Recreational trails intersect a variety of habitats that species rely on. Human recreational activities and other mammals' use of trails can lead to interactions, but quantifying these interactions remains challenging. We analyzed camera trap detections from nine long-term monitoring stations along the Arizona National Scenic Trail (AZNST) and developed a seasonal Lotka–Volterra inspired activity model to describe the coupled dynamics of human and mammal detections. Weekly human and wildlife detections were modeled using station-specific seasonal carrying capacities and interaction coefficients, with negative-binomial observation errors to account for over dispersed count data. The model captured human activity patterns well at most stations, while wildlife fits were weaker and more heterogeneous, reflecting sparse detections, species aggregation, and stochastic activity pulses. These results suggest that human activity along the trail is more seasonally predictable than aggregate wildlife activity, and that apparent human–wildlife coupling varies substantially among camera traps. A null model comparison indicated improvement over a seasonality-only model at eight of nine stations, though decisively so at only four. This framework provides a first step toward mechanistic modeling of trail-based human–wildlife dynamics, while highlighting the need for species-specific analyses and uncertainty quantification before drawing strong ecological conclusions.

Understanding how prey selection relates to food availability and the environment is fundamental to conserving wildlife populations, especially in relation to anthropogenic factors. Most assessments of diet consider the abundance of prey, but rarely temporal availability, prey biomass or the co-occurrence of species in space and time, all of which are particularly important in systems where predator and prey species are spatially ubiquitous. Using a novel method that combines camera trap and scat data, we assessed how the spatial distribution and/or activity of prey taxa influenced prey selection by bobcats (Lynx rufus), a widespread carnivore in urbanized (exurban and wildland-urban interface) and wildland areas of Colorado, USA. We developed prey availability estimates using asymmetric species interaction models (spatial) and activity overlap (temporal) analyses, then used a model selection framework to identify if co-occurrence (i.e. availability) between bobcats and prey species in space, time or both better predicted prey consumption. We further investigated whether different measures of prey consumption (i.e. the frequency of occurrence of prey items in scats vs. the proportion of biomass consumed) influenced the relationship between prey availability and use. Across study areas, bobcats consumed a variety of smaller mammals and birds, with cottontail rabbits appearing as the most important diet item. Our results indicated that incorporating time into availability estimates often better predicted prey consumption compared with spatial availability, particularly in wildland areas. Additionally, we found that both the frequency of occurrence of prey remains in scats and the proportion of biomass consumed had similar relationships to availability in our study system. Our results suggest that including temporal availability in analyses of prey consumption may be particularly informative in areas where prey species are spatially abundant. This study provides a framework for researchers and wildlife managers to consider temporal availability and species co-occurrence in studies evaluating prey selection by carnivores.

Diet selection informs the health, fitness, and behavior of wild predators. Due to assumptions that vertebrate prey contains similar compositions of macronutrients (i.e., protein, carbohydrates, and lipids), whole prey items traditionally define carnivore diets. However, increasing evidence suggests that prey differ in terms of their macronutrient compositions, particularly relative to body size. Furthermore, omnivorous predators, like coyotes (Canis latrans), integrate both prey and nonprey diet items whose macronutrient compositions vary. This is particularly important in urbanized systems, which introduce or alter the distributions of prey (e.g., domestic pets) and nonprey (e.g., ornamental plants) foods in ways that contribute to carnivore diet selection and human-wildlife coexistence. We assessed the macronutrient composition of coyote diets seasonally and relative to urbanization in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, AZ, USA. We collected coyote scats in the field and assessed their macronutrient compositions using values gathered from the literature, as well as the volumetric composition of diet items found in coyote scats. We then assessed the macronutrient composition of coyote diets in geometric space using the geometric framework of nutrition. We observed that the macronutrient composition of coyote diets was similar between moderately and less urbanized sites, particularly in the spring-summer season. However, coyote macronutrient consumption differed seasonally, with coyotes eating more nonprotein energy relative to protein energy when carbohydrate-rich mesquite (Prosopis spp.) was more available in the fall-winter. Our results suggest that the seasonal availability and macronutrient composition of foods contribute to coyote diets. Macronutrients directly translate to energy and subsequent animal physiology and behavior. Our findings therefore advance our understanding of coyote behavior, particularly in ways that support human-wildlife management in anthropogenic areas.

Context Habitat degradation caused by roads and wildlife-vehicle collisions are two of the main drivers of terrestrial vertebrate mortality. Spatial collision patterns are influenced by habitat and road characteristics and the species' ecology and biology, including its life history. Costa Rica has a network of 10,000 km of paved roads; however, there is a knowledge gap on road ecology and its impact to wildlife. Understanding the interconnectedness of roadkill with spatial and temporal patterns is crucial to mitigate this threat in the country.Aims Here, we describe spatial and temporal patterns in bird and mammal-vehicle collisions on a 45 km section of the Interamerican Highway and identify the critical zones that require attention.Methods Surveys were conducted by car between R & iacute;o Macho Forest Reserve and Los Santos Forest Reserve for a period of 8 months. We recorded bird and mammal individuals and road and landscape features in 100 m sections to identify collision hotspots. We used the road and landscape information to try to explain the hotspot segments using generalized linear models.Key results We found 148 carcasses that belonged to 16 species of bird and five species of mammal. There was no temporal pattern in frequency of collisions for both birds and mammals. We identified 34 collision hotspots, five for birds and 29 for mammals, and seven hotspots for both groups combined. Bird collision frequency was explained by the 150 m scale forest area, distance to rivers, and road sinuosity. Mammal collisions were not explained by the evaluated variables.Conclusions Roadkill of birds and mammals was influenced by biological traits and environmental factors. The identification of specific environmental factors and collision hotspots are an initial step on collision monitoring in the Talamanca mountain range in Costa Rica.Implications This research has increased our knowledge on some of the factors that influence roadkill frequencies and vulnerability of species. Our results identified segments on the Interamerican Highway where roadkill mitigation measures should be implemented. Our findings can also serve as a reference point to analyze other segments of the highway or other roads with similar features in the country.

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.

Wildlife must adapt to human presence to survive in the Anthropocene, so it is critical to understand species responses to humans in different contexts. We used camera trapping as a lens to view mammal responses to changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 163 species sampled in 102 projects around the world, changes in the amount and timing of animal activity varied widely. Under higher human activity, mammals were less active in undeveloped areas but unexpectedly more active in developed areas while exhibiting greater nocturnality. Carnivores were most sensitive, showing the strongest decreases in activity and greatest increases in nocturnality. Wildlife managers must consider how habituation and uneven sensitivity across species may cause fundamental differences in human–wildlife interactions along gradients of human influence.

Corridors are essential tools for promoting biodiversity resilience under climate change. However, corridor design studies are often conducted at spatial scales too coarse to guide implementation by local conservation practitioners. We mapped potential climate-resilient corridors linking lowland to highland protected areas within a highly biodiverse but fragmented landscape of southwestern Costa Rica (6311 km2) 2 ) using least cost path and circuit theory approaches at high spatial resolution (10 m). We then applied an extensive camera trap dataset of medium-large vertebrates to examine corridor functionality. Although least cost paths (n n = 40) were predominantly forested (median = 76 %, range = 57-82 %) and somewhat protected (median = 31 %, range = 3-55 %), they were also highly fragmented. Least cost paths from lowland to highland protected areas traversed medians of 252 forest patches (range = 162-328), 11,186 agriculture patches (range = 822-1,771), and 106 roads (range = 50-252), translating to 2 forest patches, 11 agriculture patches, and 1 road crossed every kilometer. Circuit analyses identified many high-connectivity areas outside of protected areas, including but not limited to least cost paths, but these high-connectivity areas were mostly small forest fragments. Nonetheless, capture rates for medium-to-large mammals at camera traps indicated that many species are currently unlikely to use unprotected, fragmented areas thought to be important for connectivity. In other words, additional conservation and restoration are necessary to establish functional corridors within the landscape. More broadly, this study exemplifies an approach to bridging the gap between regional-scale connectivity analyses and the needs of local practitioners by identifying locations that could be targeted for conservation or restoration within multi-use tropical landscapes.

The ocelot ( Leopardus pardalis ) ranges from northeastern Argentina to southern Texas and southeastern Arizona. It is listed as Endangered in Mexico and the United States. Previous works on ocelots in Sonora, found them occupying different habitats, including tropical deciduous forest, thornscrub, desert grassland, oak woodland, and pine-oak forest, avoiding the driest areas of the Sonoran Desert. The majority of our records are from camera traps, with indirect records from tracks. We analyzed images and videos of more than 100 camera traps used to monitor wildlife in ranches and natural protected areas of Sonora. Cameras were set at an altitude of 70 to 100 cm above ground, some were baited with a sardine-tomato mixture, others were not, the majority were set in areas where other species were the main objective. We obtained 147 recent records from 2015 to 2021 and 28 previous records of ocelots in Sonora. Ocelots occur in the eastern half of Sonora, avoiding areas with less than 400 mm of annual rainfall in the eastern and northwestern Sonoran Desert. Ocelots have been recorded from 53 to 2,151 m elevation (av. 996 m). 21 images in nine localities show females with kittens, indicating breeding populations. In southern and east-central Sonora, ocelots live in tropical deciduous forest, and foothills thornscrub. At Maycoba east of Yécora, in Sierra Huachinera and in the Sky Islands Mountain ranges in northeastern Sonora, ocelots live in temperate vegetation, including desert grassland, oak woodland, and pine-oak forest. Ocelots have been recorded in riparian habitats, transecting other vegetation types in the principal rivers of the state: Ríos Bavispe-Yaqui, Mayo, and Sonora, which drain the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Sky Island Region and southeastern Arizona to the Gulf of California, providing dispersal corridors. Other medium sized rivers provide corridors for the dispersal of ocelots, such as Río Mátape in central Sonora, and Ríos Cocóspera, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz in the north. The nearest Sonoran populations to Arizona are in the Sierra El Alacrán and Río Cocóspera on Rancho El Aribabi.

Wildlife populations in semi-arid regions are increasingly challenged by human activities and dependent on the connectivity of riparian corridors for access to surface water. The Madrean Archipelago is a biodiversity hotspot along the arid United States-Mexico borderlands that support both Neotropical and Nearctic wildlife. Infrastructure development (e.g., the border wall and the expansion of Mexican Federal Highway 2) in this region inhibits wildlife movement along the transnational mountain archipelago by disconnecting habitat. To explore the relationship between habitat variables and mammal use of riparian corridors in northern Sonora, Mexico, we collected data from 19 motion-sensitive cameras between October 2018 and April 2019 and used single-season occupancy models and Royle-Nichols abundance estimation models to analyze our data. We recorded 21 species of mammals, including the first sighting of jaguar (Panthera onca) in this region in 25 years. River characteristics (distance from river, riparian corridor width, water availability), remoteness (distance from highway, productivity, elevation), and topographic variety (vertical elevation difference) influenced patterns of occupancy probability and estimated abundance of mammals >1 kg, but the strength and direction of these relationships varied by species. Additionally, intermittently wet desert washes were comparable in species richness to the perennial system. These results highlight the importance of examining physical and biological aspects of habitat. This is especially true when identifying corridors where mitigation structures should be placed to improve wildlife connectivity in biodiversity hotspots like the Madrean Archipelago and semi-arid ecosystems worldwide.

Over the past century, the white-nosed coati (WNC; Nasua narica ) has expanded its northernmost range from the United States-Mexico border into northern Arizona. WNC are medium-sized, opportunistic omnivores that often occur in large groups (“bands”) and forage on insects, fruits, and small vertebrates. We compiled data from iNaturalist, published literature, Arizona Game and Fish records, museum collections, personal communications, and our own camera trap photography to chronicle this range expansion. Historical records documented WNC populations in mountainous areas along the US-Mexican border but rarely north of Tucson, AZ. The popularity of using wildlife cameras in both research and recreation, paired with the advancement of citizen science projects like iNaturalist have generated a vast amount of new data on species distributions. With this new body of information we report the range of WNC now occurs over 400 km farther north, extending north of Flagstaff, Arizona. Recent records include occurrence in ponderosa pine forest that sustain sometimes heavy winter snow – an environment vastly different from the species’ normal range. The northward expansion of this meso-carnivore invites many questions about drivers of range expansion, including climate change, mesopredator release, or simple opportunism. More research into the behavior and ecology of WNC in the northern extent of their range is needed to guide understanding and potential future management of this species, its impacts, and prediction of other such range expansions.

Leopardus tigrinus is among the least known carnivore species in the Neotropics, including considerable taxonomic uncertainty. Here we model the distribution, connectivity and overlap with existing conservation areas for the species in Colombia. Using a Species Distribution Modeling approach, we estimated current potential range of the species in Colombia and identified potential habitat blocks remaining in the country. In addition, we designed a connectivity network across the available cores, using a circuit theory approach, to evaluate habitat linkage. Finally, we defined a prioritization scheme for the remaining habitat cores and assessed the level of coverage of protected areas for the country. L. tigrinus is potentially present across the three Andean branches of Colombia, with still considerable continuous habitat cores, mostly located on the eastern and central Andean ranges. Most habitat cores are theoretically connected, but nearly 15% are isolated. Priority areas were located across the eastern and central ranges, but with very significant and promising cores in the northern eastern and western ranges. Current level of protection indicates nearly 30% of the range is "protected", but only about 25% is under national strict protected areas. Evolution of this coverage showed some periods of significant increase but interestingly the number of cores grew at a faster rate than overall proportion protected, likely indicating numerous discontinuous fragments, and not contiguous functional landscapes. This represents the most updated assessment of the distribution and conservation status for the species in Colombia, and indicates the numerous conservation opportunities, especially in most populated areas of the country. We found unique business environmental passive's opportunities, including compensation and development potential, which are becoming more available in the country.

The unique biogeography of the Madrean Archipelago facilitates the cohabitation of species that otherwise rarely overlap in their spatial distributions. As part of a long-term study at Cuenca Los Ojos, Sonora, we deployed 25 cameras along washes within the property from October 2018 to April 2019, adding to the camera-trap information collected at the site since 2016. Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) was recorded once in 2018, twice in 2016 and 2020, but not during the 2018–2019 study period. Black bear (Ursus americanus) was recorded regularly throughout the season with several images including cubs. One picture and several signs of beaver (Castor canadensis) were discovered in 2018 and 2019. Lastly, the first record of jaguar (Panthera onca) in Cuenca Los Ojos was recorded in February and March 2019 at four different sites. All species are considered endangered in Mexico and species of conservation concern in the United States and were recorded within 5 km south of the USA–Mexico border wall. Our addition of the new ocelot sighting in this region marks the only known location with records of all four species overlapping in space and time despite historical distribution ranges of black bears, jaguars, and beavers overlapping. Given the current border wall construction and highway development, which both affect the natural connectivity of the region, it will be necessary to incorporate the presence of the four species in all future mitigation efforts.

Managing wildlife populations in the face of global change requires regular data on the abundance and distribution of wild animals, but acquiring these over appropriate spatial scales in a sustainable way has proven challenging. Here we present the data from Snapshot USA 2020, a second annual national mammal survey of the USA. This project involved 152 scientists setting camera traps in a standardized protocol at 1485 locations across 103 arrays in 43 states for a total of 52,710 trap-nights of survey effort. Most (58) of these arrays were also sampled during the same months (September and October) in 2019, providing a direct comparison of animal populations in 2 years that includes data from both during and before the COVID-19 pandemic. All data were managed by the eMammal system, with all species identifications checked by at least two reviewers. In total, we recorded 117,415 detections of 78 species of wild mammals, 9236 detections of at least 43 species of birds, 15,851 detections of six domestic animals and 23,825 detections of humans or their vehicles. Spatial differences across arrays explained more variation in the relative abundance than temporal variation across years for all 38 species modeled, although there are examples of significant site-level differences among years for many species. Temporal results show how species allocate their time and can be used to study species interactions, including between humans and wildlife. These data provide a snapshot of the mammal community of the USA for 2020 and will be useful for exploring the drivers of spatial and temporal changes in relative abundance and distribution, and the impacts of species interactions on daily activity patterns. There are no copyright restrictions, and please cite this paper when using these data, or a subset of these data, for publication.

Assemblages of large mammal species play a disproportionate role in the structure and composition of natural habitats. Loss of these assemblages destabilizes natural systems, while their recovery can restore ecological integrity. Here we take an ecoregion‐based approach to identify landscapes that retain their historically present large mammal assemblages, and map ecoregions where reintroduction of 1–3 species could restore intact assemblages. Intact mammal assemblages occur across more than one‐third of the 730 terrestrial ecoregions where large mammals were historically present, and 22% of these ecoregions retain complete assemblages across > 20% of the ecoregion area. Twenty species, if reintroduced or allowed to recolonize through improved connectivity, can increase the area of the world containing intact large mammal assemblages by 54% (11 116 000 km2). Each of these species have at least two large, intact habitat areas (> 10 000 km2) in a given ecoregion. Timely integration of recovery efforts for large mammals strengthens area‐based targets being considered under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Introducción: Las especies categorizadas como amenazadas según la UICN son reconocidas como una prioridad mundial de conservación, y su vulnerabilidad a la extinción demanda acciones inmediatas de conservación. La cuenca del río Cotón, que incluye la Zona Protegida Las Tablas y la Reserva Biológica Pájaro Campana, es una de las cuencas con más especies amenazadas en Costa Rica: al menos 35 especies de vertebrados en peligro de extinción. Objetivo: Identificar las especies amenazadas en la cuenca y sus amenazas, como base para su conservación. Métodos: Desde 2016 se identifican especies con cámaras trampa, observación directa en transectos, conteos puntuales y censos libres. Las amenazas se identificaron con talleres presenciales de “mapeo social”. Resultados: Obtuvimos registros recientes de 12 especies Vulnerables, 7 En Peligro y 1 En Peligro Crítico (13 de estudio convencional y 18 de los talleres). Las amenazas incluyen la caza ilegal, la deforestación y el uso excesivo de agroquímicos. Conclusión: Recomendamos esfuerzos directos y de sensibilización para conservar la importante fauna amenazada de la cuenca del río Cotón.

With the accelerating pace of global change, it is imperative that we obtain rapid inventories of the status and distribution of wildlife for ecological inferences and conservation planning. To address this challenge, we launched the SNAPSHOT USA project, a collaborative survey of terrestrial wildlife populations using camera traps across the United States. For our first annual survey, we compiled data across all 50 states during a 14-week period (17 August-24 November of 2019). We sampled wildlife at 1,509 camera trap sites from 110 camera trap arrays covering 12 different ecoregions across four development zones. This effort resulted in 166,036 unique detections of 83 species of mammals and 17 species of birds. All images were processed through the Smithsonian's eMammal camera trap data repository and included an expert review phase to ensure taxonomic accuracy of data, resulting in each picture being reviewed at least twice. The results represent a timely and standardized camera trap survey of the United States. All of the 2019 survey data are made available herein. We are currently repeating surveys in fall 2020, opening up the opportunity to other institutions and cooperators to expand coverage of all the urban-wild gradients and ecophysiographic regions of the country. Future data will be available as the database is updated at eMammal.si.edu/snapshot-usa, as will future data paper submissions. These data will be useful for local and macroecological research including the examination of community assembly, effects of environmental and anthropogenic landscape variables, effects of fragmentation and extinction debt dynamics, as well as species-specific population dynamics and conservation action plans. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this paper when using the data for publication.

Introducción: El sapo arlequín, Atelopus varius, se encuentra en peligro crítico y fue declarada “aparentemente extinta” en Costa Rica en 1996. Una de las posibles causas fue el hongo patógeno Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. En 2008 se redescubrió una población viva en Las Tablas y aquí analizamos la situación con este hongo. Objetivo: Evaluar prevalencia y probabilidad de infección del sapo por B. dendrobatidis. Métodos: Se recolectaron hisopados de piel de individuos vivos (para pruebas de ADN) y trozos histológicos de individuos muertos (para observación microscópica directa). Resultados: De 363 animales, solo el 6% tenía el hongo, particularmente los subadultos. Conclusión: La población de sapos parece estable, pero se debe tener cuidado de no propagar el hongo, aunque este sea actualmente escaso.

Introducción: El Área de Conservación La Amistad-Pacífico incluye tres corredores biológicos que pueden beneficiarse de viveros de árboles nativos para la reforestación y permeabilización del paisaje. Objetivo: Probar una red de viveros comunitarios rentables apoyados por partes interesadas locales para garantizar la viabilidad a largo plazo y la restauración basada en evidencia. Métodos: Establecimos un vivero de referencia (>10 000 plántulas) y cuatro de pequeña escala (entre 163 y 1 600 plántulas). Recolectamos plántulas de 40 especies de árboles entre octubre de 2020 y junio de 2021 y las cuidamos a una altura adecuada, estimando la supervivencia de las especies con n ≥ 10. Resultados: la supervivencia media fue del 82 %, con 16 especies con una supervivencia ≥ 80 %. A las plántulas con cotiledones les fue mejor. Las razones para establecer viveros incluyen la atracción de abejas, la estética, la sombra, la madera, el alimento para la vida silvestre y la reforestación. Conclusión: Estos viveros de pequeña escala son viables y ayudan a las comunidades a mantenerse motivadas y estimar la supervivencia de las especies.

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.