Mean Annual Population Growth Rate and Ratio Change in Abundance of Common Raven within Level I Ecoregions of the United States and Canada, 1966 - 2018

Publication Date

2021-12-23

Start Date

1966

End Date

2018

Coates, P.S., Harju, S.M., Dettenmaier, S.J., Dinkins, J.B., Jackson, P.J., and Chenaille, M.P., 2021, Trend estimates of common raven populations in the United States and Canada, 1966 - 2018: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P99CNYHP.

Common ravens have one of the largest distributions of any vertebrate species spanning most of the Holarctic. Their worldwide distribution encompasses large portions of Canada and the western United States, which are the focus of this analysis. Key traits of ravens that enable such a wide distribution include extreme environmental tolerance and high behavioral plasticity. For example, ravens are opportunistic foragers, have an omnivorous diet, and readily exploit novel resources. Numerous studies have demonstrated a consistent and robust link between increasing raven populations and anthropogenic resource subsidies from an expanding human presence in the western United States. Ravens adapt well to anthropogenic landscape modifications that provide supplemental resources, including food, water, nesting sites, and hunting perches. Consequently, in many parts of western North America, raven populations have grown in concert with a persistently expanding human footprint (Leu et al. 2008). In central and eastern North America, ravens appear to be adapting to urban and suburban environments, expanding across large swaths of the continent. References: Leu, M., Hanser, S.E. and Knick, S.T., 2008. The human footprint in the west: a large‐scale analysis of anthropogenic impacts. Ecological Applications, 18(5), pp.1119-1139. https://doi.org/10.1890/07-0480.1

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ScienceBase WFS

• USGS Western Ecological Research Center

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