Impacts of Rural Development on Puma Ecology in the Sierra Nevada

In Western North America, many rural areas are being converted to ranchette style residential development, potentially degrading habitat for large carnivores including pumas, and impacting ecosystem integrity. In a rapidly developing rural region of the Sierra Nevada, I studied the impacts of low-density development on puma habitat utility, behavioral ecology, mortality, and viability. I characterized properties experiencing puma depredation, a major cause of puma mortality in the study region, and compared attributes of properties that had, and had not, experienced depredation.