'Bobcats are Back!'

Bobcats are elusive, charismatic, and ecologically important carnivores. Habitat loss and over-harvesting lead to their extirpation from Ohio by the mid-1800s, but in recent years, they have mounted a comeback. Beginning in 2015, Project Wild Coshocton (a research team at The Ohio State University at Newark) began documenting the distribution of bobcats in east-central Ohio using trail cameras. In this presentation, Shauna Weyrauch will discuss factors that have enabled bobcats to return, their current status in the state, the valuable role they play in ecosystems, as well as efforts underway to improve habitat for bobcats.

Weyrauch is a senior lecturer in the department of Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University at Newark, where she teaches courses in biology and humanitarian engineering. She earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Biology from Wright State University, and her Doctor of Philosophy in EEOB from The Ohio State University. Her research interests lie in applied ecology/conservation biology, with topics ranging from wetland restoration, to the effects of habitat fragmentation, to improving habitat for bobcats by creating artificial den sites. She co-founded Project Wild Coshocton in 2015, a research program that seeks to document the recovery of Ohio’s bobcat population and learn more about the species’ habitat requirements.”