Tracking the decline of weasels in North America.

Small carnivores are of increasing conservation concern globally, including those formerly thought to be widespread and abundant. Three weasel species (Mustela nivalis, M. frenata, and M. erminea) are distributed across most of North America, yet several recent studies have reported difficulty detec...

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Autores principales:	David Jachowski, Roland Kays, Andrew Butler, Anne M Hoylman, Matthew E Gompper
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/e27b57fe1e844c8da82e00155f0e42c0
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e27b57fe1e844c8da82e00155f0e42c02021-12-02T20:06:43ZTracking the decline of weasels in North America.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0254387https://doaj.org/article/e27b57fe1e844c8da82e00155f0e42c02021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254387https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Small carnivores are of increasing conservation concern globally, including those formerly thought to be widespread and abundant. Three weasel species (Mustela nivalis, M. frenata, and M. erminea) are distributed across most of North America, yet several recent studies have reported difficulty detecting weasels within their historical range and several states have revised the status of weasels to that of species of conservation concern. To investigate the status and trends of weasels across the United States (US) and Canada, we analyzed four separate datasets: historical harvests, museum collections, citizen scientist observations (iNaturalist), and a recent US-wide trail camera survey. We observed 87-94% declines in weasel harvest across North America over the past 60 years. Declining trapper numbers and shifts in trapping practices likely partially explain the decline in harvest. Nonetheless, after accounting for trapper effort and pelt price, we still detected a significant decline in weasel harvest for 15 of 22 evaluated states and provinces. Comparisons of recent and historical museum and observational records suggest relatively consistent distributions for M. erminea, but a current range gap of >1000 km between two distinct populations of M. nivalis. We observed a dramatic drop-off in M. frenata records since 2000 in portions of its central, Great Lakes, and southern distribution, despite extensive sampling effort. In 2019, systematic trail camera surveys at 1509 sites in 50 US states detected weasels at 14 sites, all of which were above 40o latitude. While none of these datasets are individually conclusive, they collectively support the hypothesis that weasel populations have declined in North America and highlight the need for improved methods for detecting and monitoring weasels. By identifying population declines for small carnivores that were formerly abundant across North America, our findings echo recent calls to expand investigations into the conservation need of small carnivores globally.David JachowskiRoland KaysAndrew ButlerAnne M HoylmanMatthew E GompperPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 7, p e0254387 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q David Jachowski Roland Kays Andrew Butler Anne M Hoylman Matthew E Gompper Tracking the decline of weasels in North America.
description	Small carnivores are of increasing conservation concern globally, including those formerly thought to be widespread and abundant. Three weasel species (Mustela nivalis, M. frenata, and M. erminea) are distributed across most of North America, yet several recent studies have reported difficulty detecting weasels within their historical range and several states have revised the status of weasels to that of species of conservation concern. To investigate the status and trends of weasels across the United States (US) and Canada, we analyzed four separate datasets: historical harvests, museum collections, citizen scientist observations (iNaturalist), and a recent US-wide trail camera survey. We observed 87-94% declines in weasel harvest across North America over the past 60 years. Declining trapper numbers and shifts in trapping practices likely partially explain the decline in harvest. Nonetheless, after accounting for trapper effort and pelt price, we still detected a significant decline in weasel harvest for 15 of 22 evaluated states and provinces. Comparisons of recent and historical museum and observational records suggest relatively consistent distributions for M. erminea, but a current range gap of >1000 km between two distinct populations of M. nivalis. We observed a dramatic drop-off in M. frenata records since 2000 in portions of its central, Great Lakes, and southern distribution, despite extensive sampling effort. In 2019, systematic trail camera surveys at 1509 sites in 50 US states detected weasels at 14 sites, all of which were above 40o latitude. While none of these datasets are individually conclusive, they collectively support the hypothesis that weasel populations have declined in North America and highlight the need for improved methods for detecting and monitoring weasels. By identifying population declines for small carnivores that were formerly abundant across North America, our findings echo recent calls to expand investigations into the conservation need of small carnivores globally.
format	article
author	David Jachowski Roland Kays Andrew Butler Anne M Hoylman Matthew E Gompper
author_facet	David Jachowski Roland Kays Andrew Butler Anne M Hoylman Matthew E Gompper
author_sort	David Jachowski
title	Tracking the decline of weasels in North America.
title_short	Tracking the decline of weasels in North America.
title_full	Tracking the decline of weasels in North America.
title_fullStr	Tracking the decline of weasels in North America.
title_full_unstemmed	Tracking the decline of weasels in North America.
title_sort	tracking the decline of weasels in north america.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/e27b57fe1e844c8da82e00155f0e42c0
work_keys_str_mv	AT davidjachowski trackingthedeclineofweaselsinnorthamerica AT rolandkays trackingthedeclineofweaselsinnorthamerica AT andrewbutler trackingthedeclineofweaselsinnorthamerica AT annemhoylman trackingthedeclineofweaselsinnorthamerica AT matthewegompper trackingthedeclineofweaselsinnorthamerica
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Tracking the decline of weasels in North America.

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