Dataset Information

Home range size, vegetation density, and season influences prey use by coyotes (Canis latrans).

ABSTRACT: To ensure reproductive success, Canis species establish contiguous mosaics of territories in suitable habitats to partition space and defend limiting resources. Consequently, Canis species can exert strong effects on prey populations locally because of their year-round maintenance of territories. We assessed prey use by coyotes (Canis latrans) by sampling scats from within known territories in southeastern Alabama and the Savannah River area of Georgia and South Carolina. We accounted for the size and habitat composition of coyote home ranges to investigate the influence of space use, vegetation density, and habitat type on coyote diets. Coyote use of prey was influenced by a combination of mean monthly temperature, home range size, vegetation density, and hardwood forests. For example, coyote use of adult white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was associated with cooler months and smaller home ranges, whereas use of rabbits (Sylvilagus spp.) was associated with cooler months, larger home ranges, and less vegetation density. Coyotes in our study relied primarily on nutritionally superior mammalian prey and supplemented their diet with fruit when available, as their use of mammalian prey did not appreciably decrease with increasing use of fruit. We suggest that differential use of prey by coyotes is influenced by habitat heterogeneity within their home ranges, and prey-switching behaviors may stabilize local interactions between coyotes and their food resources to permit stable year-round territories. Given that habitat composition affects coyote prey use, future studies should also incorporate effects of habitat composition on coyote distribution and abundance to further identify coyote influences on prey communities.

SUBMITTER: Ward JN

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6179196 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Home range size, vegetation density, and season influences prey use by coyotes (Canis latrans).

Ward Jennifer N JN Hinton Joseph W JW Johannsen Kristina L KL Karlin Melissa L ML Miller Karl V KV Chamberlain Michael J MJ

PloS one 20181010 10

To ensure reproductive success, Canis species establish contiguous mosaics of territories in suitable habitats to partition space and defend limiting resources. Consequently, Canis species can exert strong effects on prey populations locally because of their year-round maintenance of territories. We assessed prey use by coyotes (Canis latrans) by sampling scats from within known territories in southeastern Alabama and the Savannah River area of Georgia and South Carolina. We accounted for the si ...[more]

PMID: 30303970

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Project description:Anthropogenic hybridization of historically isolated taxa has become a primary conservation challenge for many imperiled species. Indeed, hybridization between red wolves (Canis rufus) and coyotes (Canis latrans) poses a significant challenge to red wolf recovery. We considered seven hypotheses to assess factors influencing hybridization between red wolves and coyotes via pair-bonding between the two species. Because long-term monogamy and defense of all-purpose territories are core characteristics of both species, mate choice has long-term consequences. Therefore, red wolves may choose similar-sized mates to acquire partners that behave similarly to themselves in the use of space and diet. We observed multiple factors influencing breeding pair formation by red wolves and found that most wolves paired with similar-sized conspecifics and wolves that formed congeneric pairs with nonwolves (coyotes and hybrids) were mostly female wolves, the smaller of the two sexes. Additionally, we observed that lower red wolf abundance relative to nonwolves and the absence of helpers increased the probability that wolves consorted with nonwolves. However, successful pairings between red wolves and nonwolves were associated with wolves that maintained small home ranges. Behaviors associated with territoriality are energetically demanding and behaviors (e.g., aggressive interactions, foraging, and space use) involved in maintaining territories are influenced by body size. Consequently, we propose the hypothesis that size disparities between consorting red wolves and coyotes influence positive assortative mating and may represent a reproductive barrier between the two species. We offer that it may be possible to maintain wild populations of red wolves in the presence of coyotes if management strategies increase red wolf abundance on the landscape by mitigating key threats, such as human-caused mortality and hybridization with coyotes. Increasing red wolf abundance would likely restore selection pressures that increase mean body and home-range sizes of red wolves and decrease hybridization rates via reduced occurrence of congeneric pairs.

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Dataset Information

Home range size, vegetation density, and season influences prey use by coyotes (Canis latrans).

Publications

Home range size, vegetation density, and season influences prey use by coyotes (Canis latrans).

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