Date of Award:

5-2013

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Wildland Resources

Committee Chair(s)

Eric M. Gese

Committee

Eric M. Gese

Committee

David N. Koons

Committee

John Shivik

Abstract

Historically, kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis) once occupied the desert and semi-arid regions of southwestern North America, ranging from Idaho to central Mexico. Their range-wide decline has warranted the kit fox to be designated as a state sensitive species in Utah. Once considered the most abundant carnivore in western Utah, the kit fox has been in steep decline over the past decade, creating a demand to determine kit fox presence in the Great Basin desert. Currently there is little consensus on which survey methodology is best for detecting kit fox presence. We tested 4 survey methods (scat deposition, scent station, spotlight, trapping) along 15 5-km transects within a minimum known population of radio-collared kit foxes along each transect. Home range sizes for kit foxes on the study site were extremely large, averaging 20.5 km2. Scat deposition surveys had both the highest detection rate and were most closely related to fox abundance. For detecting kit foxes in a low density population we suggest using scat deposition transects during the breeding season when detection rates were highest. This methodology had low costs, was resilient to weather, had low labor requirements, and entailed no risk to the study animals.

Next we determined kit fox distribution. We developed resource selection functions (RSF) using presence data from noninvasive scat deposition surveys to model kit fox distribution across the study area. Noninvasive survey methods are ideal as they do not require contact or capture of the target species. We evaluated the predictive performance of RSFs built using three popular techniques and common environmental parameters. Two models performed to an acceptable level with relatively high accuracy, while the third model over-valued higher elevations and had poor model fit. This study demonstrated that it was possible to create valid and informative predictive maps of a species distribution using a noninvasive survey method for detecting a carnivore existing at low density. By demonstrating the application of noninvasive surveying to model habitat quality, managers will be able to develop maps for species of interest and provide more information to help guide future management decisions.

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