Hello Yussuf,

To address your first question, you might try a literature search on Brian Wakeling and or Jim Heffelfinger, both of whom are big game biologists in the state of Arizona, USA. Both have investigated this question, and both work for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Best of luck,

Steve

We examined seasonal mortality patterns in relation to seasonality of rainfall and food availability for multiple primate species: those analyses and our selection criteria to try to minimize sampling biases might be of interest.

Article Seasonal mortality patterns in non-human primates: Implicati...

Thanks Jan and Stephen...I will check the literature up.

Hi Yussuf,

Remember that wildlife mortality estimation is not only based on habitat bias. There are two more types that you have to consider. One is the scavengers bias (scavengers make the carcasses disappear depending on both the body size as the time between samples/monitorings) and the other is the observer bias (which depends on the researcher's experience in detecting bodies in the field). This latter bias often estimated with habitat bias, but is different.

I have attached two papers that use this methodology to estimate mortality of birds on power lines:

Bevanger K (1999) Estimating bird mortality caused by collision and electrocution with power lines; a review of methodology. In: Ferrer M, Janss GFE, editors. Birds and Power Lines: collision, electrocution, and breeding, Quercus, Madrid, Spain.

Ponce et a. 2010. Carcass removal by scavengers and search accuracy affect bird mortality estimates at power lines.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229996683_Carcass_removal_by_scavengers_and_search_accuracy_affect_bird_mortality_estimates_at_power_lines

It may be interesting to keep an eye on this:

Huso MMP (2010) An estimator of wildlife fatality from observed carcasses. Environmentrics 22: 318–329. doi: 10.1002/env.1052

Article Carcass removal by scavengers and search accuracy affect mor...

Thank you indeed, Juan, I totally agree with you....I only gave an example of habitat to make my question clear. I will check this papers up. 

Here's one (fairly recent) example:

Proc Biol Sci. 2004 Dec 7;271 Suppl 6:S471-3.

The effects of a severe drought on mouflon lamb survival.

Garel M, Loison A, Gaillard JM, Cugnasse JM, Maillard D.

A lot of work has been conducted on the impact of drought on kangaroos, For example:

Robertson, G. G. (1986). The mortality of kangaroos in drought. Australian Wildlife Research 13, 349-354

Also for a very comprehensive review have a look at the document at

http://www.environment.gov.au/node/16675 

George Wilson

Thank you Floris and George. the papers you recommended are useful indeed.

Hossack, B.R., Adams, M.J., Pearl, C.A., Wilson, K., Bull, E.L., Lohr, K., Patla, D., Pilliod, D.S., Jones, J., Wheeler, K., McKay, S., Corn, P.S., 2013, Roles of patch characteristics, drought frequency, and restoration in driving long-term trends of a widespread amphibian. DOI- 10.1111/cobi.12119: Conservation Biology, v. 27, no. 6, p. 1410-1420.

Please see two of my recent papers that relate to your query:

Wedderburn, S. D., T. C. Barnes & K. A. Hillyard, 2014. Shifts in fish assemblages indicate failed recovery of threatened species following prolonged drought in terminating lakes of the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. Hydrobiologia 730: 179–190.

AND

Wedderburn, S. D., M. P. Hammer & C. M. Bice, 2012. Shifts in small-bodied fish assemblages resulting from drought-induced water level recession in terminating lakes of the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. Hydrobiologia 691: 35–46.

Hello Yassuf, please, see the following papers:

Pereira, J.A. & A.J. Novaro. 2014. Habitat-specific demography and conservation of Geoffroy´s cats in a human dominated landscape. Journal of Mammalogy 95(5) - currently in press but available from the ASM site

Uhart, M., M. V. Rago, C. Marull, H. V. Ferreyra y J. A. Pereira. 2012. Exposure to selected pathogens in Geoffroy´s cats and domestic carnivores from central Argentina. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 48(4): 899-909

Pereira, J. A., N. G. Fracassi, V. Rago, H. Ferreyra, C. A. Marull, D. McAloose y M. M. Uhart. 2010. Causes of mortality in a Geoffroy´s cat population – A long–term survey using diverse recording methods. European Journal of Wildlife Research 56(6):939-942

Pereira, J. A. 2010. Activity pattern of Geoffroy’s cats (Leopardus geoffroyi) during a period of food shortage. Journal of Arid Environments 74:1106-1109

Pereira, J. A., N. G. Fracassi y M. M. Uhart. 2006. Numerical and spatial responses of Geoffroy’s cat (Oncifelis geoffroyi) to prey decline in Argentina. Journal of Mammalogy 87(6):1132-1139

Good luck with your work!!

Javier thanks for these papers!