Vascular Plant and Vertebrate Inventory of Saguaro ... - USGS

Table 6.5. Number of photographs of mammals from infrared-triggered photography by elevation strata,
Saguaro National Park, Rincon Mountain District, 1999–2005. “Abundance” equals the number of photographs
of that species per estimated number of working camera‑nights. Does not include individuals that could be
identified to genus but not species (e.g., some photos of deer, skunks, rabbits, and squirrels).
Relative
Relative
Relative
No. photos abundance No. photos abundance No. photos abundance
Virginia opossum 2 0.1
American black bear 2 0.1 21 2.9 10 2.0
white‑nosed coati 17 0.6 8 1.1 3 0.6
ringtail 142 5.3 78 10.8 9 1.8
common raccoon 5 0.2
striped skunk 134 5.0 21 2.9 7 1.4
hooded skunk 160 6.0 20 2.8 2 0.4
white‑backed hog‑nosed skunk 20 0.7 4 0.6 3 0.6
western spotted skunk 3 0.1 3 0.4
coyote 97 3.6
domestic dog 2 0.1
common gray fox 602 22.6 283 39.3 133 27.0
mountain lion 46 1.7 16 2.2 11 2.2
bobcat 50 1.9 2 0.3 4 0.8
round‑tailed ground squirrel 1 0.0
rock squirrel 13 0.5 3 0.4
Harris’ antelope squirrel 7 0.3
Abert’s squirrel 8 1.6
Arizona gray squirrel 2 0.3 1 0.2
antelope jackrabbit 7 0.3
black‑tailed jackrabbit 10 0.4
desert cottontail 48 1.8 3 0.4
eastern cottontail 3 0.6
domestic cattle 3 0.1
collared peccary 561 21.0 27 3.8
mule deer 28 1.0
white‑tailed deer 104 3.9 23 3.2 63 12.8
Total photographs 2064 0.81 514 0.73 257 0.53
Species richness 24 15 13
species and not Cockrum’s desert shrew; both
species potentially occur in the Rincon Mountains
(Baker et al. 2003b).
Inventory Completeness
We confirmed a total of 59 species of mammals
in the Rincon Mountain District and failed to
confirm 11 species that have been previously
documented for the Rincon Mountains. Of these
11, four species (grizzly bear, jaguar, Mexican
gray wolf, and bighorn sheep) are certainly
extirpated from the district and two others
(deer mice, North American porcupine, and
banner-tailed kangaroo rat) may be extirpated.
We believe that three species of bats and one
Low Middle High
81
rodent that were documented in the past are still
present and would be confirmed with additional
effort. Based on these records, if we assume that
four species still present went undetected, our
inventory confirmed 93% of mammals known for
the district. The species accumulation curves for
small mammal trapping (Fig. 6.9) and bats (Fig.
6.10) as well as for infrared-triggered cameras
(Fig. 6.11) also suggest that our inventory was
fairly complete. These results make this effort
one of the most comprehensive of its kind in
the region for mammals. The infrared-triggered
effort, in particular, is unprecedented.
The three “new” species reported during
this study may not have been observed before
simply due to lack of survey effort. This situation