Mountain Lions Have Major Ecological Impact Even In Small Preserves
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https://phys.org/news/2026-06-mountain-lions-major-ecological-impact.html <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.73775 <-- shared paper
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https://youtu.be/jy-ngOhoNPU?si=WTSMWz9XuaqT8Z4O <-- shared Standford overview video
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https://youtu.be/CzSCu2FOj0Q?si=bb15-e03DLuWhQ4Y <-- shared Stanford overview video
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[not my usual fare to post, but fascinating…]
“#Bigcats have a big impact. A long-term study showed that when mountain lions began regular visits to a small suburban preserve about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of San Francisco, they changed the behavior of many other animals.
Mountain lions (Puma concolor) started appearing with increasing frequency on trail cameras at Stanford's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma) from 2015 to 2020. Researchers documented a corresponding drop in deer activity compared with the prior years of lower or absent puma activity. Vegetation surveys also showed that many woody plants deer like to eat or tend to trample, including young oak trees, began to thrive.
These types of multilevel effects, called trophic cascades, have been studied primarily in large wilderness areas, particularly cascades caused by
#apexpredators such as
#wolves reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park...”
#mountainlion #cougar #puma #trophiccascade #JasperRidgeBiologicalPreserve #OotchaminOoyakma #monitoring #spatiotemporal #spatialanalysis #trailcamera #deer #rabbit #coyote #bobcat #fox #vegetation #survey #oak #tree #young #sapling #plant #predator #preyabundance #herbivore #health #ecosystem #balance #habitat #mesopredator #crossmapping #nocturnal #GIS #spatial #mapping #ecology #conservation #wilderness#StanfordUniversity