Mountain Lions of the Black Hills

Genetics of Mountain Lions 111

sampled from eastern Wyoming. For the Black Hills sample, we separated it into
three periods, preharvest (n = 288), moderate harvest (n = 289), and heavy harvest
(n = 98), which allowed an assessment of the effect of reduced population size on ge-
ne tic diversity. During this time period (2001 to 2012), the harvest limit increased
from 13 to 71 mountain lions per season. In contrast to the original analy sis, we used
a cohort analy sis (Juarez et al. 2016), which provided estimates of ge ne tic diversity
per year from 2001 to 2012 ( t a b l e 7.4). This improved cohort analy sis indicated that
observed heterozygosity (P = 0.473), expected heterozygosity (P = 0.886), allelic
richness (P = 0.764), and effective alleles (P = 0.745) were statistically similar during
the three periods when the population was believed to change in size (from low, to
high, and then lower owing to harvest). Furthermore, the estimates of the effective
population size of breeders (NB ) supported the predicted pattern of population change
( t a b l e 7.4; fig. 7.4).
These results were in ter est ing relative to understanding how many mountain lions
were necessary to maintain this population in the long term (a viable population is

Table 7.4. Estimates (at 20 loci) of observed (HO) and expected (HE) heterozygosity,

allelic richness (Ar), and number of effective alleles (Ae) of Black Hills mountain lions

by cohort year under dif fer ent harvest regimes

Harvest regime Cohort year N HO HE Ar Ae

Preharvest 2001–2002 56 Mean 0.56 0.55 4.07 2.49
( 2001–2006 ) SE 0.04 0.04 0.35 0.17
2002–2003 76 Mean 0.57 0.56 4.02 2.57
SE 0.04 0.04 0.34 0.18
2003–2004 96 Mean 0.56 0.56 4.01 2.56
SE 0.04 0.04 0.32 0.17
2004–2005 117 Mean 0.57 0.55 3.95 2.51
SE 0.04 0.04 0.31 0.16
2005–2006 132 Mean 0.56 0.55 3.93 2.53
SE 0.04 0.04 0.33 0.17
2006–2007 149 Mean 0.57 0.56 4.01 2.60
SE 0.05 0.04 0.31 0.18
Moderate harvest 2007–2008 146 Mean 0.56 0.56 3.94 2.57
( 2007–2010) SE 0.05 0.04 0.31 0.18
2008–2009 142 Mean 0.54 0.55 3.86 2.52
SE 0.04 0.04 0.32 0.18
2009–2010 138 Mean 0.55 0.55 3.97 2.51
SE 0.04 0.04 0.30 0.17
2010 –2011 110 Mean 0.55 0.55 3.98 2.51
SE 0.04 0.04 0.30 0.17
Heavy harvest 2011–2012 79 Mean 0.55 0.56 3.90 2.57
( 2011–2013) SE 0.04 0.04 0.31 0.18
2012–2013 52 Mean 0.54 0.55 3.99 2.50
SE 0.04 0.04 0.33 0.17
Source: Juarez et al. 2016.