New Publication: Measuring the Impact of Corn on Mammalian Omnivores

In a world that is rapidly changing, it is more important than ever to develop the appropriate field methods and statistical tools to measure the impact people have on wildlife. Recently, CWS faculty, Drs. Jack Hopkins and Cheryl Frederick, used stable isotopes from captive mice to develop a statistical model that can be used to estimate the anthropogenic diets of free-ranging mammalian omnivores around the world.

To demonstrate its use, they measured the corn-based diets of black bears from Wisconsin and brown bears in Slovenia and found that corn bait may have been a more important component of bear diets in Wisconsin than previously thought and male brown bears may have fed on 50% more supplemental corn in autumn during a year when natural food availability was in short supply.

Congrats CWS team! Also, thank you Mike Dunn from the nature blog Roads End Naturalist, for the perfect image to complement the article.

Read the full article published in Journal of Mammalogy