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No systematic review has been conducted or centralized repository created for published research on wild mammals in Indiana, despite studies dating back two centuries. I conducted a systematic review in Web of Science[TM], which produced 714 research articles on wild Indiana mammals published in 156 outlets by 1131 authors since 1906. Thirty-one authors published [greater than or equal to] 10 articles, and 29 papers were cited [greater than or equal to] 100 times. The most frequently used outlet was Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science (n = 155). Most studies dealt with ecology or natural history (38.2%) and management (22.0%). Indiana myotis (Myotis sodalis) was the most frequent target of study, and bats ranked as 6 of the top 10 most-studied species. Cold spots, i.e., understudied species X discipline combinations that might merit increased future attention, were assessed using quantile analysis of chi-square residuals and normalized metrics of research effort. Understudied state species of current conservation concern included star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata), badger (Taxidea taxus), swamp rabbit (Sylvilagus aquaticus), Franklin's ground squirrel (Policocitellus franklinii), and least weasel (Mustela nivalis), with population declines suspected in the latter. Understudied nonlisted furbearers for which range-wide population declines have been documented included gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) and muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus). Cold spots for nongame, nonlisted species included Cryptotis and Sorex shrews and southern bog lemming (Synaptomys cooperi). This single digital source for the widely scattered primary literature on Indiana mammals should make the voluminous prior research more accessible and useful to scientists planning future studies. Keywords: bibliometrics, hotspot analysis, literature review, mammalogy, INTRODUCTION Knowledge of mammalian biology is key to the successful management and conservation of mammals, and knowledge is most reliably derived from scientific investigation. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources [...]

Long-tailed weasels (Mustela frenata) have an extensive North American geographic range and tolerate a wide range of life zones, excluding some desert ecosystems. However, little is known of their habitat use in landscapes fragmented by agriculture, despite the fact that long-tailed weasel populations may be declining in these landscapes. During late winter-spring and late summer-autumn 1998-2000, we monitored 11 long-tailed weasels (seven males, four females) via radio telemetry to examine patterns of habitat use in an Indiana landscape fragmented by agriculture. Long-tailed weasels exhibited scale-dependent patterns of habitat selection (i.e., habitat selection within a landscape and selection of habitats within home ranges). Weasels selected forest patches, fencerows, and drainage ditches, whereas agricultural fields were avoided. Forest patches and fencerows provided suitable den sites and refuge cover from other predators and exhibited an abundant and diverse prey community. Drainage ditches provided movement corridors and access to free-standing, drinking water. The resource selection patterns and limited dispersal ability of long-tailed weasels compared to other carnivores are consistent with the notion that long-tailed weasels appear sensitive to agriculturally induced fragmentation of habitat., INTRODUCTION Human land-use practices (e.g., agricultural production and development of rural areas) often result in fragmented patches of remnant vegetation embedded within an agricultural or urban matrix. For example land-use [...]

Bobcat (Lynx rufus) populations have increased in the midwestern U.S. since the 1980s after substantial declines and local extirpations into the mid-1900s. We monitored 38 radio-collared bobcats (25 males, 13 females) from 1998 to 2006 in a recovering population in south-central Indiana to investigate survival and mortality causes. Annual survival was high (S = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.71-0.89), comparable to results from other studies of bobcats in unexploited populations and higher than in harvested populations. Of 17 known deaths, vehicle collisions were the largest source of mortality (n = 9; 53%), followed by illegal shootings (n = 3; 18%). Higher values of habitat heterogeneity within home ranges were associated with lower risk of mortality. Estimates of survival and mortality sources in recovering populations provide an important context to compare management strategies to improve bobcat conservation., INTRODUCTION Bobcats (Lynx rufus) are the most widely distributed felid in North America (Anderson and Lovallo, 2003); however, many populations in the midwestern U.S. suffered substantial declines and local extirpations [...]

Animals commonly form groups with conspecifics. Hypotheses on the drivers of group size often (but not always) pertain to fear of predation and food availability or quality. However, for a more complete understanding of group forming, multiple, possibly interacting mechanisms should be considered. We used camera traps, detectability estimates from distance sampling, and hierarchical Bayesian modeling to index group size and test multiple additive and interacting group‐formation hypotheses in white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), within Indiana, USA. We found a strong relationship between our index of group size and (1) a three‐way interaction between spatiotemporal pulses in fear of natural predation risk and anthropogenic development and (2) a three‐way interaction between the local cover (defined as the amount of vegetative cover in the immediate area of the camera), the area of concealment (defined as forests or wetlands) within the larger landscape, and time of day. Specifically, we documented larger groups in areas near anthropogenic development, in areas with high predator use intensity, and when predators were active. Additionally, we found larger groups during dawn and dusk when deer were most active in locations with sparse local cover when the area of concealment in the surrounding landscape was small, and within dense local cover when the area of concealment in the surrounding landscape was large. Our methods can aid future behavioral and ecological studies, as we present a clear and easily replicable strategy that infers group membership from spatiotemporal proximity, corrects for differences in detectability, and enables sampling across large spatial and long temporal scales. Our findings indicate that fear of natural predators and anthropogenic disturbance interactively explain variation in group size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]