Genetics of Mountain Lions 113ulations were more closely related than South Dakota lions and those inhabiting the
North Dakota Badlands. This result was expected, based on our original analy sis
(Thompson 2009) and because of the close proximity of mountain lions occupying the
western portion of the Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains northwest of the Black
Hills. Furthermore, the similarity in ge ne tic variability between South Dakota and
eastern Wyoming lions supported the “conduit” model (fig. 7.3), in that these adjacent
populations separated by believed unsuitable (i.e., prairie) habitat were acting like a
large panmictic population, as was originally suggested by Anderson, Lindzey, and
McDonald (2004). There were, however, unique alleles in Wyoming (n = 6), the Black
Hills (n = 2), and North Dakota (n = 3) lions, a finding that also supported the conduit
of movement from Wyoming into the Black Hills as well as a uniqueness among these
three populations (fig. 7.3). Our analy sis confirmed the movement of six individuals
from the Black Hills to North Dakota, but because of the additional samples, it noted
movement to the south and west as well; two lions moved from North Dakota into
the Black Hills.
Estimating Population Size
By 2011 we had radio- collared more than 300 mountain lions and had answered a
number of questions about this population. At the time, the South Dakota Department
of Game, Fish and Parks was interested in evaluating the use of ge ne tics within a mark-
recapture analy sis to estimate population size. If such a technique would work, then
the department could focus on obtaining tissue samples with biopsy darts rather than
immobilizing lions, radio- collaring them, and monitoring their survival and move-
ments weekly as well as annually. To address this question, we continued to radio- collar
lions but merged the DNA analyses conducted to address ge ne tic diversity questions
with the radio- collared data we used to estimate population size ( t a b l e 7. 5). In these
analyses we used only lions that were at least 2 years of age, to focus on animals that
had established home ranges and territories in the Black Hills region. Thus we did not
include subadult lions, which had a high likelihood (at times greater than 90%
[Thompson and Jenks 2010; Jansen 2011]) of leaving the Black Hills once they began
to disperse, thereby complicating our evaluation of ge ne tics for the purpose of estimat-
ing population size.
We had a second issue to address in these analyses: would lions that were darted
to obtain tissue well in advance of harvest still be alive during the harvest period?
Others who had conducted this type of analy sis (Beausoleil, Warheit, and Martorello
2005) had obtained tissue samples over a short period just prior to harvest, which
would eliminate or reduce the potential for lion mortality and dispersal movements
that would affect estimates of population size (both outcomes would elevate estimates
of population size, because the marked lions would be thought to be available for har-
vest). Luckily, we had radio- collared lions to estimate survival over the period of