Puma genomes from North and South America provide insights into the genomic consequences of inbreeding (vol 10, 4769, 2019)

The original version of this Article contained several errors. In Figure 3a, both axes were incorrectly labelled as PC2 . The correct x axis label is PC1 . The present affiliation of Warren E Johnson with the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, Smithsonian Institution, was inadvertently omitted. The following statement was also omitted from the Acknowledgements: “Portions of this manuscript were prepared while W.E.J held a National Research Council Research Associateship Award at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the published material reflects the views of the authors and should not be construed to represent those of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.” The initials “W.J” in the Author Contributions statement should have been listed as “W.E.J”. These errors have now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article

Habitat Capacity for Cougar Recolonization in the Upper Great Lakes Region

BACKGROUND: Recent findings indicate that cougars (Puma concolor) are expanding their range into the midwestern United States. Confirmed reports of cougar in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have increased dramatically in frequency during the last five years, leading to speculation that cougars may re-establish in the Upper Great Lakes (UGL) region, USA. Recent work showed favorable cougar habitat in northeastern Minnesota, suggesting that the northern forested regions of Michigan and Wisconsin may have similar potential. Recolonization of cougars in the UGL states would have important ecological, social, and political impacts that will require effective management. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we extended a cougar habitat model to Michigan and Wisconsin and incorporated primary prey densities to estimate the capacity of the region to support cougars. Results suggest that approximately 39% (>58,000 km2) of the study area could support cougars, and that there is potential for a population of approximately 500 or more animals. An exploratory validation of this habitat model revealed strong association with 58 verified cougar locations occurring in the study area between 2008 and 2013. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Spatially explicit information derived from this study could potentially lead to estimation of a viable population, delineation of possible cougar-human conflict areas, and the targeting of site locations for current monitoring. Understanding predator-prey interactions, interspecific competition, and human-wildlife relationships is becoming increasingly critical as top carnivores continue to recolonize the UGL region