Dissertation

Habitat Characterization of American Badgers (Taxidea taxus) of Northern California

Victoria, Mitchell

2024

Overview

American badgers (Taxidea taxus) are a semi fossorial mammal that lives in grassland and open prairie ecosystems as well as coastal prairies, agricultural fields, deserts, and deforested habitats. Many researchers have published work on badgers, but we still require more information on their ecology. The American badger is a semi fossorial, solitary, predatory mammal of grassland ecosystems. They are classified as mesopredators when compared to larger apex predators such as brown bears, wolves, and pumas. However, when larger carnivores are absent, Badgers become apex predators of their ecosystems. Los Vaqueros Watershed in Brentwood, California, was my study site because badgers had been the most active at that site than at the other two. During this study, I collected data at 10 badger burrows and 10 randomly located sites from November 11, 2022, to March 14, 2024. American badgers prefer open prairies and grasslands and are more likely to inhabit open-field habitats in open prairies and grasslands than in coastal prairies, which have less space due to woody vegetation occupying some of the ecosystem. There needs to be more data on the estimated populations of American badgers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area to determine whether our new wildlife management skills will work for the badgers.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Conservation biology / Ecology / Environmental Studies / Wildlife Management
• ISBN: 9798304969017