Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: New Mexico
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

New Mexico Project

Determining condition and productivity of desert bighorn sheep on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge

July 2008 - December 2012

Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • Science Support Partnerships
Dr. Tom Stephenson (left) and unit graduate student Matt Overstreet (right) using a portable ultrasound to measure body fat on a female desert bighorn sheep captured on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona.

Research objectives are to determine the relationships between maternal body condition and lamb survival and the influence of forage conditions and precipitation on the survival of adult ewes and lambs.

Technical Publications Publication Date
Overstreet, M.W., and J.W. Cain III. 2012. Survival, recruitment, and body condition of desert bighorn sheep in relation to forage conditions and precipitation on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona. Preliminary Project Report to USFWS-Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. May 2012
Overstreet, M.W., J.W. Cain III, and C.A. Caldwell. 2014. Adult survival, apparent lamb survival, and body condition of desert bighorn sheep in relation to habitat and precipitation on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona. Final Project Report to USFWS-Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. August 2014
Presentations Presentation Date
Overstreet, M.W., T.R. Stephenson, and J.W. Cain, III. 2011. Survival and Recruitment of Desert Bighorn Sheep in Relation to Maternal Body Condition Conditions on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona. Annual Meeting of the Arizona/New Mexico Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Pinetop, Arizona, USA. February 2011
Luedtke,C.J., M. Overstreet, J.W. Cain III, T. Stephenson, A.E. Justice-Allen. 2011. Prevalence of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in 6 geographically distinct populations of desert bighorn sheep in Arizona. 51st Desert Bighorn Council, Laughlin, Nevada, USA. April 2011
Theses and Dissertations Publication Date
Overstreet, M.W. 2014. Body condition and survival of desert bighorn sheep in relation to habitat and precipitation on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona. M.S. Thesis. Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Ecology, New Mexico State University. 69 pp. February 2014