Evidence of Extensive Home Range Sharing Among Mother-Daughter Bobcat Pairs in the Wildland-Urban Interface of the Tucson Mountains.

Abstract

Urbanization impacts the structure and viability of wildlife populations. Some habitat generalists, such as bobcats (Lynx rufus), maintain populations at the intersection of wild and urban habitats (wildland urban interface, WUI), but impacts of urbanization on bobcat social structure are not well understood. Although commonly thought to establish exclusive home ranges among females, instances of mother-daughter home range sharing have been documented. We combined GPS localities with genomic relatedness inferences from double-digest restriction site associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq) to investigate mother-daughter home range sharing in bobcats (n = 38) at the WUI in the Tucson Mountains, Arizona, USA. We found the highest relatedness among females, which showed stronger isolation by distance than males and the population as a whole. Using mother-daughter relationships inferred from pedigree reconstruction, we found extensive mother-daughter home range sharing, compared to other females. Every mother identified as having at least one daughter, shared home ranges with one daughter, while other confirmed daughters established adjacent home ranges. Our results provide substantial support for the mother-daughter home range sharing hypothesis, as well as evidence of spatiotemporal overlap between mothers and daughters, adding to the body of research complicating the solitary felid paradigm. These results additionally challenge the notion of home range partitioning by prior rights land tenure, suggesting a role of matrilineal land tenure in home range establishment of daughters. Habitat fragmentation due to human population growth and urbanization thus has the potential to alter landscape genetic structure and social dynamics in bobcats.