The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP), formerly known as the Mississippi Game & Fish Commission, is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Mississippi responsible for programs protecting Mississippi fish and wildlife resources and their habitats, as well as administering all state parks; it has its headquarters in Jackson.The agency issues hunting and fishing licenses, advises on habitat protection, and sponsors public education programs. It is also responsible for enforcement of Mississippi's fish and game laws. It is separate from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, which is the governing body for the state's natural salt-water resources and law enforcement thereof (i.e. Gulf of Mexico, ocean-going vessels, etc.).
American black bears (Ursus americanus) in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) suffered significant declines in the 20th century from habitat loss and overexploitation. Remnant black bear subpopulations in southeastern Arkansas and eastern Louisiana have recovered and expanded into western Mississippi in the early 2000s. However, the genetic status and origin of subpopulations in Mississippi remain poorly understood. We evaluated genetic diversity, population structure, and connectivity of black bears in the LMAV and compared our results to a previous study. We identified an expanded admixture zone in western Mississippi where black bears dispersing from Arkansas and Louisiana converged and reproduced. The subpopulation in southern Mississippi exhibited the highest allelic richness (AR = 4.50) and elevated expected heterozygosity (HE = 0.61), consistent with recent admixture. Gene flow was greatest from the Tensas River Basin in Louisiana to the Mississippi subpopulations and to the Three Rivers Complex in Louisiana (m = 0.17–0.22), suggesting corridors between Mississippi and Louisiana may be similar in quality to corridors among Louisiana subpopulations. However, dispersal into Arkansas from all subpopulations remained limited, underscoring the genetic isolation of the White River Basin and West Gulf Coastal Plain subpopulations. Our results revealed an undocumented dispersal pathway from Louisiana’s Upper Atchafalaya River Basin into southern Mississippi. Despite these promising findings, genetic diversity in Mississippi and the LMAV remains lower than in many other black bear populations. Continued habitat restoration, improved corridor connectivity, and ongoing genetic monitoring are essential to support black bear recovery in Mississippi and across the LMAV.
The American black bear (Ursus americanus) is recolonizing in Mississippi, which may positively or negatively impact people. Therefore, it is important to understand the acceptance capacity and intentions of people to accept black bears. We used a self-administered mail survey of 4080 Mississippi landowners in ‘frequent black bear encounter counties’ and ‘infrequent black bear encounter counties’ to assess their intention to accept black bears. Based on the 1266 returned surveys, we found perceived behavioral control was the strongest determinant of landowners' intention to accept black bears, followed by their attitudes towards black bears. In addition, landowners' social trust in the state wildlife agency was instrumental in determining their intention to accept black bears. Landowners who have higher social trust, lower perceived risks, and higher perceived benefits were more likely to accept black bears. Overall, the weighted least square means and variance adjusted model explained about 70% of the variation in acceptance, and the determinants influencing the intention to accept black bears remained consistent across the two county categories. Local management strategies need to be employed to educate landowners on black bear ecology, risk mitigation measures, and approaches to maximize appreciation of black bears.
Context Predation risk, whether from large carnivores or humans, is a primary driver of movement and habitat selection for ungulates. Throughout much of the geographical range of white-tailed deer, predation risk during autumn and winter is driven by hunters; however, information about how deer respond to hunting pressure during a long hunting season is lacking. Aims We aimed to determine how differences in daily temporal exposure to hunting risk affected habitat selection of adult male white-tailed deer. Methods We deployed GPS collars on 42 adult male white-tailed deer during the 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 firearm hunting seasons in Mississippi, USA. GPS collars provided fine-scale spatial and temporal information regarding habitat use of our study area. Key results We showed a mismatch between what hunters and deer selected; landscape characteristics selected most by hunters were least selected by deer during the day, which we believe has never been documented. Fine-scale temporal analysis showed that deer selected for some areas (food plots) as much as five times more often during the night, when no hunting risk was present, than during the day, when risk was present. Conclusions Habitat selection by deer varies depending on the amount of risk that is present. Even in a high-risk heavily hunted area, adult male white-tailed deer can recognise external cues on the landscape, and shift habitat selection both spatially and temporally to favour areas that present less risk. Implications This study, to our knowledge, provides the first evidence that white-tailed deer actively selected for habitat characteristics that hunters were not utilising. To minimise the effectiveness of risk-avoidance behaviours used by deer, we suggest hunters moderate temporal hunting effort across time to decrease the risk to which deer are exposed, thereby minimising the response by deer.
Research in northern latitudes confirms that climate teleconnections exert important influences on ungulate fitness, but studies from regions with milder climates are lacking. We explored the influence of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Northern Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on male, 2.5-year-old white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) antler and body mass in Mississippi, USA, a region with mild winters and warm, humid summers. Explanatory variables were seasonal averages of each climate index extending back to 3 years prior to account for possible maternal and lag effects. Seasonal climate indices from the period of gestation and the first year of life were correlated with deer morphometrics. Reduced antler mass was largely correlated (R2 = 0.52) with PDO values indicating dry conditions during parturition and neonatal development and NAO values indicating warmer than normal winters during gestation and the first year of life. Body mass was less correlated (R2 = 0.16) to climate indices, responding negatively to warmer winter weather during the first winter of life. Climate may promote variable fitness among cohorts through long-term effects on male competition for dominance and breeding access. Because broad-scale climate indices simplify complex weather systems, they may benefit management at larger scales. Although this study compared climate with morphological variables, it is likely that demographic characteristics can likewise be modeled using climate indices. As climate change in this region is projected to include greater variability in summer precipitation, we may see concomitantly greater variability in fitness among cohorts of white-tailed deer.
