Abstract: Lycaon pictus (Temminck, 1820), the African wild dog, is a moderately sized carnivore with dog-like appearance and irregularly mottled black, yellow-brown, and white pelage. It has a head–body length of 76–112 cm, tail length of 30–41 cm, shoulder height of 61–78 cm, and body weight of 17–36 kg. Lycaon pictus has four toes on each foot, differentiating it from other canids; is the only extant species within the genus with no subspecies; and is unlikely to be confused with any other canid. Lycaon pictus was once widespread throughout sub-Saharan Africa inhabiting nearly all environments and now inhabits grasslands, montane savanna, and open woodlands. Lycaon pictus is recognized as “Endangered” (EN) by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The Journal of Wildlife ManagementVolume 83, Issue 4 p. 1008-1008 INFORMATION ACCESS Books and Literature MELANIE E. BUCCI, MELANIE E. BUCCISearch for more papers by this author MELANIE E. BUCCI, MELANIE E. BUCCISearch for more papers by this author First published: 06 May 2019 https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21668AboutPDF 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 onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume83, Issue4May 2019Pages 1008-1008 RelatedInformation

We studied mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) presence associated with the All-American Canal (AAC) before, during, and after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Imperial Irrigation District replaced a 36.8-km section of the earthen canal in Imperial County, California with a concrete-lined canal. The concrete-lined canal had steeper sides and higher water velocities than the unlined canal, increasing the risk of mule deer drowning in the canal. Our objective was to determine if the concrete-lined canal had an effect on the occurrence of mule deer along the AAC based on observations, aerial surveys, track plots, and camera traps. We examined deer presence at the AAC prior to lining (2004-2006), during lining (2007-2009), and post-lining (2010-2014). We monitored 1-m(2) track plots north and south of the AAC from 2004 to 2010. We did not find deer south of the canal and deer were rarely found north of the canal from December to April; thus, during 2011-2014, we monitored areas north of the canal from May to November. We also monitored deer at two mitigation catchments (established based on the first years of the study), one previously established catchment, and a sheet pile seam (i.e., 6-m wide gap or seam where the canal has a piece of sheet metal covered with rip-rap rock and dirt instead of cement) that deer used to access the canal. During the pre-lining phase, only one deer was reported near the canal. During the lining-phase we detected deer in a small area north of and adjacent to the canal. There were occasional observations of deer: three that drowned and two that were rescued from the canal. During the post-lining phase we documented continued deer presence at the canal and mitigation catchments. One deer drowned in the canal and one was rescued. The number of deer tracks at the canal remained consistent from 2008 to 2010 and from 2011 to 2014 as did the number of photos; thus, the mitigation catchments did not reduce deer use of the canal. We recommend that the sheet pile seam deer use to access the canal be maintained and kept free of vegetation. Further, we conclude the development of water catchments for this small population of deer crossing sand dunes to acquire water was not necessary. Deer use of the sheet pile seam was unanticipated and fortuitous for deer attempting to acquire water from the AAC.

Stable isotope analysis of diet has become a common tool in conservation research. However, the multiple sources of uncertainty inherent in this analysis framework involve consequences that have not been thoroughly addressed. Uncertainty arises from the choice of trophic discrimination factors, and for Bayesian stable isotope mixing models (SIMMs), the specification of prior information; the combined effect of these aspects has not been explicitly tested. We used a captive feeding study of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to determine the first experimentally-derived trophic discrimination factors of C and N for this large carnivore of broad conservation interest. Using the estimated diet in our controlled system and data from a published study on wild wolves and their prey in Montana, USA, we then investigated the simultaneous effect of discrimination factors and prior information on diet reconstruction with Bayesian SIMMs. Discrimination factors for gray wolves and their prey were 1.97‰ for δ13C and 3.04‰ for δ15N. Specifying wolf discrimination factors, as opposed to the commonly used red fox (Vulpes vulpes) factors, made little practical difference to estimates of wolf diet, but prior information had a strong effect on bias, precision, and accuracy of posterior estimates. Without specifying prior information in our Bayesian SIMM, it was not possible to produce SIMM posteriors statistically similar to the estimated diet in our controlled study or the diet of wild wolves. Our study demonstrates the critical effect of prior information on estimates of animal diets using Bayesian SIMMs, and suggests species-specific trophic discrimination factors are of secondary importance. When using stable isotope analysis to inform conservation decisions researchers should understand the limits of their data. It may be difficult to obtain useful information from SIMMs if informative priors are omitted and species-specific discrimination factors are unavailable.