Faculty Affairs and Academic Programs
Matthew Hutchinson
Life Sciences; Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences
Life & Environmental Sciences
UC Merced
Behavioral Strategies Underpinning Rewilding Success: Mule Deer Recovery in the Central Valley
We are entering an age of ecological degradation, where land conversion, disease spread, and changing conditions threaten wildlife globally. Ecological restoration and species reintroductions are our primary tool for combatting biodiversity loss, yet only around 50% of such efforts are successful. It is an urgent imperative that wildlife biologists identify the mechanisms underpinning successful reintroductions, and this is crucially important for animals reintroduced to the heavily transformed landscapes most in need of restoration, where reintroduction success is most precarious. Promisingly, an emerging paradigm in wildlife research shows that behavioral differences among animals, about where to move and what to eat, can explain dramatic differences in their survival and reproductive success. Identifying the behaviors promoting establishment in a new environment may be the key to rewilding our planet. In the early 2000s, mule deer were reintroduced to western Merced Co., in the highly transformed Central Valley, and have since thrived. Their success is particularly intriguing because only a tiny percentage of the Central Valley is natural habitat and both extreme summer heat and emerging diseases threaten deer survival. Focusing on these deer, I aim to demonstrate how behavioral decisions about where to move and what to eat underpin the success of this reintroduction, how current habitat management practices shape deer behavior, and how deer movement within the valley shapes their disease risk. This study has the potential to become a landmark in wildlife biology and conservation ecology by identifying the behavioral mechanisms underpinning reintroduction success.
