Pliocene-Early Pleistocene Geological Events Structure Pacific Martens (Martes caurina).

The complex topography, climate, and geological history of Western North America have shaped contemporary patterns of biodiversity and species distributions in the region. Pacific martens (Martes caurina) are distributed along the northern Pacific Coast of North America with disjunct populations found throughout the Northwestern Forested Mountains and Marine West Coast Forest ecoregions of the West Coast. Martes in this region have been classified into subspecies; however, the subspecific designation has been extensively debated. In this study, we use genomic data to delineate conservation units of Pacific marten in the Sierra-Cascade-Coastal montane belt in the western United States. We analyzed the mitochondrial genome for 94 individuals to evaluate the spatial distribution and divergence times of major lineages. We further genotyped 401 individuals at 13 microsatellite loci to investigate major patterns of population structure. Both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA suggest substantial genetic substructure concordant with historical subspecies designations. Our results revealed that the region contains 2 distinct mitochondrial lineages: a Cascades/Sierra lineage that diverged from the Cascades/coastal lineage 2.23 (1.48-3.14 mya), consistent with orogeny of the Cascade Mountain chain. Interestingly, Pacific Martes share phylogeographic patterns similar with other sympatric taxa, suggesting that the complex geological history has shaped the biota of this region. The information is critical for conservation and management efforts, and further investigation of adaptive diversity is warranted following appropriate revision of conservation management designations.

Diets of denning female Pacific martens vary with the developmental stage of their kits.

Food resources can be a limiting factor and natural and anthropogenic influences that alter the abundance of food resources can affect population performance and persistence. Reproduction in mammals is energetically costly; therefore, understanding how food resources influence reproduction is essential, especially for species of conservation concern.The objectives of this study were to characterize Pacific marten (Martes caurina) diets during the denning period and determine whether diets differed by sex or by phase of the denning period.We used 943 scats to reconstruct sex-specific diets of martens in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the denning period to evaluate sex-specific hypotheses of predation patterns. During the lactation phase, females preyed primarily on large-sized prey (62.5% metabolizeable energy) 5.7-times more than males. This likely optimized both energy gain and minimized time spent away from dependent young. During the weaning phase, females preyed primarily on medium- (90-200 g) and large-sized prey (87.7% metabolizeable energy). During the predispersal phase, females exhibited a 4.7-fold increase in use of small-sized (<50 g) prey during the time kits are learning to hunt.Male overall diet and predation patterns appear to fit an optimal foraging strategy that is influenced primarily by prey profitability and abundance, with males preying primarily on medium-sized prey, closest to meeting their lower energetic needs. In contrast, females appear to fit the predictions for a central place forager that is also influenced by prey profitability, but also the increased energetic and maternal demands of denning, leading them to use larger prey than males over the phases of the denning period when kits are growing. We hypothesize that switching to smaller prey is related to females assisting their kits in developing hunting skills and experience that may increase their chances of survival once they disperse.