Wildland Resources Grad Student Receives ASM Grant

Utah State University graduate student Ryan Wilson received a Grant-in-Aid of Research from the American Society of Mammalogists for the 2008-09 academic year. His award will be formally announced during the society’s annual meeting this month in Brookings, S.D.

In Wilson’s award letter, ASM Grants-in-Aid Committee Chair William Kilpatrick wrote, “The fact that your proposal was selected speaks highly of your research and accomplishments.”

 

Kilpatrick noted that the committee received more than twice as many proposals as it could support through the competitive grants program.

 

A doctoral student in wildlife biology with faculty advisor John Shivik in the College of Natural Resources’ Department of Wildland Resources, Wilson began his USU studies in fall 2006. He was awarded a four-year Welder Wildlife Foundation graduate fellowship and is currently conducting field research at the foundation’s 7,800-acre wildlife refuge near the Gulf Coast community of Sinton, Texas.

 

Wilson studies the behavior and spatial ecology of bobcats and coyotes, both resilient predators found throughout the continental United States.

 

“I’m looking at various factors, including the availability of food, that determine how these animals are using space in their home ranges,” he said.

 

The ASM grant will specifically support Wilson’s studies of bobcats and their spacing behavior within home ranges.

 

“There’s an assumption that prey abundance determines the location of bobcat core areas,” he said. “But that assumption hasn’t been tested. I’m trying to get a handle on what these core areas represent to bobcats.”

 

Wilson’s days on the refuge begin early.

 

“I’m out in the field by 6 a.m. to capture coyotes and bobcats, take some measurements, attach radio collars to the animals and release them,” he said.

 

Subduing a coyote is fairly easy, he says. Bobcats are another story.

 

“Coyotes are usually submissive during the entire process; bobcats must be sedated.”

 

Though two mammals often inhabit the same area and have similar prey, the two animals have divergent temperaments and habits. Active mostly at twilight and dawn, the solitary bobcat preys on cottontail rabbits, cotton rats, waterfowl and even frogs. Also a carnivore, the extroverted coyote is primarily nocturnal and occasionally hunts in pairs.

 

 

Contact: Ryan Wilson, ryan.wilson@aggiemail.usu.edu
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto (435) 797-3517, maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu