Bison Ecology Research Articles

Integrated evidence-based extent of occurrence for North American bison (Bison bison) since 1500CE and before.

Following the near extinction of bison (Bison bison) from its historic range across North America in the late 19th century, novel bison conservation efforts in the early 20th century catalyzed a popular widespread conservation movement to protect and restore bison among other species and places. Since Allen's initial delineation (1876) of the historic distribution of North American bison, subsequent attempts have been hampered by knowledge gaps about bison distribution and abundance prior to and following colonial arrival and settlement. For the first time, we applied a multidisciplinary approach to assemble a comprehensive, integrated geographic database and meta-analysis of bison occurrence over the last 200,000years, with particular emphasis on the 450years before present. We combined paleontology, archaeology, and historical ecology data for our database, which totaled 6438 observations. We derived the observations from existing online databases, published literature, and first-hand exploration journal entries. To illustrate the conservative maximum historical extent of occurrence of bison, we created a concave hull using observations occurring over the last 450years (n=3379 observations), which is the broadly accepted historical benchmark at 1500CE covering 59% of the North American continent. Although this distribution represents a historic extent of occurrence-merely delineating the maximum margins of the near-continental distribution-it does not replace a density-based approach reconstructing potential historical range distributions, which identifies core and marginal ranges. However, we envision the observations contained in this database will contribute to further research in the increasingly evidence-based disciplines of bison ecology, evolution, rewilding, management, and conservation. There are no copyright or proprietary restrictions on these data, and this data paper should be cited when the data are reused.

Isotopic Evidence for Long-Distance Connections of the AD Thirteenth-Century Promontory Caves Occupants

The Promontory caves (Utah) and Franktown Cave (Colorado) contain high-fidelity records of short-term occupations by groups with material culture connections to the Subarctic/Northern Plains. This research uses Promontory and Franktown bison dung, hair, hide, and bone collagen to establish local baseline carbon isotopic variability and identify leather from a distant source. The ankle wrap of one Promontory Cave 1 moccasin had a δ13C value that indicates a substantial C4component to the animal's diet, unlike the C3diets inferred from 171 other Promontory and northern Utah bison samples. We draw on a unique combination of multitissue isotopic analysis, carbon isoscapes, ancient DNA (species and sex identification), tissue turnover rates, archaeological contexts, and bison ecology to show that the high δ13C value was not likely a result of local plant consumption, bison mobility, or trade. Instead, the bison hide was likely acquired via long-distance travel to/from an area of abundant C4grasses far to the south or east. Expansive landscape knowledge gained through long-distance associations would have allowed Promontory caves inhabitants to make well-informed decisions about directions and routes of movement for a territorial shift, which seems to have occurred in the late thirteenth century.

A detailed life history of a pleistocene steppe bison (Bison priscus) skeleton unearthed in Arctic Alaska

Detailed paleoecological evidence from Arctic Alaska’s past megafauna can help reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions and can illustrate ecological adaptation to varying environments. We examined a rare, largely articulated and almost complete skeleton of a steppe bison (Bison priscus) recently unearthed in Northern Alaska. We used a multi-proxy paleoecological approach to reconstruct the past ecology of an individual representing a key ancient taxon. Radiocarbon dating of horn keratin revealed that the specimen has a finite radiocarbon age ∼46,000 ± 1000 cal yr BP, very close to the limit of radiocarbon dating. We also employed Bayesian age modeling of the mitochondrial genome, which estimated an age of ∼33,000–87,000 cal yr BP. Our taphonomic investigations show that the bison was scavenged post-mortem and infested by blowflies before burial. Stable carbon and oxygen isotope (δ13C and δ15N) analyses of sequentially sampled horn keratin reveal a seasonal cycle; furthermore, high δ15N values during its first few years of life are consistent with patterns observed in modern bison that undertook dispersal. We compared sequential analyses of tooth enamel for strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) to a spatial model of 87Sr/86Sr values providing evidence for dispersal across the landscape. Synthesis of the paleoecological findings indicates the specimen lived during interstadial conditions. Our multi-proxy, paleoecological approach, combining light and heavy isotope ratios along with genetic information, adds to the broader understanding of ancient bison ecology during the Late Pleistocene, indicating that ancient bison adopted different degrees of paleo-mobility according to the prevailing paleoecological conditions and climate.

Were European steppe bison migratory? 18O, 13C and Sr intra-tooth isotopic variations applied to a palaeoethological reconstruction

This paper focuses on the palaeoethological study of steppe bison (Bison priscus), a Eurasiatic species that disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene. In the Southern steppe of Eastern Europe, this large bovid seems to have been a keystone species during the late Pleistocene, where it is omnipresent in archaeozoological assemblages and can constitute spectacular bone accumulations. Based on the principles of actualism, which assume that modern animal biology and their behavioural adaptations can be applied to the past, different models of bison palaeoethological reconstructions have been proposed to explain this important occurrence of bison in East European archaeological records. Considering the variability of extant bison behaviour, it appeared necessary to undertake a direct reconstruction of the behaviour of fossil bison, to assess how they were targeted.In order to reconstruct steppe bison ecology and habits stable isotope analyses were conducted of tooth enamel carbonate of 25 individuals from Amvrosievka, a Late Pleistocene (∼18,500 BP) archaeological site complex from Eastern Ukraine. Intra- and inter-individual variations in the stable oxygen, carbon and strontium isotope composition of tooth enamel were analysed to reconstruct the feeding behaviour and seasonal movements of steppe bison. This is the first large scale multi-proxy study of its kind for a Pleistocene cohort.The results show that bison δ13C values are wholly consistent with an exclusively C3 plant diet, typical of steppe/grassland environments, with a likely consumption of lichen during the cold season. δ18O, δ13C and 87Sr/86Sr values are typical of sedentary bison herds, with limited inter-seasonal movement. These results challenge the previous assumption that Pleistocene bison of the East European steppe were migratory, demonstrating instead that they occupied limited ranges, with no long distance seasonal movement, and that they occasionally incorporated low nutrient foods in their diet.These new palaeobiological results confirm the ecological and behavioural plasticity of bison and have important implications for archaeologists studying hunter-gatherers since human acquisition strategies are directly related to the social, seasonal and spatial behaviour of prey species. This research demonstrates that direct reconstructions of the eco-ethology of fossil prey species are essential, therefore, before attempting to make inferences about the hunting tactics and subsistence strategies developed by Prehistoric hunters.

The role of herbivores in Great Plains conservation: comparative ecology of bison and cattle

The Great Plains of North America evolved with significant influence from bison (Bison bison), but is presently dominated by cattle (Bos taurus). While there are a variety of opinions concerning differences between these two species, there is a lack of scientific comparisons, including those that incorporate important ecological variation. We developed a framework to study and compare the grazing behavior and effects of bison and cattle within grassland ecosystems. Environmental (e.g., resource distribution, disturbance) and animal (e.g., number, social organization) factors play a critical role in determining grazing effects and should be incorporated into discussions that compare the effects of bison and cattle. Using this framework we specifically compare the grazing behavior of both species in tallgrass prairie and discuss the implications of these differences in the context of conservation. We collared bison and cattle with global positioning systems and used resource selection functions to estimate the importance of various environmental factors on site selection. Both species preferred recently burned areas and avoided steeper slopes. Cattle selected areas that were closer to water, while bison were not limited by distance to water; cattle also preferred areas with woody vegetation, while bison avoided them. Incorporating broad scale environmental complexity allows for an effective comparison of ecological differences between bison and cattle. While there are similarities and differences in these species, a comprehensive analysis of all conditions and scenarios is not possible. It is clear, however, that the greatest differences between these species will likely be evident from broad scale studies across complex landscapes. In addition to species, conservation and land managers need to consider other environmental factors that are critical to grazing effects and overall conservation.

Influence of management practices on large herbivore diet—Case of European bison in Białowieża Primeval Forest (Poland)

Large herbivores are keystone species in many forest areas, as they shape the structure, species diversity and functioning of those ecosystems. The European bison Bison bonasus has been successfully restored after extinction in the wild at the beginning of 20th century. As free-ranging populations of the species were re-established mainly in forest habitats, knowledge of the impact by the largest European terrestrial mammal on tree stands is essential. This helps to make management and conservation decisions for viable population maintenance of the species in the wild. Using a novel DNA-based method of herbivore diet analysis, the trnL approach (DNA-barcoding), we investigated the influence of different foraging conditions (access to supplementary fodder) on bison diet in winter and its potential impact on woody species. Faecal samples were collected from different bison treatment groups: (1) intensively fed; (2) less intensively fed; (3) non-fed utilising forest habitats; and (4) non-fed utilising agricultural areas surrounding the Forest. These were analysed to estimate the proportion of different plant groups consumed by bison. Bison groups differed significantly in their diet. The amount of woody materials (trees and shrubs) consumed by bison increased with decreasing access to supplementary fodder, ranging from 16% in intensively fed bison to 65% in non-fed bison utilising forest habitats. Inversely, the amount of herbs, grasses and sedges decreased from 82% in intensively fed bison to 32% in non fed bison utilising forest habitats. The species of trees mainly browsed by bison, Carpinus/ Corylus, Betula sp. and Salix sp., were of lower economic importance for forest management. The impact of bison on tree species needs further investigation, however, we can predict that browsing by bison, mainly on Carpinus/ Corylus, makes an insignificant impact on forestry due to the high and increasing representation of this species in the forest understory. Supplementary feeding has several negative effects on bison ecology and health, therefore reduced and distributed supplementary feeding should be applied as the management practice in the Białowieża Forest.

The Comanche Empire

It was probably inevitable that a book with this title would appear to cap seven decades of Comanche revisionism. Since the 1930s anthropologists have been verifying aspects of humanity previously denied the Comanches, namely social and political organization, law, and religion. Rupert N. Richardson's The Comanche Barrier to South Plains Settlement (1933) put the tribe on the map historically, though only as an obstacle to Anglo-Texan expansion. Their earlier role vis-à-vis the Spanish and French in the Southwest was then addressed in Elizabeth A. H. John's Storms Brewed in Other Men's Worlds (1975). Attention to the Comanches has intensified recently with several studies treating such topics as the frontier-as-borderland, southwestern slavery, and native politics and military societies. Increasingly, these prototypical plains buffalo hunters and horse pastoralists have materialized as sophisticated actors with their own manifest destiny. In view of this corpus it is a stretch to promise, as the dust jacket does, the “lost story of the Comanches.” The work nevertheless does stand out. It makes the most insistent case yet for Comanche internal coherence, agency, and hegemony. In this rendering, the Comanches' ouster of Apaches from the plains was highly systematic. New Mexico was essentially a Comanche dominion, and it was largely the raiding, trading, and slaving Comanche juggernaut that ruined New Spain. Comanche terrorization of northern Mexico paved the way for the U.S. seizure of Mexican territory. Contemporary Chicana/o identity is rooted in the transborder ethnicities of the Comanchería. In mounting these and related arguments the author displays superior command of sources ranging from rare primary documents to theoretical literature on bison ecology and nomad imperialism, and he is especially adept at using quotations from historical figures to drive home his points. And unlike prior narratives that jump between New Mexico and Texas and different time periods, this study furnishes a more unified, continuous story. This technique enhances readability while underscoring the coordination of Comanche actions.

Extrapolating to a More Ancient Past: Ethnohistoric Images of Northeastern Plains Vegetation and Bison Ecology

Over the past 200 years the northeastern Plains has changed profoundly from an ecological and cultural perspective due to the massive immigration of non-aboriginal populations with new economies and settlement systems. Historical documents are important in exploring these comparatively recent changes and appropriately modeling our expectations about a more ancient past. These records document pre-nineteenth century northeastern Plains ecological dynamism and bison seasonal migration behavior and are used to critically evaluate the utility of current ecological interpretations. Such interpretations must take care to temporally contextualize the historic sources and acknowledge their inherentflaws.

TEMPORAL VARIABILITY IN WINTER TRAVEL PATTERNS OF YELLOWSTONE BISON: THE EFFECTS OF ROAD GROOMING

The influence of winter recreation on wildlife in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming and Montana, USA, is a controversial issue. In particular, the effects of road grooming, done to facilitate snowmobile and snowcoach travel, on bison (Bison bison) ecology are under debate. We collected data during winters, from 1997 to 2005, on bison road use, off-road travel, and activity budgets to quantify temporal trends in the amount of bison road and off-road travel and to identify the ecological factors affecting bison movements and use of the groomed road system in the Madison-Gibbon-Firehole (MGF) area of YNP. Using model comparison techniques, we found bison travel patterns to be influenced by multiple, interacting effects. Road travel was negatively correlated with road grooming, and we found no evidence that bison preferentially used groomed roads during winter. Snow water equivalent, bison density, and the springtime melt period were positively correlated with both bison road and off-road travel. From behavioral scans on 68,791 bison, we found that travel is only a small percentage (11%) of all bison activity, with foraging comprising 67% of observations. Also, only 7% of traveling bison and 30% of foraging bison were displacing snow, and we suggest foraging, rather than traveling, is likely the major energetic cost to bison in winter. Bison utilize their own trail network, connecting foraging areas using stream corridors, geothermal pathways, and self-groomed travel routes. Our results indicate that temporal patterns in bison road travel are a manifestation of general travel behavior and that groomed roads in the MGF do not appear to be a major factor influencing bison ecology and spatial redistribution. We suggest that the changes in bison spatial dynamics during the past three decades have likely been the result of the natural phenomenon of density-dependent range expansion, rather than having been caused by the anthropogenic influence of road grooming.

An inter-site comparison of enamel hypoplasia in bison: implications for paleoecology and modeling Late Plains Archaic subsistence

Bison bison mandibular molars from the Late Plains Archaic kill/butchery sites of Buffalo Creek (Wyoming) and Kaplan-Hoover (Colorado) exhibit significant frequencies of dental enamel hypoplasia (DEH), a defect believed to reflect information about physiological status of individual animals. This study provides a methodology to estimate the ontogenetic and seasonal timing of DEH formation in bison dentition. Integration of these estimates with data from bison life history and grassland ecology allows inferences on age- and season-specific factors exacerbating periodic physiological declines that were recorded in the form of enamel hypoplasias. Differences between assemblages indicate regional variability in grassland conditions, with data from Buffalo Creek pointing to recurrent drought that reduced forage capacity and contributed to physiological stress in bison over two consecutive years. Seasons of physiological stress reflected in the DEH correspond to each of the three kill events at the locality, suggesting that predictability of bison behavior in this location was a critical factor in influencing the seasonal timing and location of repeated hunting episodes. Unlike Buffalo Creek, timings of stress episodes are not consistent with season of death in the Kaplan-Hoover bison assemblage, suggesting that favorable grassland conditions were the primary factor influencing timing of this large single-kill event in order to provision for the upcoming winter. DEH analysis represents a developing approach in the construction of models addressing key aspects of local grassland and bison ecology as well as offers unique insights into the hunting strategies and subsistence decisions of Late Plains Archaic foragers.

Foraging ecology of bison at the landscape and plant community levels: the applicability of energy maximization principles.

Predictions of animal distribution and resource use require multi-scale consideration because animals can use different sets of selection criteria at different scales. We investigated whether patterns of distribution and resource use by free-ranging bison (Bison bison) in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan, follow rules of energy maximization that hold across multiple scales. Optimality theory predicts specialization on Carex atherodes and frequency-independent selection among plant species; that is, local variation in C. atherodes biomass should not influence diet choice but only the time spent in individual patches. The summer use of resources within meadows was closely related to energy maximization principles. C. atherodes dominated the diet of bison, was selected in all meadows, and diet choice was frequency-independent among meadows in the bison range. In winter, diet was still dominated by C. atherodes, but frequency-dependent selection of Scolochloa festucacea and the relative use of Cirsium arvense were inconsistent with theoretical predictions. At a larger spatial scale, however, the probability of meadow use was not positively related to the abundance of Carex atherodes. During summer and winter, general landscape features within the daily radius of bison (2 km in summer and 1.3 km in winter), together with abiotic characteristics of meadows, had the major influence on the probability of meadow utilization. Our study suggests that bison distribution and resource use are influenced by abiotic and biotic factors which vary in importance at different spatio-temporal scales.

The Natural West: Environmental History in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains

Over the past decade, Dan Flores has emerged as one of the leading historians of North America’s environment. For much of his impressive career, Flores’s preferred genre has been the essay rather than the monograph. His latest book, The Natural West, proves no exception to this trend. Despite an appearance that initially suggests a work with a single, unified narrative, The Natural West is, in fact, an anthology of ten of Flores’s essays—the majority of them previously published— all illuminating various facets of the environmental history of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions of the American West. In an effort to make these pieces add up to a greater whole, Flores has not only revised some essays but has also added an introduction that portrays the book’s various chapters as a collective exploration of the “evolutionarily derived ‘human nature’ that influences the way we—all of us—see and interact with the flux we call the natural world” (p. 5).The unusualness—indeed, almost contrariness—of this goal, given the current academic fascination with cultural difference, conveys a great deal about what has long made Flores’s essays such thought-provoking reading. Among the leading environmental historians of North America, Flores stands out as the one most comfortable in applying concepts from the biological sciences directly to the study of history. Upon occasion, such importations succeed spectacularly. Flores’s celebrated article on the collapse of the buffalo population on the southern Great Plains in the first half of the nineteenth century—reprinted here with a new foreword as “Bison Ecology and Bison Diplomacy Redux”—brilliantly used scientific studies of grazing capacity, imported disease, and climate shifts to complicate the accepted story of the buffalo’s decline. It has justifiably become a classic text in American environmental history and has inspired other scholars to reexamine the histories of the buffalo and of Indian environmental practices.Not all of Flores’s efforts to combine biological science with history, however, are so completely realized. Several of the essays included in The Natural West function more as thought pieces that gesture towards provocative new territory for historians, but never convey readers into this promised land. In an essay entitled “Nature’s Children,” for example, Flores issues a bold call for folding sociobiology into historical analysis, while in an essay titled “Place,” he presents his case for “bioregional history.” Both articles raise suggestive new ways of thinking about the past, but their rather abstract and proscriptive character leaves the reader with multiple unanswered questions. How does one move between the “bio-region” to incorporate other frames of historical analysis such as the nation-state or to study transnational processes? In what, if any, ways does “bio-region” differ from other ways of thinking about place in environmental history? And how is one to write a convincing history of the way in which the “genius and allure—and danger—of frontier economic culture . . . were all about releasing the selfish gene in human nature” (p. 26)?Flores’s essays succeed best when they move beyond such grand theorizing and anchor themselves in time and space. Much like Flores’s essay on the buffalo, the other outstanding chapters in The Natural West offer close-grained studies of specific ecosystems. “Zion in Eden” examines the Mormon relationship with the land in Utah, demonstrating both the convergences and divergences in land-use practices between Mormons and their non-Mormon neighbors. Another comparative study, “The Rocky Mountain West,” analyzes the different ways that Chicanos, Mormons, and “Anglos” faced the challenge of settling mountainous environments. None of these pieces issue clarion calls for new approaches to history or stake aggressive claims as to the import of human nature in the study of the past. However, their quiet insights and graceful prose demonstrate the virtues of the meticulous environmental history that Flores has long practiced.

Wolves, elk, and bison: reestablishing the "landscape of fear" in Yellowstone National Park, U.S.A.

The elk or wapiti (Cervus elaphus) and bison (Bison bison) of Yellowstone National Park have lived in an environment free of wolves (Canis lupus) for the last 50 years. In the winter of 1994-1995, wolves were reintroduced into parts of Yellowstone National Park. Foraging theory predicts that elk and bison would respond to this threat by increasing their vigilance levels. We tested this prediction by comparing vigilance levels of elk and bison in areas with wolves with those of elk still in "wolf-free" zones of the Park. Male elk and bison showed no response to the reintroduction of wolves, maintaining the lowest levels of vigilance throughout the study ([Formula: see text]12 and 7% of the time was spent vigilant, respectively). Female elk and bison showed significantly higher vigilance levels in areas with wolves than in areas without wolves. The highest vigilance level (47.5 ± 4.1%; mean ± SE) was seen by the second year for female elk with calves in the areas with wolves and was maintained during the subsequent 3 years of the study. As wolves expanded into non-wolf areas, female elk with and without calves in these areas gradually increased their vigilance levels from initially 20.1 ± 3.5 and 11.5 ± 0.9% to 43.0 ± 5.9 and 30.5 ± 2.8% by the fifth year of the study, respectively. We discuss the possible reasons for the differences seen among the social groups. We suggest that these behavioural responses to the presence of wolves may have more far-reaching consequences for elk and bison ecology than the actual killing of individuals by wolves.

Foraging Ecology of Bison and Cattle on a Mixed Prairie: Implications for Natural Area Management.

There exists considerable uncertainty whether differences between bison () and cattle (Bos taurus) should be exploited in natural area stewardship. Because foraging ecology may prescribe the fundamental relevance of either herbivore, we describe the foraging of bison and cattle on a northern mixed prairie natural area and discuss management implications. As generalist foragers, bison and cattle exhibited seasonal differences in selection for or against C"3 graminoids, C"4 grasses, forbs, and browse. Forty-eight hour in vitro dry matter digestibilities of C"3 graminoids and C"4 grasses were greater by bison than cattle, but equal digestive efficiencies were exhibited for forbs and browse. Dietary in vitro dry matter digestibility and crude protein differed little between herbivores. Cattle allocated more time to grazing than bison did during summer. Our study suggests that the relationship between feeding-time investment and forage patchiness is important in determining differences in diet choice between bison and cattle. In contrast to cattle, it appears that bison balance nutrient and time demands during the rut by consuming almost exclusively graminoids. Apparently, bison and cattle may achieve similar dietary quality through different foraging behavior. We suggest that specific scale-dependent programmatic conditions exist where either herbivore may be the most appropriate for natural area management.

Bison Ecology and Bison Diplomacy: The Southern Plains from 1800 to 1850

In bright spring light on the Great Plains of two centuries ago, governorJuan Bautista de Anza failed in the last of the three crucial tasks that his superiors had set him as part of their effort to reform New Mexico's Comanche policy. Over half a decade, Anza had followed one success with another. He had brilliantly defeated the formidable Comanche nomnekaht (war leader) Cuerno Verde in 1779, and as a consequence in 1786, he had personally fashioned the long-sought peace between New Mexico and the swelling Comanche population of the Southern Plains. His third task was to persuade the Comanches to settle in permanent villages and to farm.' But the New Mexico governor found the third undertaking impossible. Observers of Plains Indian life for 250 years and committed to encouraging agriculture over hunting, the Spaniards were certain that the culture of the horse Indians was ephemeral, that the bison on which they depended were an exhaustible resource. Thus Anza pleaded with the tribes to give up the chase. The Comanches thought him unconvincing. Recently liberated by horse culture and by the teeming wildlife of the High Plains, their bands found the Arkansas River pueblo the governor built for them unendurable. They returned to the hunt with the evident expectation that their life as buffalo hunters was an endless cycle. And yet Anza proved to be a prophet. Within little more than half a century, the Comanches and other tribes of the Southern Plains were routinely suffering from starvation and complaining of shortages of bison. What had happened?2 Environmental historians and ethnohistorians whose interests have been environmental topics have in the two past decades been responsible for many of our most valuable recent insights into the history of native Americans since their contact with

Historical Documents and Bison Ecology on the Great Plains

AbstractAlthough many anthropologists have studied the Plains bison using historical documents, such studies often do not consider the information needed to make ecological sense out of the data th...

Foraging Ecology of Bison in Aspen Boreal Habitats

Studies on sever81 wild and domestic ungulates suggest that large grazers attain higher maximum forage intake rates but require relatively higher forage biomass to do so. In this study, forage intake rates and feeding times of Nortb America’s largest wild grazer, the bison (l?&o#~ b&on), were related to forage biomass during summer and autumn in aspen boreal forest babitats. Irrespective of season, maximum feeding rates of 68 g/min declined by 50% as forage biomass was reduced to 780 kg/ha. This reduction was due primarily to smaller bite sizes. However, bison compensated by increasing cropping bite rates to more than 60 bites/min on heavily grazed swards. Grazing times increased from 9 h/day in summer to 11 h/day in autumn, offsetting sligbt decreases in average foraging efficiency. During summer, a grater proportion of grazing occurred at night. Upland meadows were preferred habitats for grazing despite relatively low pasture biomass and potential dry matter intake rates.

Bison Ecology In The Northern Plains And A Reconstruction Of Bison Patterns For The North Dakota Region

In this paper two models of bison ecology for the Northern Plains are critically appraised for potential use in the North Dakota region. On the basis of ecological studies of modern bison and histo...