The effect of agricultural and suburban development on the home range size, activity, movement, and density of coyote (Canis latrans) in northwest Wyoming.

Authors(s): N. McClennen

Publication:

Publisher:

Publication Date: 0000-00-00

Type: M.S.

Location: Laramie

Abstract: Only a few studies have investigated the ecology of coyotes in suburban and urban areas. We examined the difference between the home range, activities, densities, and road effects in an area of substantial suburban and agricultural development and in an adjacent area of protected national park land in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We captured and radio-collared 11 coyotes in the suburban/agricultural area and 16 coyotes in the adjacent protected area. The study was conducted for 15 months from June 1998 through August 1999. Coyotes in the suburban/agricultural area have smaller core areas than the coyotes in the adjacent undeveloped area. Only core area sizes of transient coyotes were inversely related to the density of buildings within those core areas. Coyotes in the suburban/agricultural area were less active during the diurnal periods and more active during the nocturnal periods compared to the coyotes in the undeveloped area. Coyote densities appeared to be higher in the suburban/agricultural landscapes. This trend may disappear as open agricultural land continues to be developed. Coyotes in both areas reacted negatively to increased traffic rather than the density of the road system. Coyotes living in the suburban/agricultural matrix in Jackson Hole have adapted to the effects of increased human activity through a variety of behavioral modifications.

Keywords: animal, mammal, canine, Canidae, Canis, coyote, Canis latrans, Jackson Hole, Teton County, suburban area, habitat, human activity, range, migration, Northwest Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park, population, radio collar