Department of Environmental Conservation

(M.S./Ph.D., ECO)

Project:

Bobcat movements and distribution in the Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts
Contact:

elefloreeleflore(at)eco.umass.edu

Support:

U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service
Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Environmental Conservation
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Graduate School

Project abstract:

Bobcats (Lynx rufus) are not usually thought of as thriving in fragmented and urbanized areas such as occur in the Pioneer Valley of west-central Massachusetts. I plan to investigate bobcat movements and distribution in the Valley, as well as the co-distribution of sympatric carnivores. First, I will use wildlife cameras set in and around Amherst, Massachusetts, stratified across natural, altered, and urban land use classifications, to estimate bobcat habitat use and co-occurrence with other carnivores and prey.  Then I hope to trap and radio-collar both bobcats and sympatric carnivores to estimate their habitat use, range sizes and overlap, and interactions, especially as they relate to human structures and activities.