Clay Michael WiltonMichigan State University | MSU · Michigan Natural Features Inventory
Clay Michael Wilton
MSc
About
28
Publications
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Introduction
Clay currently works at the Michigan Natural Features Inventory.
Additional affiliations
June 2014 - present
February 2010 - December 2010
University of Michigan
Position
- Camp Manager
May 2005 - December 2008
Publications
Publications (28)
Invasive plant infestations are projected to rapidly increase with continued habitat fragmentation and climate change. The rate of spread often outpaces land managers' ability to effectively detect and control infestations. Land stewards need tools that can match the rapid pace and scale of invasive infestations and help prioritize control efforts...
Accurate abundance estimates can contribute to effective management of large carnivore populations. Lion Panthera leo and spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta populations are frequently estimated at night by eliciting their approach using broadcasted vocalizations. Spotlights are typically used to observe these species on approach but can disturb animals...
In 2020–2021, we monitored Michigan’s only known extant population of the state endangered prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) at Fort Custer Training Center (FCTC). This rare vole was last documented at FCTC in 2014 and most recently monitored in 2017 (Legge 2017). We followed the survey design of previous vole monitoring efforts to enable quantit...
Most large carnivore populations are declining due to anthropogenic activities including direct persecution, prey depletion, habitat loss and degradation. protected areas (PAs) can help maintain viable large carnivore populations; however, anthropogenic activities occurring near and within PA borders or edges can reduce their effectiveness. We inve...
Most large carnivore populations are declining due to anthropogenic activities including direct persecution, prey depletion, habitat loss and degradation. protected areas (PAs) can help maintain viable large carnivore populations; however, anthropogenic activities occurring near and within PA borders or edges can reduce their effectiveness. We inve...
Trophic cascades reportedly structure ecological communities through indirect species interactions. Though the predator–herbivore–autotroph relationship has received much attention, mechanistic evidence supporting intraguild trophic cascades is rare. We established 348 remote camera sites (1 August–5 September 2019) across seven study areas of vary...
American martens (Martes americana) and fishers (Pekania pennanti) are small forest carnivores of high ecological and cultural value in Michigan. They are indicators of ecological integrity due to their close association with late-successional forests with structurally complex woody features that support numerous wildlife species. Therefore, ensuri...
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are an adaptable keystone herbivore occurring in nearly every landscape across Michigan, from densely populated suburbs of the southern Lower Peninsula to the dense forests of the Upper Peninsula. They simultaneously generate substantial revenue through hunting while incurring substantial costs through con...
In fire-suppressed landscapes, managers make difficult decisions about devoting limited resources for prescribed fire. Using GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis, we developed a model assessing ecological need for prescribed fire on Michigan’s state-owned lands, ranging from fire-dependent prairies, savannas, barrens, and oak and pine forests...
More than 60% of the world's large carnivore species are threatened with extinction. Enumerating species abundance is critical for assessing their conservation status in response to anthropogenic threats and environmental stochasticity. Track surveys are commonly used to estimate abundance and density of large carnivore species, including lions (Pa...
Exotic species introductions are a global phenomenon and protected areas are susceptible to them. Understanding the drivers of exotic species richness is vital for prioritizing natural resource management, particularly in developing countries with limited resources. We analyzed the influence of coarse resolution factors on exotic species richness (...
Argentina’s national parks native and exotic richness, and environmental and anthropogenic variables
The spatial scales at which animals make behavioral trade-offs is assumed to relate to the scales at which factors most limiting resources and increasing mortality risk occur. We used global positioning system collar locations of 29 reproductive-age female black bears (Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780) in three states to assess resource selection rela...
Estimating abundance of large carnivores is often challenging, yet important for their effective conservation. Attracting lions Panthera leo for visual enumeration using broadcasted vocalizations (i.e. call-ins) is commonly used to estimate their abundance. However, call-ins are typically not repeated at sites because of habituation. We evaluated l...
Declining populations of large carnivores worldwide, and the complexities of managing human-carnivore conflicts, require accurate population estimates of large carnivores to promote their long-term persistence through well-informed management We used N-mixture models to estimate lion (Panthera leo) abundance from call-in and track surveys in southe...
American black bears are closely associated with forest habitat. They were nearly extirpated from the Central Interior Highlands, United States, in the early twentieth century, but have recolonized this part of the range since the 1960s. Due to lower population densities (as a result of recent recolonization), we hypothesized that bears in this reg...
Accounting for low and heterogeneous detection probabilities in large mammal capture-recapture sampling designs is a persistent challenge. Our objective was to improve understanding of ecological and biological factors driving detection using multiple data sources from an American black bear (Ursus americanus) DNA hair trap study in south-central M...
American black bears (Ursus americanus) occur on numerous islands within the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Lake Superior, Wisconsin, USA, and provide an opportunity to better understand patterns in abundance and genetic structure among island populations. In 2002 and 2010, we derived genotypes from DNA obtained from hair samples collected a...
Spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models have advanced our ability to estimate population density for wide ranging animals by explicitly incorporating individual movement. Though these models are more robust to various spatial sampling designs, few studies have empirically tested different large-scale trap configurations using SCR models. We investig...
Bottlenecks, founder events, and genetic drift often result in decreased genetic diversity and increased population differentiation. These events may follow abundance declines due to natural or anthropogenic perturbations, where translocations may be an effective conservation strategy to increase population size. American black bears (Ursus america...
American black bears (Ursus americanus) were nearly extirpated from Missouri
(USA) by the early 1900s and began re-colonizing apparent suitable habitat in southern
Missouri following reintroduction efforts in Arkansas (USA) during the 1960s. We used
anecdotal occurrence data from 1989 to 2010 and forest cover to describe broad patterns of
black bea...