Space Use and Resource Selection by Coyotes in the Southeastern United States PDF Download

Author: Jennifer Nicole Ward
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Coyotes (Canis latrans) are now widespread across North America. In the southeastern United States, managers of game and non-game species have expressed concern over coyote impacts. During 20150́32017, I monitored 147 coyotes with GPS transmitters in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina to document space use and habitat selection. I collected scat (n=1100) from 25 resident coyote territories to assess prey use. Transient coyotes exhibited broader space use than residents, as transient ranges averaged 132.7 ℗ł 105.2 km^2, whereas resident home ranges averaged 17.6 ℗ł 14.7 km^2. Residents and transients maintained ranges with similar habitat composition, but used habitats differently. Residents selected agriculture and forests, but avoided urban and roads. Transients selected agriculture, urban, and roads, but avoided shrub. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was the most important food source for residents. Differential use of prey by residents was influenced by habitat heterogeneity within home ranges. Landowners interested in managing coyotes should also consider that 80% of transients traversed 9́Þ 200 km^2.

Author: Ludwig N. Carbyn
Publisher: University of Regina Press
ISBN: 9780889771543
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
In 1998, biologists and endangered species experts met at an international symposium on swift foxes held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to exchange information and identify the state-of-the-science of swift fox ecology and status in North America. Papers presented at the symposium, together with other written afterwards, are brought together in this peer-reviewed volume.

Author: David G. Hewitt
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1482295989
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 668

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Book Description
Winner of the Wildlife Society Outstanding Edited Book Award for 2013! Winner of the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society Outstanding Book Award for 2011! Winner of a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award for 2011! Biology and Management of White-tailed Deer organizes and presents information on the most studied large mammal species in the world. The book covers the evolutionary history of the species, its anatomy, physiology, and nutrition, population dynamics, and ecology across its vast range (from central Canada through northern South America). The book then discusses the history of management of white-tailed deer, beginning with early Native Americans and progressing through management by Europeans and examining population lows in the early 1900s, restocking efforts through the mid 1900s, and recent, overabundant populations that are becoming difficult to manage in many areas. Features: Co-published with the Quality Deer Management Association Compiles valuable information for white-tailed deer enthusiasts, managers, and biologists Written by an authoritative author team from diverse backgrounds Integrates white-tailed deer biology and management into a single volume Provides a thorough treatment of white-tailed deer antler biology Includes downloadable resources with color images The backbone of many state wildlife management agencies' policies and a featured hunting species through much of their range, white-tailed deer are an important species ecologically, socially, and scientifically in most areas of North America. Highly adaptable and now living in close proximity to humans in many areas, white-tailed deer are both the face of nature and the source of conflict with motorists, home-owners, and agricultural producers. Capturing the diverse aspects of white-tailed deer research, Biology and Management of White-tailed Deer is a reflection of the resources invested in the study of the species’ effects on ecosystems, predator-prey dynamics, population regulation, foraging behavior, and browser physiology.

Author: Peter J. Mahoney
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The extent to which predators regulate prey populations remains a subject of debate. Yet, when predator control is employed as a management strategy, it is often assumed that predators can and do regulate prey populations. From 2011 through 2015, I monitored the demography and space use of coyotes (Canis latrans) and cougars (Puma concolor) on Monroe Mountain in Fishlake National Forest, Utah as part of a larger collaboration investigating the impacts of coyote aerial control on mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) neonate survival. My primary objective was to assess the impacts of anthropogenic regulation on the respective populations and identify any cascading effects relevant to mule deer management. To meet this objective, I established a monitoring program for both predators by deploying radio-telemetry collars (VHF and GPS) on each, documented predation events, established surveys for small mammals and lagomorphs to monitor primary prey populations during deer parturition (June 0́3 August), and collected data on the location and demographic composition of winter-removed coyotes. I analyzed these data primarily in a community-based, animal movement and resource selection framework permitting the integration of data from multiple sources. When evaluating coyote aerial removal as a management strategy, I identified a spatial dependency in the ability to match removals with indices of deer recruitment as Wildlife Services Operations personnel were primarily limited by terrain and tree cover. Thus, matching treatment with deer fawning was highly variable with only a small number of sites where removals were effective. In addition, I found that coyotes selected for sites with the highest densities of lagomorphs while avoiding areas with a high probability of encountering cougars. Coyotes did not select for mule deer fawning sites, although individual coyotes that occupied resource-poor home ranges were more likely to do so. Cougars strongly selected for mule deer high use areas throughout much of the year, only switching to elk (Cervus elaphus) during the cougar harvest season (i.e., winter). Data from cougar kill site investigations match the observed patterns in cougar space use. My results suggest that predator-prey processes are multi-dimensional and dynamic through time, which likely contribute to the lack of resolution regarding the efficacy of predator control and the regulatory potential of predators in general.

Author: Marc Bekoff
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781930665422
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
Originally published in 1978, this text pulls together much disparate research in coyote evolution, taxonomy, reproduction, communication, behavioral development, population dynamics, and ecological studies in the Southwest, Minnesota, Iowa, New England, and Wyoming. (Animals/Pets)

Author: Kevin McGarigal
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 146121288X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
With its focus on the practical application of the techniques of multivariate statistics, this book shapes the powerful tools of statistics for the specific needs of ecologists and makes statistics more applicable to their course of study. It gives readers a solid conceptual understanding of the role of multivariate statistics in ecological applications and the relationships among various techniques, while avoiding detailed mathematics and the underlying theory. More importantly, the reader will gain insight into the type of research questions best handled by each technique and the important considerations in applying them. Whether used as a textbook for specialised courses or as a supplement to general statistics texts, the book emphasises those techniques that students of ecology and natural resources most need to understand and employ in their research. While targeted for upper-division and graduate students in wildlife biology, forestry, and ecology, and for professional wildlife scientists and natural resource managers, this book will also be valuable to researchers in any of the biological sciences.

Author: B.F. Manly
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0306481510
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
We have written this book as a guide to the design and analysis of field studies of resource selection, concentrating primarily on statistical aspects of the comparison of the use and availability of resources of different types. Our intended audience is field ecologists in general and, in particular, wildlife and fisheries biologists who are attempting to measure the extent to which real animal populations are selective in their choice of food and habitat. As such, we have made no attempt to address those aspects of theoretical ecology that are concerned with how animals might choose their resources if they acted in an optimal manner. The book is based on the concept of a resource selection function (RSF), where this is a function of characteristics measured on resourceunits such that its value for a unit is proportional to the probability of that unit being used. We argue that this concept leads to a unified theory for the analysis and interpretation of data on resource selection and can replace many ad hoc statistical methods that have been used in the past.

Author: Enrique Murgui
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319433148
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
This book provides syntheses of ecological theories and overarching patterns of urban bird ecology that have only recently become available. The numerous habitats represented in this book ranges from rows of trees in wooded alleys, to wastelands and remnants of natural habitats encapsulated in the urban matrix. Authored by leading scientists in this emergent field, the chapters explore how the characteristics of the habitat in urban environments influence bird communities and populations at multiple levels of ecological organization and at different spatial and temporal scales, and how this information should be incorporated in urban planning to achieve an effective conservation of bird fauna in urban environments. Birds are among the most conspicuous and fascinating residents of urban neighborhoods and provide urban citizens with everyday wildlife contact all over the world. However, present urbanization trends are rapidly depleting their habitats, and thus knowledge of urban bird ecology is urgently needed if birds are to thrive in cities. The book is unique in its inclusion of examples from all continents (except Antarctica) in an effort to arrive at a more holistic perspective. Among other issues, the individual chapters address the censusing of birds in urban green spaces; the relationship between bird communities and the structure of urban green spaces; the role of exotic plant species as food sources for urban bird fauna; the influence of artificial light and pollutants on bird fauna; trends in long-term urban bird research, and transdisciplinary studies on bird sounds and their effects on humans. Several chapters investigate how our current knowledge of the ecology of urban bird fauna should be applied in order to achieve better management of urban habitats so as to achieve conservation of species or even increase species diversity. The book also provides a forward-looking summary on potential research directions. As such, it provides a valuable resource for urban ecologists, urban ecology students, landscape architects, city planners, decision makers and anyone with an interest in urban ornithology and bird conservation. Moreover, it provides a comprehensive overview for researchers in the fields of ecology and conservation of urban bird fauna.

Author: Rachel Nicole Larson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
Ecological opportunity in the form of habitat and food heterogeneity are thought to be important mechanisms in maintaining individual specialization. Urban environments are unique because fragments of natural or semi-natural habitat are embedded within a permeable matrix of human-dominated areas, creating increased habitat heterogeneity compared to the surrounding landscape. In addition, urban areas can provide diet subsidies in the form of human trash and domestic animals, which also increases ecological opportunities. I investigated the degree to which coyotes (Canis latrans) utilized anthropogenic subsidies and exhibited individual specialization across the urban-rural gradient in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, California. I used scat analysis to analyze population-level differences in diet combined with stable isotope analysis to understand diet variation on an individual level. Land use surrounding scat and isotope sample collection sites was also evaluated to determine the effect of urban land cover on diet. Human food constituted a significant portion of urban coyote diet (22% of scats, 38% of diet as estimated by stable isotope analysis). Domestic cats (Felis catus) and non-native fruit and seeds were also important prey items in urban coyote diets. Consumption of anthropogenic items decreased with decreasing urbanization. In suburban areas, seasonality influenced the frequency of occurrence of anthropogenic subsidies with increased consumption in the dry season. Seasonal effects were not seen in urban areas. The amount of altered open space (defined as golf courses, cemeteries, and mowed parks) in a coyote's home range had a negative effect on the consumption of anthropogenic items. Urban coyotes displayed reduced among-individual variation compared to suburban and rural coyotes. It is possible that the core urban areas of cities are so densely developed and subsidized that wildlife inhabiting these areas actually have reduced ecological opportunity. Suburban animals had the broadest isotopic niches and maintained similar individual specialization to rural coyotes. Wildlife in suburban areas still have access to relatively undisturbed natural areas while being able to take advantage of anthropogenic subsidies in neighboring residential areas. Therefore, areas with intermediate urban development may be associated with increased ecological opportunity and specialization.

Author: Jean Clobert
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191640360
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
Now that so many ecosystems face rapid and major environmental change, the ability of species to respond to these changes by dispersing or moving between different patches of habitat can be crucial to ensuring their survival. Understanding dispersal has become key to understanding how populations may persist. Dispersal Ecology and Evolution provides a timely and wide-ranging overview of the fast expanding field of dispersal ecology, incorporating the very latest research. The causes, mechanisms, and consequences of dispersal at the individual, population, species, and community levels are considered. Perspectives and insights are offered from the fields of evolution, behavioural ecology, conservation biology, and genetics. Throughout the book theoretical approaches are combined with empirical data, and care has been taken to include examples from as wide a range of species as possible - both plant and animal.