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1 February 2015 Spatial ecology of invasive feral cats on San Clemente Island: implications for control and management
Andrew S. Bridges, Jessica N. Sanchez, Daniel S. Biteman
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Abstract

Feral cats, Felis catus, inhabiting San Clemente Island, California, are both predators and competitors of multiple sympatric endemic species. To improve our understanding and management of these invasive predators, we used GPS-equipped radiocollars to track 11 (6F:5M) cats for a total of 3,108 days, resulting in 15,419 GPS locations. Average 100% minimum convex polygon, 95% kernel density, and 50% kernel density estimates were 229, 132, and 33 ha, respectively. The point estimate for average male home-range size was larger than the average for females, but there was substantial variation among individuals of both sexes. Overlap indices indicated similar usage areas during nocturnal and diurnal time periods. Sample size limited our ability to definitively detect habitat preference, but data suggested areas within 50 m of roads were avoided, and that thicker land cover was preferred over open grasslands. Three test collars deployed within active cat home ranges indicated GPS locations were precise, with 96% of locations having < 10-m error estimates, and that horizontal dilution of precision indices were not useful in screening data. Our results describe feral cat spatial ecology on a semiarid island and can be used to inform population estimation, control, and mitigation programs.

© 2015 American Society of Mammalogists, www.mammalogy.org
Andrew S. Bridges, Jessica N. Sanchez, and Daniel S. Biteman "Spatial ecology of invasive feral cats on San Clemente Island: implications for control and management," Journal of Mammalogy 96(1), 81-89, (1 February 2015). https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyu005
Received: 10 February 2014; Accepted: 20 August 2014; Published: 1 February 2015
KEYWORDS
California
Channel Islands
conservation
Felis catus
global positioning system
habitat use
home range
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