1. Retrieved from http://www.bestphotos.us
Jared Collins
Miami University, Oxford Ohio

2. Lynx rufus: the Bobcat
 A North American wild cat, twice the size of a domestic house cat.
 The common name “bobcat” refers to its distinctive bobbed tail, generally of
3-5 inches in length.
 Distinguished by its short, black ear tufts, a black-tipped tail, and a spotted coat
of dense hair that varies in color, from brownish-gray to reddish-brown.
 Bobcats are generalist carnivores that prey on rabbits and hares, as well as
squirrels, mice, rats, voles, raccoons, opossums and even deer.
 Bobcats play a key ecological role as
opportunistic predators that
routinely feed on sick and injured
animals that may pose a health risk
to humans and wildlife alike.
Mark Colin/Courtesy Tallahassee Museum

3. Preferred Bobcat Habitat
• Bobcats make use of a wide array of
habitat types, preferring to make their
home in areas of dense ground cover.
Retrieved from http://naturenarratives.com/tag/
bobcat-kittens
• A tall-grass expanse of open prairie, the
brushy undergrowth of open woodland,
or the rocky outcrops of semi-desert, all
tend to meet their needs.
Retrieved from http://www.grit.com/animals/bobcatswidespread-in-the-us.aspx#axzz2kpuFucUD

4. Bobcat Distribution
• There are 12 recognized
bobcat subspecies.
• Bobcats were once found in
all 48 of the contiguous states
of the Union.
• They are now conspicuously
absent from the American
Corn Belt.
• Yet, they still ranges widely
across the southern half of
the continent, from southern
Canada to central Mexico.
Retrieved from
http://wren.aps.uoguelph.ca/apsblog/msparks/2012/03/20/distrubutio
n-and-range/

5. Outline of Gap in Bobcat Distribution
• The blue outline depicts the conspicuous gap in bobcat distribution.
• Historic records indicate the bobcat was once common in this region.
• What could be the cause of the bobcat’s decline in the Midwest?

6. The American Corn Belt
• Could it be related to the
human-defined agricultural
landscape that characterizes
the American Corn Belt?
• The Corn Belt stretches
from eastern Ohio to
western Nebraska, and
from southern Illinois to
northern Minnesota.
• The landscape of this
region is dominated by corn
and soybean production
systems.

7. Outline of the American Corn Belt
• The black outline depicts the agricultural region of the American Midwest that is
dominated by corn and soybean production systems.
• Could it be that the human-defined transformation of this landscape has negatively
affected the lifestyle of the bobcat?

8. Overlay of Bobcat Distribution Gap and Corn Belt
• Representation of an apparent geographic relationship between the bobcat
distribution gap and the regional expanse of corn-based landscape fragmentation.
Gap in Bobcat
Distribution
Corn Belt

9. The Corn Belt: A Fragmented Landscape
• A large portion of the Corn Belt was
converted from contiguous tracts of native
woodland or grassland to vast expanses of
clearly defined agricultural units.
Retrieved from http://www.locatelli1.net/
gallery.php?ref=20268&lg=en
Retrieved from http://ethanol.typepad.com
/myweblog/2010 /05/on-the-farmpreparing-for-spring-planting.html
• Presently, this landscape does not provide
the permanent ground cover that bobcats
need for the purposes of hiding and hunting.
• While islands of remnant forest may still
harbor bobcat populations, these metapopulations will slowly disappear as their
“island” refuges become smaller, and
dispersing individuals fail to establish viable
home ranges.

10. Preferred Bobcat Movement Terrain
• Bobcats require zones of thick ground
cover as they stealthily move about in
search of prey or potential mates.
• Bobcats make use of natural corridors,
such as gallery forests and riparian buffers
as they make their way through the hostile
Corn Belt landscape.
Retrieved from http://ivesroadfen.blogspot
.com/2009/09/naming-creeks.html
• Bobcats also tend to move through soft
edge habitat adjacent to open cropland,
occasionally crossing the open spaces that
dominate these agricultural landscapes.
• How can we better foster bobcat
movement across a fragmented landscape,
and turn a hostile environment into
hospitable habitat?
Retrieved from http://www.ontarionature
.org/onnature/coverstory.html

11. Agroforestry To Foster Bobcat Movement
• Agroforestry: A system of land
management involving the simultaneous
cultivation of farm crops and tree crops.
• A form of polyculture that ensures a
continuous food supply, some continuous
economic return, and the avoidance of soil
degradation.
• Creates soft edge corridors with plenty of
ground cover that provide habitat for a
variety of wildlife, and pathways of
movement for wide-ranging animals such as
bobcats and foxes.
Retrieved from http://extension.unh.edu/
fwt/tafw/Making_Habitat_Happen.htm
• Agroforestry techniques include tree crop
windbreaks, alley cropping, and strip
cropping.

12. Tree Crop Windbreaks
• Plant fast growing tree and shrub
crops as windbreaks.
Retrieved from
http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/PC_95003.html
• Produce harvested from these crops
may be popular at local markets, and
can provide farmers an alternative
source of income.
• Windbreaks protect crops from excessive
wind-driven moisture loss, and protect
cropland from wind erosion.
• Windbreaks also provide habitat for local
wildlife (bobcat prey), and may facilitate
the movement of bobcats and other wideranging animals.
Retrieved from http://comet2.colostate.edu

13. Alley and Strip Cropping
Retrieved from http://ksoo.com/officials-holdworkshops-on-fixing-shelterbelts/
Retrieved from
http://www.aftaweb.org/alley_cropping.php
• Alley cropping: Plant single-row
strips of trees or shrubs within
traditional cropland systems.
• Strip cropping: Combines and
broadens the windbreak and alley
cropping techniques.
• This technique may improve crop
production, reduce wind and water
erosion, promote income diversity
and enhance wildlife diversity.
• Multiple-row strips of tree and
shrub crops widely spaced to act as
windbreaks, and provide cash crops
that are suitable for local markets.

14. Land and Resource Conservation Programs
• Conservation easements and land trusts can effectively increase wildlife
habitat, as well as improve water quality, enhance groundwater supplies, limit
soil erosion and reduce damage caused by natural disasters.
• The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is one such program, created by
the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), that provides financial
incentives to farmers and landowners who wish to devote portions of their
land to conservation management initiatives.
• The CRP encourages farmers to convert environmentally sensitive acreage
and highly erodible cropland to permanent vegetative cover that provides
food and shelter for native wildlife.
• The long-term goal of the program is to re-establish sizable zones of
valuable land cover, in the form of riparian corridor, second-growth forest and
native grassland linkage structures, that protect both natural resources and
native wildlife.

15. Defragmentation: From Hostile To Hospitable
A vast expanse of land once hostile to wildlife,
can again become hospitable with a little time and care.

16. Thank You !
Please direct any questions and
comments to Jared Collins at:
collin37@miamioh.edu