
 @article{jacobs_lashley_cove_2021, title={Fawn Counts and Adult Female Site Use Are Mismatched Indicators of Habitat Quality in an Endangered Deer}, volume={13}, ISSN={["1424-2818"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.3390/d13020092}, DOI={10.3390/d13020092}, abstractNote={Many ungulates are spotted as neonates. This trait is unique to individuals, making their identification feasible from remote cameras. Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium) are an endangered subspecies of white-tailed deer endemic to the lower Florida Keys, U.S.A. Habitat loss and hunting were historical drivers of population decline but recent studies report positive associations of key deer with urbanization. Using opposing camera traps at 56 sites throughout the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key, we used spot patterns to uniquely identify and estimate fawn abundance with N-mixture models. We further compared those inferences to models informed by adult doe counts to see how well tracking adult females alone corresponded with fawn habitat associations. Our results indicated that fawn abundance was negatively associated with increasing elevation and human trails, contrary to models based on adult female observations alone. The lowest elevations where fawns were most abundant were associated with dense wetland plant communities, which were likely selected for thermal cover and warrant further investigation given that those areas are most vulnerable to sea-level rise. Our methods showcase the utility of identifying neonates from camera trap photos and draw attention to possible misaligned inferences when tracking adult females in isolation.}, number={2}, journal={DIVERSITY-BASEL}, publisher={MDPI AG}, author={Jacobs, Julia G. and Lashley, Marcus A. and Cove, Michael V}, year={2021}, month={Feb} }
 @article{cove_pease_2021, title={Is it an omnivore's world? A comment on dietary traits in multispecies hierarchical models}, volume={261}, ISSN={0006-3207}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109299}, DOI={10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109299}, journal={Biological Conservation}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Pease, Brent S.}, year={2021}, month={Sep}, pages={109299} }
 @article{cove_kays_bontrager_bresnan_lasky_frerichs_klann_lee_crockett_crupi_et al._2021, title={SNAPSHOT USA 2019: a coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States}, volume={102}, ISSN={["1939-9170"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3353}, DOI={10.1002/ecy.3353}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={6}, journal={ECOLOGY}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Kays, Roland and Bontrager, Helen and Bresnan, Claire and Lasky, Monica and Frerichs, Taylor and Klann, Renee and Lee, Thomas E., Jr. and Crockett, Seth C. and Crupi, Anthony P. and et al.}, year={2021}, month={Jun} }
 @article{herrera_moore_flockhart_mcshea_cove_2021, title={Thinking outside the park: recommendations for camera trapping mammal communities in the urban matrix}, volume={7}, ISSN={2058-5543}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jue/juaa036}, DOI={10.1093/jue/juaa036}, abstractNote={Abstract Urbanization is increasing globally, fragmenting habitats and prompting human–wildlife conflict. Urban wildlife research is concurrently expanding, but sampling methods are often biased towards large and intact habitats in public green spaces, neglecting the far more abundant, but degraded, habitats in the urban matrix. Here, we introduce the Five P’s of Urban Ecology—Partnerships, Planning, Placements, Public participation and Processing—as a path to overcoming the logistical barriers often associated with camera-trapping in the urban matrix. Though the Five P’s can be applied to a variety of urban sampling methods, we showcase the camera-trapping efforts of the DC Cat Count project in Washington, DC, as a case study. We compared occupancy models for eight urban mammal species using broad categorizations of land cover and local land use to determine drivers of mammal occurrence within the urban matrix as compared with urban habitat patches. Many native species maintained a strong association with large, semi-natural green spaces, but occupancy was not limited to these locations, and in some cases, the use of private yards and the built environment were not notably different. Furthermore, some species exhibited higher occupancy probabilities in developed areas over green spaces. Though seemingly intuitive, we offer advice on how to greatly reduce habitat-biased sampling methods in urban wildlife research and illustrate the importance of doing so to ensure accurate results that support the formation of effective urban planning and policy.}, number={1}, journal={Journal of Urban Ecology}, publisher={Oxford University Press (OUP)}, author={Herrera, Daniel J and Moore, Sophie M and Flockhart, D T Tyler and McShea, William J and Cove, Michael V}, year={2021} }
 @article{kays_arbogast_baker‐whatton_beirne_boone_bowler_burneo_cove_ding_espinosa_et al._2020, title={An empirical evaluation of camera trap study design: How many, how long and when?}, volume={11}, ISSN={2041-210X 2041-210X}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13370}, DOI={10.1111/2041-210X.13370}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={6}, journal={Methods in Ecology and Evolution}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Kays, Roland and Arbogast, Brian S. and Baker‐Whatton, Megan and Beirne, Chris and Boone, Hailey M. and Bowler, Mark and Burneo, Santiago F. and Cove, Michael V. and Ding, Ping and Espinosa, Santiago and et al.}, editor={Fisher, DianaEditor}, year={2020}, month={Apr}, pages={700–713} }
 @article{thoemmes_cove_2020, title={Bacterial communities in the natural and supplemental nests of an endangered ecosystem engineer}, volume={11}, ISBN={2150-8925}, url={https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3239}, DOI={10.1002/ecs2.3239}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={9}, journal={ECOSPHERE}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Thoemmes, Megan S. and Cove, Michael V.}, year={2020}, month={Sep} }
 @article{herrera_cove_2020, title={Camera trap serendipity and citizen science point to broader effects of urban heat islands on food webs}, volume={25}, ISSN={2352-2496}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2020.e00176}, DOI={10.1016/j.fooweb.2020.e00176}, abstractNote={Urban heat islands affect animal behavior broadly, but their effects on food webs are less understood. In November 2018, camera trap serendipity led to the detection of a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) preying upon an eastern worm snake (Carphophis amoenus amoenus) in Washington, D.C. – a previously undescribed trophic interaction. While red-tailed hawk activity is known to peak in cooler months, above-ground snake activity is expected to cease as winter approaches. We hypothesized this previously undescribed interaction was facilitated by the urban heat island effect prolonging the warm season in urban areas. To explore this hypothesis, we paired eastern worm snake observations from the iNaturalist platform with the monthly average temperatures from their nearest weather monitoring stations. Worm snake observations in areas at least 1 °C cooler than the average monthly urban temperature occurred between April and September. In contrast, observations in warmer, more developed areas (i.e. the urban heat island) occurred between March and December. Though other factors may be at play, we propose that relatively warmer winter temperatures found in urban ecosystems will continue to prompt novel trophic interactions as urban landscapes become more prolific.}, journal={Food Webs}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Herrera, Daniel J. and Cove, Michael V.}, year={2020}, month={Dec}, pages={e00176} }
 @article{desbiez_massocato_attias_cove_2020, title={Comparing density estimates from a short-term camera trap survey with a long-term telemetry study of giant armadillos (Priodontes maximus)}, volume={27}, ISSN={1666-0536}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.31687/saremmn.20.27.2.0.08}, DOI={10.31687/saremmn.20.27.2.0.08}, number={2}, journal={Mastozoología Neotropical}, publisher={Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamiferos}, author={Desbiez, Arnaud L.J. and Massocato, Gabriel F. and Attias, Nina and Cove, Michael V.}, year={2020}, month={Dec}, pages={241–246} }
 @article{schank_cove_arima_brandt_brenes-mora_carver_diaz-pulido_estrada_foster_godinez-gomez_et al._2020, title={Population status, connectivity, and conservation action for the endangered Baird's tapir}, volume={245}, ISSN={["1873-2917"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108501}, abstractNote={Although many large mammals currently face significant threats that could lead to their extinction, resources for conservation are often scarce, resulting in the need to develop efficient plans to prioritize conservation actions. We combined several methods in spatial ecology to identify the distribution of the endangered Baird's tapir across its range from southern Mexico to northern Colombia. Twenty-eight habitat patches covering 23% of the study area were identified, harboring potentially 62% or more of the total population for this flagship species. Roughly half of the total area is under some form of protection, while most of the remaining habitat (~70%) occurs in indigenous/local communities. The network with maximum connectivity created from these patches contains at least one complete break (in Mexico between Selva El Ocote and Selva Lacandona) even when considering the most generous dispersal scenario. The connectivity analysis also highlighted a probable break at the Panama Canal and high habitat fragmentation in Honduras. In light of these findings, we recommend the following actions to facilitate the conservation of Baird's tapir: 1) protect existing habitat by strengthening enforcement in areas already under protection, 2) work with indigenous territories to preserve and enforce their land rights, and help local communities maintain traditional practices; 3) re-establish connections between habitat patches that will allow for connectivity across the species' distribution; 4) conduct additional noninvasive surveys in patches with little or no species data; and 5) collect more telemetry and genetic data on the species to estimate home range size, dispersal capabilities, and meta-population structure.}, journal={BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION}, author={Schank, Cody J. and Cove, Michael V and Arima, Eugenio Y. and Brandt, Laroy S. E. and Brenes-Mora, Esteban and Carver, Andrew and Diaz-Pulido, Angelica and Estrada, Nereyda and Foster, Rebecca J. and Godinez-Gomez, Oscar and et al.}, year={2020}, month={May} }
 @article{thornton_reyna_perera-romero_radachowsky_hidalgo-mihart_garcia_mcnab_mcloughlin_foster_harmsen_et al._2020, title={Precipitous decline of white-lipped peccary populations in Mesoamerica}, volume={242}, ISSN={0006-3207}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108410}, DOI={10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108410}, abstractNote={Large mammalian herbivores are experiencing population reductions and range declines. However, we lack regional knowledge of population status for many herbivores, particularly in developing countries. Addressing this knowledge gap is key to implementing tailored conservation strategies for species whose population declines are highly variable across their range. White-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) are important ecosystem engineers in Neotropical forests and are highly sensitive to human disturbance. Despite maintaining a wide distributional range, white-lipped peccaries are experiencing substantial population declines in some portions of their range. We examined the regional distribution and population status of the species in Mesoamerica. We used a combination of techniques, including expert-based mapping and assessment of population status, and data-driven distribution modelling techniques to determine the status and range limits of white-lipped peccaries. Our analysis revealed declining and highly isolated populations of peccaries across Mesoamerica, with a range reduction of 87% from historic distribution and 63% from current IUCN range estimates for the region. White-lipped peccary distribution is affected by indices of human influence and forest cover, and more restricted than other sympatric large herbivores, with their largest populations confined to transboundary reserves. To conserve white-lipped peccaries in Mesoamerica, transboundary efforts will be needed that focus on both forest conservation and hunting management, increased cross-border coordination, and reconsideration of country and regional conservation priorities. Our methodology to detail regional white-lipped peccary status could be employed on other poorly-known large mammals.}, journal={Biological Conservation}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Thornton, Daniel and Reyna, Rafael and Perera-Romero, Lucy and Radachowsky, Jeremy and Hidalgo-Mihart, Mircea G. and Garcia, Rony and McNab, Roan and Mcloughlin, Lee and Foster, Rebecca and Harmsen, Bart and et al.}, year={2020}, month={Feb}, pages={108410} }
 @article{paudel_koprowski_cove_2020, title={Seasonal flow dynamics exacerbate overlap between artisanal fisheries and imperiled Ganges River dolphins}, volume={10}, ISSN={2045-2322}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75997-4}, DOI={10.1038/s41598-020-75997-4}, abstractNote={Abstract Here we quantify the effects of artisanal fisheries on the ecology of a small cetacean, the Ganges River dolphin ( Platanista gangetica gangetica , GRD), in a large river system of Nepal. We examine the size-classes of fisheries’ catches, behavioural changes in GRD in response to fishing activities, and diel overlap between GRD and fishing activity. We observed high human exploitation rates (> 60% of the total catch per effort) of GRD-preferred prey sizes, indicating risks of high resource competition and dietary overlap, especially during the low water season when resource availability is reduced. Competitive interactions in the feeding niches during the low water season, plus temporal overlap between the peak exploitation and critical life-history events (e.g., reproduction), likely have ecological consequences. Furthermore, we detected 48% (95% CI 43–52%) increase in the chance of behavioural changes among dolphins exposed to anthropopressure (fishing activity), risking social behaviour impairment in exposed dolphins. The higher diel overlap and increased diel coefficient as the surveys progressed towards the monsoon season suggest temporal shifts in GRD socio-behavioural states and seasonal effects on resource partitioning, respectively. This work identifies drivers of small cetaceans-fisheries interactions and their consequences, and can be used to help reduce biologically significant fishing impacts on small cetaceans. Mitigation strategies, together with river sanctuary and distanced-based approaches, should be urgently included in a framework of ecosystem-based management.}, number={1}, journal={Scientific Reports}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Paudel, Shambhu and Koprowski, John L. and Cove, Michael V.}, year={2020}, month={Nov} }
 @article{schank_cove_kelly_nielsen_o'farrill_meyer_jordan_gonzalez-maya_lizcano_moreno_et al._2019, title={A Sensitivity Analysis of the Application of Integrated Species Distribution Models to Mobile Species: A Case Study with the Endangered Baird's Tapir}, volume={46}, ISSN={["1469-4387"]}, DOI={10.1017/S0376892919000055}, abstractNote={Summary}, number={3}, journal={ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION}, author={Schank, Cody J. and Cove, Michael V and Kelly, Marcella J. and Nielsen, Clayton K. and O'Farrill, Georgina and Meyer, Ninon and Jordan, Christopher A. and Gonzalez-Maya, Jose F. and Lizcano, Diego J. and Moreno, Ricardo and et al.}, year={2019}, month={Sep}, pages={184–192} }
 @article{vera alvarez_fernandez_cove_2019, title={Assessing the role of habitat and species interactions in the population decline and detection bias of Neotropical leaf litter frogs in and around La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica}, volume={14}, ISSN={2236-3777}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/neotropical.14.e37526}, DOI={10.3897/neotropical.14.e37526}, abstractNote={Worldwide, amphibian populations have been declining rapidly. This decline can be attributed to many factors including climate change, pesticide exposure, and emerging infectious diseases, among other important factors, but few studies have examined the influence of species interactions. In this study, we examined how habitat factors and co-occurring avian and mammalian species, as well as humans, exert direct and indirect effects on Neotropical amphibian population dynamics. We further examined how these habitat and species interactions could affect our ability to reliably detect amphibian presence to robustly estimate population trends. We conducted amphibian visual encounter surveys at 26 randomly selected sites in the La Selva Biological Station, in northeastern Costa Rica, as well as 26 sites across five additional forest fragments in the region. Furthermore, we used camera traps to collect data on avian and mammalian communities and human visitation at those amphibian survey plots. From these data, we were able to estimate species occupancy probabilities for leaf litter frogs across sites and their relationships to habitat and interspecific species interaction covariates. We also conducted an experiment with plastic model frogs to estimate detection probabilities when a population is known to occur at a site with certainty. Our results suggested that strawberry poison dart frog ( Oophagapumilio ) occupancy was positively related to secondary forest and their detection was negatively related to increasing air temperatures at the times of the surveys. Leaf litter frog occupancy was negatively related to core La Selva sites and human detections at sites, yet their detection was positively related to human trail presence, which might be related to reduced leaf litter cover due to heavy trampling. Our experimental surveys suggested that Neotropical leaf litter frog communities are difficult to detect when present and future studies should explicitly account for this detection bias to effectively monitor population trends.}, number={2}, journal={Neotropical Biology and Conservation}, publisher={Pensoft Publishers}, author={Vera Alvarez, Maria D. and Fernandez, Christopher and Cove, Michael V.}, year={2019}, month={Jul}, pages={143–156} }
 @article{fernandez_alvarez_cove_2019, title={Heightened nest loss in tropical forest fragments despite higher predator load in core forest}, volume={60}, ISSN={["2661-8982"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-019-00032-1}, DOI={10.1007/s42965-019-00032-1}, number={2}, journal={TROPICAL ECOLOGY}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Fernandez, Christopher M. and Alvarez, Maria D. Vera and Cove, Michael V}, year={2019}, month={Jun}, pages={281–287} }
 @article{cove_maurer_2019, title={Home decorating by an endangered ecosystem engineer}, volume={17}, ISSN={["1540-9309"]}, DOI={10.1002/fee.2040}, abstractNote={The endangered Key Largo woodrat (Neotoma floridana smalli) is a packrat. Nights are spent making round trips between nests and distant foraging sites to gather sticks, seeds, and other decorative items to place inside or atop their nests. Interestingly, this stick-nest building behavior appears to be plastic (flexible). Surveys conducted as recently as 2008 suggested the behavior had largely disappeared, but “stick stacking” reappeared around the same time as recent establishment of supplemental nests (Cove et al. 2017) and predator removal efforts (eg domestic cats). We placed painted sticks with unique triplet color combinations in spatial arrays to quantify the distance woodrats travel for home decorating materials. Woodrats appeared to preferentially select these colorful sticks (left). We documented straight-line foraging distances as far as 54 m, despite the presence of unpainted sticks near the nest. It's a dangerous world for a rodent dragging cumbersome sticks; we observed several tailless woodrats (right), which likely had narrow escapes from predators. This strategy therefore poses an ecological puzzle – why transport inedible colorful sticks and ornaments like skulls (left, inset)? It doesn't follow the bowerbird model of sexual selection, wherein males beautify nests to attract mates, because it is primarily female woodrats that build elaborate nests. Because woodrats are exposing themselves to increased predation risk during travel and may be attracting predators to nests via stick stacking, we wonder if this is a maladaptive behavior in the presence of exotic predators. Given that the behavior appears plastic, though, why has it reappeared if it is maladaptive? Do the benefits of protective shelter in the nest interior outweigh travel-associated predation costs, now that exotic predators have been suppressed below some threshold? Is this an ecological catch-22, where stick-stacking behavior simultaneously protects the nest interior but increases predation risk outside?}, number={4}, journal={FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Maurer, Andrew S.}, year={2019}, month={May}, pages={231–231} }
 @article{pardo_campbell_cove_edwards_clements_laurance_2019, title={Land management strategies can increase oil palm plantation use by some terrestrial mammals in Colombia}, volume={9}, ISSN={["2045-2322"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44288-y}, DOI={10.1038/s41598-019-44288-y}, abstractNote={Abstract}, journal={SCIENTIFIC REPORTS}, author={Pardo, Lain E. and Campbell, Mason J. and Cove, Michael V and Edwards, Will and Clements, Gopalasamy Reuben and Laurance, William F.}, year={2019}, month={May} }
 @article{cove_fergus_lacher_akre_mcshea_2019, title={Projecting Mammal Distributions in Response to Future Alternative Landscapes in a Rapidly Transitioning Region}, volume={11}, ISSN={2072-4292}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs11212482}, DOI={10.3390/rs11212482}, abstractNote={Finding balance between the needs of people and wildlife is an essential component of planning sustainable landscapes. Because mammals make up a diverse and ecologically important taxon with varying responses to human disturbance, we used representative mammal species to examine how alternative land-use policies might affect their habitats and distributions in the near future. We used wildlife detections from camera traps at 1591 locations along a large-scale urban to wild gradient in northern Virginia, to create occupancy models which determined land cover relationships and the drivers of contemporary mammal distributions. From the 15 species detected, we classified five representative species into two groups based on their responses to human development; sensitive species (American black bears and bobcats) and synanthropic species (red foxes, domestic cats, and white-tailed deer). We then used the habitat models for the representative species to predict their distributions under four future planning scenarios based on strategic versus reactive planning and high or low human population growth. The distributions of sensitive species did not shrink drastically under any scenario, whereas the distributions of synanthropic species increased in response to anthropogenic development, but the magnitude of the response varied based on the projected rate of human population growth. This is likely because most sensitive species are dependent on large, protected public lands in the region, and the majority of projected habitat losses should occur in non-protected private lands. These findings illustrate the importance of public protected lands in mitigating range loss due to land use changes, and the potential positive impact of strategic planning in further mitigating mammalian diversity loss in private lands.}, number={21}, journal={Remote Sensing}, publisher={MDPI AG}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Fergus, Craig and Lacher, Iara and Akre, Thomas and McShea, William J.}, year={2019}, month={Oct}, pages={2482} }
 @article{cove_simons_gardner_allan f. o'connell_2019, title={Towards recovery of an endangered island endemic: Distributional and behavioral responses of Key Largo woodrats associated with exotic predator removal}, volume={237}, ISSN={["1873-2917"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.07.032}, DOI={10.1016/j.biocon.2019.07.032}, abstractNote={Exotic predators create novel ecological contexts for native species, particularly when prey exhibit predator naïve behaviors. Population recovery of island endemic species following predator eradication has been documented broadly, but studies examining mammalian prey behavioral responses to exotic predator removal are less common. The Key Largo woodrat (Neotoma floridana smalli) is an endangered Florida endemic species that exhibited drastic declines, signified by the loss of natural stick-nests, over the past three decades due to habitat loss and effects from exotic predators. We conducted camera trap surveys of woodrats at supplemental nests and used dynamic multistate occupancy models to evaluate changes in woodrat distribution and stick-nest building behavior over a two-year period of exotic predator (domestic cats [Felis catus] and Burmese pythons [Python bivittatus]) removal. The distribution of woodrats using supplemental nests increased from 27% to 39% in the two-year period, while the proportion of occupied supplemental nests with stick-nests increased from 37% in 2013 to 54% in 2015. The probabilities of supplemental nest use and stick-nest building behavior increased over time following a gradient away from the northern extent of Key Largo, an area associated with high cat activity and the only sites of python captures during the surveys. Woodrats that built stick-nests were more detectable than those that did not, which suggests that stick-nest building could make woodrats more susceptible to predation from novel predators when performing the behavior. We documented increasing woodrat occurrence, along with increasing stick-nest building behavior, which supports recovery and management objectives focused on exotic predator removal.}, journal={BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Cove, Michael V and Simons, Theodore R. and Gardner, Beth and Allan F. O'Connell}, year={2019}, month={Sep}, pages={423–429} }
 @article{cove_2019, title={What if trophy hunters didn’t kill their trophies?}, volume={12}, ISSN={["1755-263X"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12598}, DOI={10.1111/conl.12598}, abstractNote={In their recent article, Batavia et al. (2018) suggest that trophy hunting and taking animal parts is morally wrong, but also note that the practice is generally accepted by conservationists as a source of revenue for local communities and conservation efforts. I agree with their suggestions and applaud them for bringing this conservation conundrum into question, particularly in an era when western regulations seem poised to allow more access to trophy imports. But what viable alternatives exist? Scientists and conservationists are continuously competing for limited funding to study even the most charismatic species. Indeed, half of the 10 most charismatic species are susceptible to trophy hunters globally, despite exhibiting drastic declines (Courchamp et al., 2018). Conservation issues at this scale require innovative tools and partnerships to resolve them, so I pose the question: what if trophy hunters didn't kill their trophies? If the motivating factor behind trophy hunting is truly the sport of the hunt and conquest, then there is an opportunity for scientists to work directly with trophy hunters to shoot and sedate individual animals as part of their research (sensu Earthwatch Institute expeditions). Trophy hunters would still enjoy complete hunting and safari experiences, culminating in the long endured chase with a loud gunshot and the animal they've been tracking goes down. The hunter poses with their trophy, touches it, feels it's heart beating, and for that moment the trophy is all theirs, without the stigma of growing global communities set on ending the practice altogether. Next, the hunter assists as scientists fasten a GPS radiotag to their trophy and administer sedative reversal drugs. They sit and watch as the glorious beast that they just hunted comes to life and returns to the wild. That animal will beam up its location to a satellite and from that point forward the hunter has their eye in the sky on their trophy and watches that animal live out its life in the wild. Furthermore, there are alternative options for trophy hunters to immortalize their formidable beasts: 3D-printing of casts or replicas, clay molds of paws, etc. Meanwhile the trophy animal gets a second chance, providing continuous data to scientists to better understand endangered species throughout their life cycles (Kays, Crofoot,}, number={1}, journal={Conservation Letters}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Cove, Michael V.}, year={2019}, month={Jan}, pages={e12598} }
 @article{cove_gardner_simons_allan f. o'connell_2018, title={Co-occurrence dynamics of endangered Lower Keys marsh rabbits and free-ranging domestic cats: Prey responses to an exotic predator removal program}, volume={8}, ISSN={["2045-7758"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3954}, DOI={10.1002/ece3.3954}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={8}, journal={ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Gardner, Beth and Simons, Theodore R. and Allan F. O'Connell}, year={2018}, month={Apr}, pages={4042–4052} }
 @article{lashley_cove_chitwood_penido_gardner_deperno_moorman_2018, title={Estimating wildlife activity curves: comparison of methods and sample size}, volume={8}, ISSN={2045-2322}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22638-6}, DOI={10.1038/s41598-018-22638-6}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={1}, journal={Scientific Reports}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Lashley, Marcus A. and Cove, Michael V. and Chitwood, M. Colter and Penido, Gabriel and Gardner, Beth and DePerno, Chris S. and Moorman, Chris E.}, year={2018}, month={Mar} }
 @article{schalk_cove_2018, title={Squamates as prey: Predator diversity patterns and predator-prey size relationships}, volume={17}, ISSN={2352-2496}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2018.e00103}, DOI={10.1016/j.fooweb.2018.e00103}, abstractNote={Understanding the relationships between prey and their predators can provide important insights into evolution of defenses, foraging ecology, and functional roles within their ecosystem. Squamates (lizards and snakes) exhibit a wide range of morphological, ecological and behavioral variation and are model organisms for the study of the evolution of anti-predator traits, making them an ideal group to search for general patterns in predator-prey relationships. We compiled a squamate predator database that consisted of 1152 squamate predation-prey interactions representing 396 lizard species from 30 families and 217 snake species from 13 families. We quantified the predator taxonomic diversity and explored the relationship between predator size and prey size. Both lizards and snakes were preyed upon by a greater diversity of squamate predators compared to avian and mammalian predators. Snakes appear to be more vulnerable to a broader size range of predators compared to lizards, which is likely attributed to differences in their body morphology. These results provide further support for the hypotheses that predation pressure may affect the evolutionary trajectory of squamate defenses.}, journal={Food Webs}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Schalk, Christopher M. and Cove, Michael V.}, year={2018}, month={Dec}, pages={e00103} }
 @article{pardo_lafleur_spinola_saenz_cove_2017, title={Camera traps provide valuable data to assess the occurrence of the Great Curassow Crax rubra in northeastern Costa Rica}, volume={3}, url={https://doi.org/10.1080/23766808.2017.1346548}, DOI={10.1080/23766808.2017.1346548}, abstractNote={The Great Curassow (Crax rubra) is an endangered species in Costa Rica due to habitat loss and hunting pressure. Little is known about the spatial ecology of cracids and there is a need to assess their distribution to establish efficient conservation strategies. In this study, we integrated camera trapping data with occupancy models to examine landscape factors that affect the distribution of the Great Curassow in the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor in Northeastern Costa Rica. We established remote camera traps at 38 sites within the corridor between July 2009 and July 2011. The Great Curassow was detected on 56 occasions at 19 of the 38 sites. Eight of the 19 occupancy models contained plausible support to predict Great Curassow occurrence, but distance to villages and forest cover were the most important factors positively related to their occurrence. These results suggest the distribution of the Great Curassow is largely susceptible to forest loss and human disturbance in the corridor. Both camera traps and occupancy analyses are useful tools to study medium to large terrestrial birds in the Neotropics.}, number={1}, journal={Neotropical Biodiversity}, publisher={Informa UK Limited}, author={Pardo, Lain E. and Lafleur, Lucie and Spinola, R. Manuel and Saenz, Joel and Cove, Michael}, year={2017}, month={Jan}, pages={182–188} }
 @article{cove_maurer_o’connell_2017, title={Camera traps reveal an apparent mutualism between a common mesocarnivore and an endangered ungulate}, volume={87}, ISSN={1616-5047}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2017.08.007}, DOI={10.1016/j.mambio.2017.08.007}, journal={Mammalian Biology}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Cove, Michael V.☆ and Maurer, Andrew S. and O’Connell, Allan F.}, year={2017}, month={Nov}, pages={143–145} }
 @article{cove_gardner_simons_kays_o’connell_2017, title={Free-ranging domestic cats (Felis catus) on public lands: estimating density, activity, and diet in the Florida Keys}, volume={20}, ISSN={1387-3547 1573-1464}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10530-017-1534-x}, DOI={10.1007/s10530-017-1534-x}, number={2}, journal={Biological Invasions}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Gardner, Beth and Simons, Theodore R. and Kays, Roland and O’Connell, Allan F.}, year={2017}, month={Aug}, pages={333–344} }
 @article{cove_foster_kuhn_2017, title={Micrurus Alleni (Allen's Coral Snake). Predation and Scavenging}, volume={48}, number={2}, journal={Herpetological Review}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Foster, P.F. and Kuhn, K.M.}, year={2017}, month={Jun}, pages={453–454} }
 @article{cove_fernandez_alvarez_bird_jones_fagan_2017, title={Toucans descend to the forest floor to consume the eggs of ground-nesting birds}, volume={10}, ISSN={2352-2496}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2017.01.003}, DOI={10.1016/j.fooweb.2017.01.003}, abstractNote={Toucans (Ramphastidae) are mostly frugivorous birds with important links to seed dispersal in the Neotropics. They are less frequently observed to prey upon invertebrates, small vertebrates, and canopy and cavity bird nests. As part of a nest predator study, we created artificial tinamou (Tinamidae) ground-nests and monitored them with camera traps in La Selva Biological Station (Costa Rica) and surrounding forest fragments. The camera traps revealed two species of toucan descend to the ground to consume the eggs. We are unaware of any other reports of toucans depredating nests on the forest floor. We suggest that toucans might be more opportunistic than expected, particularly in disturbed or fragmented habitats where fruiting trees can be sparse. Toucans could conceivably limit the abundance of other birds via nest depredation on the forest floor and exert selection pressure via eco-evolutionary feedbacks.}, journal={Food Webs}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Fernandez, Christopher M. and Alvarez, Maria Vera and Bird, Savanah and Jones, Donald W. and Fagan, Matthew E.}, year={2017}, month={Mar}, pages={2–4} }
 @article{schank_cove_kelly_mendoza_o'farrill_reyna‐hurtado_meyer_jordan_gonzález‐maya_lizcano_et al._2017, title={Using a novel model approach to assess the distribution and conservation status of the endangered Baird's tapir}, url={https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12631}, DOI={10.1111/ddi.12631}, abstractNote={Abstract Aim We test a new species distribution modelling ( SDM ) framework, while comparing results to more common distribution modelling techniques. This framework allows for the combination of presence‐only ( PO ) and presence‐absence ( PA ) data and accounts for imperfect detection and spatial bias in presence data. The new framework tested here is based on a Poisson point process model, which allows for predictions of population size. We compared these estimates to those provided by experts on the species. Species and Location Presence data on Baird's tapir ( Tapirus bairdii ) throughout its range from southern México to northern Colombia were used in this research, primarily from the years 2000 to 2016. Methods Four SDM frameworks are compared as follows: (1) Maxent, (2) a presence‐only ( PO ) SDM based on a Poisson point process model ( PPM ), (3) a presence‐absence ( PA ) SDM also based on a PPM and (4) an Integrated framework which combines the previous two models. Model averaging was used to produce a single set of coefficient estimates and predictive maps for each model framework. A hotspot analysis (Gi*) was used to identify habitat cores from the predicted intensity of the Integrated model framework. Results Important variables to model the distribution of Baird's tapir included land cover, human pressure and topography. Accounting for spatial bias in the presence data affected which variables were important in the model. Maxent and the Integrated model produced predictive maps with similar patterns and were considered to be more in agreement with expert knowledge compared to the PO and PA models. Main conclusions Total abundance as predicted by the model was higher than expert opinion on the species, but local density estimates from our model were similar to available independent assessments. We suggest that these results warrant further validation and testing through collection of independent test data, development of more precise predictor layers and improvements to the model framework.}, journal={Diversity and Distributions}, author={Schank, Cody J. and Cove, Michael V. and Kelly, Marcella J. and Mendoza, Eduardo and O'Farrill, Georgina and Reyna‐Hurtado, Rafael and Meyer, Ninon and Jordan, Christopher A. and González‐Maya, Jose F. and Lizcano, Diego J. and et al.}, editor={Thuille, WilfriedEditor}, year={2017}, month={Dec} }
 @article{schank_cove_kelly_mendoza_o'farrill_reyna-hurtado_meyer_jordan_gonzalez-maya_lizcano_et al._2017, title={Using a novel model approach to assess the distribution and conservation status of the endangered Baird's tapir}, volume={23}, number={12}, journal={Diversity and Distributions}, author={Schank, C. J. and Cove, M. V. and Kelly, M. J. and Mendoza, E. and O'Farrill, G. and Reyna-Hurtado, R. and Meyer, N. and Jordan, C. A. and Gonzalez-Maya, J. F. and Lizcano, D. J. and et al.}, year={2017}, pages={1459–1471} }
 @article{white_cove_2016, title={Anolis sagrei (Brown Anole) avian predation}, volume={47}, number={3}, journal={Herpetological Review}, author={White, B.C. and Cove, M.V.}, year={2016}, pages={460} }
 @article{vargas_cove_manuel spinola_cruz_saenz_2016, title={Assessing species traits and landscape relationships of the mammalian carnivore community in a neotropical biological corridor}, volume={25}, ISSN={["1572-9710"]}, DOI={10.1007/s10531-016-1089-7}, abstractNote={Mammalian carnivores play an important role in regulating food webs and ecosystems. While many carnivore populations are facing various threats such as habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and illegal trade, others have adapted to human-dominated landscapes. Information about Neotropical carnivore communities in particular is limited, especially in disturbed landscapes. We conducted a camera trap survey at 38 sites across the San Juan–La Selva Biological Corridor in Costa Rica to assess occupancy and detection probabilities of the carnivore community. We developed hypotheses within a likelihood-based framework in order to determine the landscape features and species traits (diet and size) that influenced their occupancy. We detected nine of the 13 native carnivores predicted to occur in the corridor. When modeled separately, each species responded to land cover changes differently, suggesting no strong community-wide predictors of occupancy. We then modeled three separate guilds within the carnivore community: omnivorous mesopredators, obligate carnivorous mesopredators, and apex predators. These community guild models revealed a negative relationship between omnivorous mesopredators and increasing forest and tree plantation cover, suggesting omnivores utilize forest fragments and edge habitats in agricultural landscapes. Obligate carnivorous mesopredator models did not reveal any strong habitat relationships, but landscape effects tended to contradict our a priori predictions. Apex predators were positively associated with increasing forest and tree plantation cover, protected areas, and increasing distances to villages. Alarmingly, apex predators and obligate carnivorous mesopredators were generally rare within the biological corridor. A lack of top-down control alone might result in heightened occupancy for all mesopredators, but because the community is dominated by omnivorous species, bottom-up release from human-induced land cover changes and resource provision may better explain their high occupancy.}, number={4}, journal={BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION}, author={Vargas, Lain E. Pardo and Cove, Michael V. and Manuel Spinola, R. and Cruz, Juan and Saenz, Joel C.}, year={2016}, month={Apr}, pages={739–752} }
 @article{jones_cove_lashley_jackson_2016, title={Do coyotes Canis latrans influence occupancy of prey in suburban forest fragments?}, volume={62}, ISSN={["1674-5507"]}, DOI={10.1093/cz/zov004}, abstractNote={Abstract With the extirpation of apex predators from many North American systems, coyotes Canis latrans have become the de facto top predator and are ubiquitous members of most ecosystems. Keystone predators aid in maintaining ecosystem function by regulating the mammal community through direct predation and instilling the landscape of fear, yet the value of coyotes regulating systems to this capacity is understudied and likely variable across environments. Since coyotes are common in the Midwestern United States, we utilized camera traps and occupancy analyses to assess their role in regulating the distribution of mammalian herbivores in a fragmented suburban ecosystem. Forest cover was a strong positive predictor of white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus detection, while coyote occurrence had a negative effect. Coyotes exerted a negative effect on squirrel (Sciurus spp.) and eastern cottontail rabbit Sylvilagus floridanus occurrence, while urban cover was a positive predictor for the prey species’ occurrence. These results suggest all 3 species behaviorally avoid coyotes whereby deer seek denser forest cover and squirrels and cottontails mitigate risk by increasing use of urban areas. Although previous studies reveal limited influence of coyote on the rest of the carnivore guild in suburban systems, we suggest coyotes play an important role in regulating the herbivorous mammals and hence may provide similar ecological benefits in urban/suburban forest fragments through trophic cascades. Furthermore, since hunting may not be allowed in urban and suburban habitats, coyotes might also serve as the primary regulator of nuisance species occurring at high abundance such as white-tailed deer and squirrels.}, number={1}, journal={CURRENT ZOOLOGY}, author={Jones, Brandon M. and Cove, Michael V. and Lashley, Marcus A. and Jackson, Victoria L.}, year={2016}, month={Feb}, pages={1–6} }
 @article{cove_simons_gardner_maurer_o'connell_2016, title={Evaluating nest supplementation as a recovery strategy for the endangered rodents of the Florida Keys}, volume={25}, ISSN={1061-2971}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/rec.12418}, DOI={10.1111/rec.12418}, abstractNote={The Key Largo woodrat (Neotoma floridana smalli) and Key Largo cotton mouse (Peromyscus gossypinus allapaticola) are federally endangered subspecies endemic to the tropical hardwood hammocks of Key Largo, Florida. Woodrats are considered generalists in habitat and diet, yet a steady decline in natural stick nests and capture rates over the past several decades suggests that they are limited by the availability of nesting habitat due to habitat loss and fragmentation. The more specialized Key Largo cotton mouse appears to rely on old growth hammock, a habitat type that is rare following past land clearing. In 2004, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service started building supplemental nest structures to restore habitat quality and connectivity for these endangered rodents, but nest use requires evaluation. We used camera traps and occupancy models to evaluate the factors influencing woodrat and cotton mouse use of the supplemental nests. We detected woodrats at 65 and cotton mice at 175 of 284 sampled nest structures, with co‐occurrence at 38 nests. Woodrat nest use followed a gradient from low nest use in the north to high nest use in the south, which might relate to the proximity of free‐ranging domestic cat (Felis catus) colonies in residential developments. Cotton mouse nest use, however, was related positively to mature hammock and related negatively to disturbed areas (e.g. scarified lands). The two species occurred independently of each other. Stick‐stacking behavior was observed at supplemental nests and, although it was correlated with detection of woodrats, it was not a strong predictor of their occurrence. We suggest that nest supplementation can be an important tool for species recovery as habitat quality continues to improve with succession.}, number={2}, journal={Restoration Ecology}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Simons, Theodore R. and Gardner, Beth and Maurer, Andrew S. and O'Connell, Allan F.}, year={2016}, month={Aug}, pages={253–260} }
 @phdthesis{cove_2016, title={On the recovery of the endangered small mammals of the Florida Keys: Evaluating exotic predator management and habitat restoration}, school={North Carolina State University}, author={Cove, Michael Vincent}, year={2016} }
 @article{layman_giery_buhler_rossi_penland_henson_bogdanoff_cove_irizarry_schalk_et al._2015, title={A primer on the history of food web ecology: Fundamental contributions of fourteen researchers}, volume={4}, ISSN={2352-2496}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2015.07.001}, DOI={10.1016/j.fooweb.2015.07.001}, abstractNote={Food webs are one of the primary frameworks on which the ecological sciences have been built. Research in this field has burgeoned over recent decades, expanding into diverse sub-disciplines and employing many different methodological approaches. Here we structure a historical review around 14 researchers and the specific contributions they have made to the field. Beginning with Charles Elton's insights into food web structure, and continuing to contemporary ecologists and emerging areas of study, we highlight some of the most important empirical and theoretical advances made over the last century. The review highlights that there are fundamentally different ways in which food webs are depicted and studied. Specifically, when one views systems through mathematical, energy flow or functional lenses, very different perspectives on food web structure and dynamics emerge. The contributions of these scientists illustrate the considerable advances that the field has undergone, and they provide the foundation for expansive on-going research programs that fall under the broad umbrella of food web ecology.}, journal={Food Webs}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Layman, Craig A. and Giery, Sean T. and Buhler, Stephanie and Rossi, Ryann and Penland, Tiffany and Henson, Mary N. and Bogdanoff, Alex K. and Cove, Michael V. and Irizarry, Amarilys D. and Schalk, Christopher M. and et al.}, year={2015}, month={Sep}, pages={14–24} }
 @article{schank_mendoza_vettorazzi_cove_jordan_o'farrill_lizcano_estrada_poot_leonardo_2015, title={Integrating current range-wide occurrence data with species distribution models to map the potential distribution of Baird’s Tapir}, volume={24}, number={33}, journal={Tapir Conservation}, author={Schank, C. and Mendoza, E. and Vettorazzi, M.J.G. and Cove, M.V. and Jordan, C.A. and O'Farrill, G. and Lizcano, D.J. and Estrada, N. and Poot, C. and Leonardo, R.}, year={2015}, month={Jul}, pages={15–25} }
 @article{paudel_pal_cove_jnawali_abel_koprowski_ranabhat_2015, title={The Endangered Ganges River dolphin Platanista gangetica gangetica in Nepal: abundance, habitat and conservation threats}, volume={29}, ISSN={["1613-4796"]}, DOI={10.3354/esr00702}, abstractNote={Conservation of the last remaining Ganges River dolphins Platanista gangetica gangetica in Nepal will require robust population estimates and better information on suitable habitat characteristics. To gain a better understanding of these parameters, we conducted boatbased surveys in the 3 major river systems (Karnali, Sapta Koshi, and Narayani) of Nepal. We recorded covariates at high spatial resolution and utilized these data to inform occurrence and abundance models. We allowed for detection bias by applying occupancy and N-mixture models that account for imperfect and heterogeneous detection. Occupancy results indicate that dolphin site use varies among the different river systems, across 2 seasons, and increases with river depth. River effects received nearly 100% of the model support and had the strongest influence on dolphin occurrence and abundance. The seasonal influence on dolphin occurrence in the systems (Σωi = 0.997) revealed that occupancy probabilities were heightened during the pre-monsoon season. Deep pool habitat was also identified as a predictor of dolphin habitat use, which accounted for 41.02% of all dolphin sightings occurring in this habitat. Although estimates vary depending on season, we estimate that there are between 37 and 42 (95% CI: 28 to 52) Ganges River dolphins distributed in the rivers of Nepal. Results suggest that seasonality and each specific river affect dolphins and their habitat in Nepal; we strongly recommend site and season-specific conservation actions. Further research on the integration of additional and alternative abundance techniques, behavioral studies, and pursuit of a conservation genetics approach are all important steps in the management of this endangered species.}, number={1}, journal={ENDANGERED SPECIES RESEARCH}, author={Paudel, Shambhu and Pal, Prabhat and Cove, Michael V. and Jnawali, Shant Raj and Abel, Grant and Koprowski, John L. and Ranabhat, Rishi}, year={2015}, pages={59–68} }
 @article{cove_maurer_2015, title={The Snapping Turtle, Chelydra serpentina (Linnaeus 1758) (Testudines: Chelydridae), in the Florida Keys}, volume={22}, ISSN={2332-4961 2330-3956}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.17161/randa.v22i1.14037}, DOI={10.17161/randa.v22i1.14037}, number={1}, journal={Reptiles & Amphibians}, publisher={The University of Kansas}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Maurer, Andrew S.}, year={2015}, month={Mar}, pages={38–39} }
 @article{cove_spinola_jackson_saenz_2014, title={Camera trapping ocelots: An evaluation of felid attractants}, volume={25}, number={2}, journal={Hystrix-Italian Journal of Mammalogy}, author={Cove, M. and Spinola, R. M. and Jackson, V. L. and Saenz, J.}, year={2014}, pages={113–116} }
 @article{cove_pardo vargas_cruz_manuel spinola_jackson_saenz_chassot_2014, title={Factors influencing the occurrence of the Endangered Baird's tapir Tapirus bairdii: potential flagship species for a Costa Rican biological corridor}, volume={48}, ISSN={["1365-3008"]}, DOI={10.1017/s0030605313000070}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={3}, journal={ORYX}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Pardo Vargas, Lain E. and Cruz, Juan and Manuel Spinola, R. and Jackson, Victoria L. and Saenz, Joel C. and Chassot, Olivier}, year={2014}, month={Jul}, pages={402–409} }
 @misc{cove_jones_bossert_jackson_2014, title={Mammal camera trapping success in a fragmented suburban landscape}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.344v1}, DOI={10.7287/peerj.preprints.344}, abstractNote={Camera traps are commonly used for mammal surveys and many recent studies have published variable trap success rates. All published reports have focused survey efforts in protected areas or large contiguous forests, but we used camera traps in a highly altered suburban landscape. We selected 22 camera trap sites in Warrensburg and Lee’s Summit, Missouri and surveyed for a total of 308 trapnights (TN) of effort. Procyon lotor (raccoon) had the highest trap success (38.96/100 TN), followed by: Didelphis virginiana (Virginia opossum, 37.34/100 TN); Odocoileus virginianus (white tailed deer, 27.92/100 TN); Sciurus niger and S. carolinensis (fox and gray squirrel, 19.48/100 TN); Vulpes vulpes (red fox, 8.77/100 TN); Canis latrans (coyote, 7.79/100 TN); Sylvilagus floridanus (cottontail rabbit, 3.90/100 TN); Urocyon cinereoargenteus (gray fox, 2.92/100 TN); Lynx rufus (bobcat, 1.95/100 TN); and Mephitis mephitis (striped skunk, 1.62/100 TN). These results are higher than any other published findings. We used 1-3 kg of deer meat as bait at each camera station and we believe this increased our trap success of mesopredators (Cove et al., 2012) versus studies that used no bait. However, our trap success for deer, squirrels, and rabbits were also higher than those published and these species were not attracted to bait. We hypothesize that the increased trap success in our study reflects (1) a true state of increased mesopredator abundance due to increased human-derived resources in the suburbs, and (2) concentrated activity of mammals in small fragmented forest patches versus the expansive forest tracts in other studies.}, publisher={PeerJ}, author={Cove, Michael and Jones, Brandon and Bossert, Aaron and Jackson, Victoria}, year={2014}, month={Mar} }
 @article{lafleur_pardo_spinola_saenz_cove_2014, title={Notes on plumage patterns and activity of the Great Curassow (Crax rubra) in northeastern Costa Rica}, volume={36}, journal={Cracid News: Bulletin of the Cracid Group in the IUCN/SSC-WPA Galliformes Specialist Group}, author={Lafleur, L. and Pardo, L. and Spinola, R.M. and Saenz, J. and Cove, M.V.}, year={2014}, month={Aug}, pages={17–19} }
 @article{cove_spínola_2014, title={Pairing Noninvasive Surveys with Capture-Recapture Analysis to Estimate Demographic Parameters for Dendrobates auratus (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from an Altered Habitat in Costa Rica}, volume={12}, ISSN={2316-9079 1519-1397}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9079.v12i2p107-115}, DOI={10.11606/issn.2316-9079.v12i2p107-115}, abstractNote={Populações de anfíbios estão em declínio em todo o mundo. Programas de monitoramento são importantes, mas muitos estudos utilizam técnicas invasivas para manipular, marcar e identificar indivíduos. Recomendamos uma técnica não invasiva, em que os indivíduos podem ser identificados a partir de fotografias baseadas em marcas individuais para análises de captura-recaptura. Como estudo de caso, examinamos a dinâmica populacional de Dendrobates auratus em um hábitat altamente alterado no norte da Costa Rica. Aplicamos o design robusto a dados de captura-recaptura das fotografias de indivíduos em dois transectos de 25m, uma área de estacionamento e uma passarela de cascalho. A partir desses dados, estimamos os parâmetros para sobrevivência, emigração, imigração, abundância e probabilidade de captura. A densidade média estimada de 2.62 +-0.60 indivíduos (CI=1-4) por 100 m2 é a primeira estimativa estatisticamente rigorosa para esta espécie em hábitats alterados. Esses resultados sugerem que essa espécie poderia ocorrer em hábitats antropizados e ser menos sucestível a declínios populacionais do que anteriormente sugerido. Nossa metodologia não-invasiva para obter estimativas robustas de abundância e parâmetros demográficos é igualmente aplicável à investigações feitas por leigos para uma variedade de táxons de anfíbios e répteis que são indentitificáveis individualmente.}, number={2}, journal={Phyllomedusa: Journal of Herpetology}, publisher={Universidade de Sao Paulo, Agencia USP de Gestao da Informacao Academica (AGUIA)}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Spínola, R. Manuel}, year={2014}, month={Feb}, pages={107} }
 @article{cove_manuel spinola_jackson_saenz_2014, title={The role of fragmentation and landscape changes in the ecological release of common nest predators in the Neotropics}, volume={2}, ISSN={["2167-8359"]}, DOI={10.7717/peerj.464}, abstractNote={Loss of large mammalian carnivores may allow smaller mesopredators to become abundant and threaten other community members. There is considerable debate about mesopredator release and the role that other potential factors such as landscape variables and human alterations to land cover lead to increased mesopredator abundance. We used camera traps to detect four mesopredators (tayra, Eira barbara; white-nosed coati, Nasua narica; northern raccoon, Procyon lotor; and common opossum, Didelphis opossum) in a biological corridor in Costa Rica to estimate habitat covariates that influenced the species' detection and occurrence. We selected these mesopredators because as semi-arboreal species they might be common nest predators, posing a serious threat to resident and migratory songbirds. Pineapple production had a pronounced positive effect on the detectability of tayras, while forest cover had a negative effect on the detection of coatis. This suggests that abundance might be elevated due to the availability of agricultural food resources and foraging activities are concentrated in forest fragments and pineapple edge habitats. Raccoon and opossum models exhibited little influence on detection from habitat covariates. Occurrence models did not suggest any significant factors influencing site use by nest predators, revealing that all four species are habitat generalists adapted to co-existing in human altered landscapes. Furthermore, fragmentation and land cover changes may predispose nesting birds, herpetofauna, and small mammals to heightened predation risk by mesopredators in the Neotropics.}, journal={PEERJ}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Manuel Spinola, R. and Jackson, Victoria L. and Saenz, Joel C.}, year={2014}, month={Jul} }
 @article{cove_spinola_jackson_saenz_chassot_2013, title={Integrating occupancy modeling and camera-trap data to estimate medium and large mammal detection and richness in a Central American biological corridor}, volume={6}, ISSN={["1940-0829"]}, DOI={10.1177/194008291300600606}, abstractNote={Noninvasive camera-traps are commonly used to survey mammal communities in the Neotropics. This study used camera-traps to survey medium and large mammal diversity in the San Juan – La Selva Biological Corridor, Costa Rica. The connectivity of the corridor is affected by the spread of large-scale agriculture, cattle ranching, and a growing human presence. An occupancy modeling approach was used to estimate corridor species richness and species-specific detection probabilities in 16 forested sites within four different matrix-use categories: eco-lodge reserves, tree plantations/general reforestation, cattle ranches, and pineapple/agricultural plantations. Rarity had a highly negative effect (β = −1.96 ± 0.65 SE) on the ability to detect species presence. Corridor richness was estimated at 20.4 ± 0.66 species and was lower than that observed in protected areas in the Neotropics. Forest cover was significantly less at pineapple plantations than other land-use matrices. Richness estimates for different land-use matrices were highly variable with no significant differences; however, pineapple plantations exhibited the highest observed richness. Given the limited forest cover at those sites, we believe that this reflects the concentrated occurrence of medium and large mammals in small forest patches, particularly because the majority of pineapple plantation communities were generalist mesopredators. Fragmentation and connectivity will need to be addressed with reforestation and limitations on pineapple production for the region to function as an effective corridor. Occupancy modeling has only recently been applied to camera-trap data and our results suggest that this approach provides robust richness and detection probability estimates and should be further explored.}, number={6}, journal={TROPICAL CONSERVATION SCIENCE}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Spinola, R. Manuel and Jackson, Victoria L. and Saenz, Joel C. and Chassot, Olivier}, year={2013}, pages={781–795} }
 @article{cove_pardo_spinola_jackson_sáenz_2012, title={Coyote Canis latrans (Carnivora: Canidae) range extension in northeastern Costa Rica: possible explanations and consequences}, volume={2-3}, number={2-1}, journal={Latin American Journal of Conservation}, author={Cove, M.V. and Pardo, L.E. and Spinola, R.M. and Jackson, V.L. and Sáenz, J.C.}, year={2012}, pages={82–86} }
 @article{cove_jones_bossert_clever_dunwoody_white_jackson_2012, title={Use of Camera Traps to Examine the Mesopredator Release Hypothesis in a Fragmented Midwestern Landscape}, volume={168}, ISSN={0003-0031 1938-4238}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031-168.2.456}, DOI={10.1674/0003-0031-168.2.456}, abstractNote={The mesopredator release hypothesis (MRH) has been suggested as a reason why many mammalian generalist mesopredators flourish and become abundant. However, the MRH has only been examined in a limited number of field studies. Some studies have argued that coyotes (Canis latrans) act as top predators in fragmented forest systems and coyote presence has a positive effect on song bird diversity and abundance by controlling mesopredator abundance. We integrated camera trap data and occupancy modeling to determine the factors that affect coyote detection probability and habitat use in a fragmented suburban landscape in central Missouri. We then examined the influence of coyote presence and other habitat variables on mesopredator detection probability and habitat use in the same system. Coyote detection was negatively related to increasing forest cover, whereas red fox (Vulpes vulpes) detection was positively related to increasing urbanization. Coyote occurrence models suggested little habitat selection, while the mesopredator occurrence models suggested an affinity for urbanization. Although there was a slight negative effect of coyote presence on site use by other mesopredators, we suggest that the smaller species are better adapted to coexisting with humans and thus have increased in abundance.}, number={2}, journal={The American Midland Naturalist}, publisher={University of Notre Dame}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Jones, Brandon M. and Bossert, Aaron J. and Clever, Donald R., Jr. and Dunwoody, Ryan K. and White, Bryan C. and Jackson, Victoria L.}, year={2012}, month={Oct}, pages={456–465} }
 @article{cove_niva_jackson_2012, title={Use of Probability of Detection When Conducting Analyses of Surveys of Mesopredators: a Case Study from the Ozark Highlands of Missouri}, volume={57}, ISSN={0038-4909}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1894/0038-4909-57.3.257}, DOI={10.1894/0038-4909-57.3.257}, abstractNote={We surveyed 14 communities of mesopredators in the Ozark Highlands of southern Missouri to examine the effect of landscape and surveying efforts on probability of detection of raccoons (Procyon lotor) and Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana). Virginia opossums had a higher probability of detection than raccoons. Mean size of forested patches had a negative effect on probability of detection, suggesting that the hypothesis that abundance of mesopredators increases in small patches of forest is an artifact of sampling. We suggest that it is important for researchers to include probability of detection when analyzing data from surveys of mesopredators.Muestreamos 14 comunidades de depredadores medianos en las Ozark Highlands del sur de Missouri para examinar el efecto de factores de paisaje y esfuerzos de muestreo en la probabilidad de detección de mapaches (Procyon lotor) y tlacuaches (Didelphis virginiana). Los tlacuaches tuvieron una probabilidad de detección mayor que los mapaches. El tamaño medio de parches de bosque tuvo un efecto negativo en la probabilidad de detección, sugiriendo que la hipótesis de que la abundancia de los depredadores medianos suba en parches pequeños del bosque es artefacto de muestreo. Sugerimos que es importante que los investigadores incluyan la probabilidad de detección cuando analicen datos de muestreos de depredadores medianos.}, number={3}, journal={The Southwestern Naturalist}, publisher={Southwestern Association of Naturalists}, author={Cove, Michael V. and Niva, Liisa M. and Jackson, Victoria L.}, year={2012}, month={Sep}, pages={257–261} }
 @article{cove_jackson_2011, title={Differences in detection probability between camera trap types for surveying bobcats in a fragmented suburban landscape}, volume={4}, number={2}, journal={Wild Felid Monitor}, author={Cove, M.V. and Jackson, V.L.}, year={2011}, month={Jun}, pages={24} }
 @article{cove_2011, title={Mountain lions in the Midwestern United States}, volume={4}, number={2}, journal={Wild Felid Monitor}, author={Cove, M.V.}, year={2011}, pages={18} }
 @phdthesis{cove_2011, title={Occupancy modeling of medium and large mammal diversity in a Central American Biological Corridor}, school={Department of Biology and Earth Science University of Central Missouri}, author={Cove, Michael V.}, year={2011} }