|
Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
|
|
WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Felis concolor | Mountain Lion
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Mountain lions have the widest distribution of any native mammal in the
western hemisphere [12,56,34]. During presettlement times, mountain
lions ranged from northern British Columbia to southern Chile and
Argentina, and from coast to coast in North America [12]. Although
still covering over 100 degrees latitude from the Straits of Magellan to
the Canadian Yukon Territory and now also Alaska, there has been an
overall reduction in mountain lion distribution. In North America
substantial mountain lion populations occur only in the western United
States and Canada, and these ranges have been reduced from presettlement
times [56]. Isolated populations and incidental sightings have been
reported in the central and eastern United States [10,12]. At present
the only known mountain lion population east of Texas exists in southern
Florida, although a small population may exist in western Arkansas and
eastern Oklahoma [30]. The specific distributions of the North American
subspecies are listed below:
F. c. azteca - Occurs in Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico [19].
Yuma puma - Yuma pumas live along the lower Colorado River in
California, Arizona, and Mexico [20].
F. c. californica - Occurs in southern Oregon, California, and Nevada
[19].
Florida panther - Historically Florida panthers ranged from the lower
Mississippi River valley east through the southeastern states to the
Florida Everglades. At present the Florida panther is found only south
of Lake Okeechobee, Florida, in four areas: the Fakahatchee Strand; Big
Cypress National Preserve; the southern portion of the Everglades
Conservation Area; and Everglades National Park, from the
Hole-in-the-Donut area north [16,34,53]. In addition to the above
areas, a number of recent, verified reports or specimens have come from
Highlands, Palm Beach, Broward, Martin, Osceola, Volusia, and St. Johns
counties. However, no reproduction has been recorded in these areas
[34]. Only 30 to 50 Florida panthers are believed to exist in the wild
[34,53]. The population of Florida panthers that existed in Everglades
National Park in the mid-1980's is now functionally extinct, with only
one male remaining [3].
Eastern cougar - Historically eastern cougars ranged throughout the
eastern United States from Michigan and Indiana east to the Atlantic
coast, and from southern Canada south to Tennessee and South Carolina.
Today eastern cougars may be extinct. No breeding populations have been
positively identified within the historic range since the 1920's.
Unconfirmed sightings continue to be reported from the mountains of
North Carolina and the Virginias. Tracks and scat were observed in the
Jefferson-George Washington-Monongahela National Forest as recently as
1981, but no positive confirmation was made [53].
F. c. missoulensis and F. c. hippolestes - Historically, F. c.
missoulensis ranged from British Columbia east to Manitoba, and south to
eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana, northern Wyoming, and northern North
Dakota. F. c. hippolestes ranged from southern Idaho and northern Utah
east to eastern North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and western Kansas
[19]. Hansen [20] stated that both subspecies are now restricted to the
western portion of their historic ranges. However, sightings still
occur in Kansas, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and the Nebraska
panhandle [20].
F. c. kaibabensis - Occurs from southern Oregon south through Nevada,
western Utah, and northern Arizona [19].
F. c. olympus - Occurs in the Olympic Mountains of Washington [12].
F. c. oregonensis - Occurs in southwestern British Columbia, western
Washington, and Oregon [19].
Wisconsin puma - The current distribution of this subspecies was not
described in the available literature.
Texas panther - This subspecies formerly occupied most of Texas and
Oklahoma, but is now restricted to eastern New Mexico and western Texas
[20].
F. c. vancouverensis - Occurs on Vancouver Island, British Columbia
[19].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES24 Hemlock-Sitka spruce
FRES25 Larch
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES27 Redwood
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES31 Shinnery
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES41 Wet grasslands
FRES44 Alpine
STATES :
| AL |
AK |
AZ |
AR |
CA |
CO |
CT |
DE |
FL |
GA |
| ID |
IL |
IA |
KS |
KY |
MD |
MA |
MI |
MN |
MS |
| MO |
MT |
NE |
NV |
NH |
NJ |
NM |
NC |
ND |
OK |
| OR |
PA |
SC |
SD |
TN |
TX |
UT |
VT |
VA |
WA |
| WV |
WI |
WY |
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
1 Northern Pacific Border
2 Cascade Mountains
3 Southern Pacific Border
4 Sierra Mountains
5 Columbia Plateau
6 Upper Basin and Range
7 Lower Basin and Range
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
9 Middle Rocky Mountains
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
15 Black Hills Uplift
16 Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K002 Cedar-hemlock-Douglas-fir forest
K003 Silver fir-Douglas-fir forest
K004 Fir-hemlock forest
K005 Mixed conifer forest
K006 Redwood forest
K008 Lodgepole pine-subalpine forest
K009 Pine-cypress forest
K010 Ponderosa shrub forest
K011 Western ponderosa forest
K012 Douglas-fir forest
K013 Cedar-hemlock-pine forest
K014 Grand fir-Douglas-fir forest
K015 Western spruce-fir forest
K016 Eastern ponderosa forest
K017 Black Hills pine forest
K018 Pine-Douglas-fir forest
K019 Arizona pine forest
K020 Spruce-fir-Douglas-fir forest
K021 Southwestern spruce-fir forest
K022 Great Basin pine forest
K023 Juniper-pinyon woodland
K024 Juniper steppe woodland
K025 Alder-ash forest
K026 Oregon oakwoods
K028 Mosaic of K002 and K026
K027 Mesquite bosque
K029 California mixed evergreen forest
K030 California oakwoods
K031 Oak-juniper woodlands
K032 Transition between K031 and K037
K033 Chaparral
K034 Montane chaparral
K035 Coastal sagebrush
K036 Mosaic of K030 and K035
K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K039 Blackbrush
K040 Saltbush-greasewood
K041 Creosotebush
K042 Creosotebush-bursage
K043 Paloverde-cactus shrub
K044 Creosotebush-tarbush
K049 Tule marshes
K052 Alpine meadows and barren
K055 Sagebrush steppe
K056 Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe
K058 Grama-tobosa shrubsteppe
K059 Trans-Pecos shrub savanna
K079 Palmetto prairie
K081 Oak savanna
K092 Everglades
K071 Shinnery
SAF COVER TYPES :
67 Mohrs (shin) oak
201 White spruce
202 White spruce-paper birch
203 Balsam poplar
204 Black spruce
205 Mountain hemlock
206 Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir
207 Red fir
208 Whitebark pine
209 Bristlecone pine
210 Interior Douglas-fir
211 White fir
212 Western larch
213 Grand fir
215 Western white pine
216 Blue spruce
217 Aspen
218 Lodgepole pine
219 Limber pine
220 Rocky Mountain juniper
221 Red alder
222 Black cottonwood-willow
223 Sitka spruce
224 Western hemlock
225 Western hemlock-Sitka spruce
226 Coastal true fir-hemlock
227 Western redcedar-western hemlock
228 Western redcedar
229 Pacific Douglas-fir
230 Douglas-fir-western hemlock
231 Port-Orford-cedar
233 Oregon white oak
234 Douglas-fir-tanoak-Pacific madrone
235 Cottonwood-willow
236 Bur oak
237 Interior ponderosa pine
238 Western juniper
239 Pinyon-juniper
240 Arizona cypress
241 Western live oak
243 Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
244 Pacific ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir
245 Pacific ponderosa pine
246 California black oak
247 Jeffrey pine
248 Knobcone pine
249 Canyon live oak
250 Blue oak-foothills pine
251 White spruce-aspen
252 Paper birch
253 Black spruce-white spruce
254 Black spruce-paper birch
255 California coast live oak
256 California mixed subalpine
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
104 Antelope bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
105 Antelope bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
107 Western juniper/big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass
108 Alpine Idaho fescue
109 Ponderosa pine shrubland
110 Ponderosa pine-grassland
201 Blue oak woodland
202 Coast live oak woodland
203 Riparian woodland
204 North coastal shrub
205 Coastal sage shrub
206 Chamise chaparral
207 Scrub oak mixed chaparral
208 Ceanothus mixed chaparral
209 Montane shrubland
210 Bitterbrush
212 Blackbush
213 Alpine grassland
216 Montane meadows
217 Wetlands
314 Big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
315 Big sagebrush-Idaho fescue
316 Big sagebrush-rough fescue
317 Bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
318 Bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
319 Bitterbrush-rough fescue
320 Black sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
321 Black sagebrush-Idaho fescue
322 Curlleaf mountain-mahogany-bluebunch wheatgrass
401 Basin big sagebrush
402 Mountain big sagebrush
403 Wyoming big sagebrush
404 Threetip sagebrush
405 Black sagebrush
406 Low sagebrush
407 Stiff sagebrush
408 Other sagebrush types
409 Tall forb
411 Aspen woodland
413 Gambel oak
415 Curlleaf mountain-mahogany
416 True mountain-mahogany
417 Littleleaf mountain-mahogany
418 Bigtooth maple
419 Bittercherry
420 Snowbrush
421 Chokecherry-serviceberry-rose
422 Riparian
502 Grama-galleta
203 Riparian woodland
503 Arizona chaparral
504 Juniper-pinyon pine woodland
505 Grama-tobosa shrub
509 Transition between oak-juniper woodland and mahogany-oak association
612 Sagebrush-grass
730 Sand shinnery oak
733 Juniper-oak
735 Sideoats grama-sumac-juniper
818 Florida salt marsh
819 Freshwater marsh and ponds
822 Slough
PLANT COMMUNITIES :
Mountain lions occupy a wide variety of plant communities. They are
found in montane coniferous forests, lowland tropical forests, swamps,
grasslands, dry brushlands, and any other area with adequate cover and
prey [16,20,31,46,56]. Typical mountain lion habitat in western North
America is open woodland such as oak (Quercus spp.) scrub, pinyon (Pinus
spp.), juniper (Juniperus spp.), curlleaf mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus
ledifolius), snowbrush ceanothus (Ceanothus velutinus), and manzanita
(Arctostaphylos spp.) communities [56].
Logan and Irwin [31] investigated habitat use by mountain lions in the
Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming, and found that mixed conifer and curlleaf
mountain-mahogany communities were preferred. In southern Utah mountain
lion habitat consists of desert shrub and sagebrush (Artemisia
spp.)-grassland communities at lower elevations (4,445 to 5,940 feet
[1,330-1,780 m]). Mountain lions also occupy pinyon-juniper woodlands,
Gambel oak (Q. gambelii) scrub, open ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)
forests which dominate at mid-elevations (5,940 to 8,910 feet
[1,780-2,670 m]) [20,46], and higher elevation stands of quaking aspen
(Populus tremuloides), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii), or white
fir (Abies concolor) interspersed with subalpine meadows. Mountain
lions also inhabit deep, rocky, vertical-walled river canyons containing
riparian vegetation including Fremont cottonwood (P. fremontii) and
willows (Salix spp.) [46].
In the Idaho Primitive Area, mountain lion habitat consists of Engelmann
spruce-subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) and ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir
(Pseudotsuga menziesii) associations at higher elevations. At lower
elevations mountain lions inhabit curlleaf mountain-mahogany, antelope
bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), and big sagebrush (A.
tridentata)-bunchgrass associations [46].
In California mountain lions occur primarily between 1,980 and 5,940
feet (590-1,780 m) in mixed conifer and brush habitats. Mountain lions
are rare at higher elevations in pure stands of conifers and at lower
elevations in pure stands of chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) [46]. In
New Mexico mountain lions commonly occur in pinyon-juniper plant
communities [25].
Florida panthers inhabit most types of vegetation in southern Florida
including tropical hammocks, pine flatwoods, cabbage palmetto (Sabal
palmetto), mixed swamps, baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) swamps, live
oak (Q. virginiana) hammocks, sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) marshes, and
Brazilian peppertree (Schinus terebinthifolia) thickets [4,14,28,34].
Belden and others [4] found that Florida panthers used mixed swamp
forests and hammock forests more than expected based on the availability
of these habitats within their home range. Day-use sites typically are
dense patches of saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) surrounded by swamp, pine
flatwoods, or hammocks. Open agricultural lands are common around most
publicly owned land in southern Florida and receive some use by Florida
panthers if cover nearby is adequate [14,34].
REFERENCES :
NO-ENTRY
Related categories for Wildlife Species: Felis concolor
| Mountain Lion
|
 |
