Diet selection in the Coyote Canis latrans .

Autor:	Hayward MW; Conservation Science Research Group, College of Engineering, Science and the Environment, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales 2207, Australia.; Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Tshwane X001, South Africa.; Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth 6213, South Africa., Mitchell CD; Wayan, Idaho 83285, USA., Kamler JF; Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX13 5QL, United Kingdom., Rippon P; School of Information and Physical Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales 2207, Australia., Heit DR; University of New Hampshire, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA., Nams V; Department of Plant, Food and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Campus, Dalhousie University, Truro, Nova Scotia B2N 5E3, Canada., Montgomery RA; Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX13 5QL, United Kingdom.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	Journal of mammalogy [J Mammal] 2023 Nov 04; Vol. 104 (6), pp. 1338-1352. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Nov 04 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI:	10.1093/jmammal/gyad094
Abstrakt:	The Coyote ( Canis latrans ) is one of the most studied species in North America with at least 445 papers on its diet alone. While this research has yielded excellent reviews of what coyotes eat, it has been inadequate to draw deeper conclusions because no synthesis to date has considered prey availability. We accounted for prey availability by investigating the prey selection of coyotes across its distribution using the traditional Jacobs' index method, as well as the new iterative preference averaging (IPA) method on scats and biomass. We found that coyotes selected for Dall's Sheep ( Ovis dalli ), White-tailed Deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ), Eastern Cottontail Rabbit ( Sylvilagus floridanus ), and California Vole ( Microtus californicus ), which yielded a predator-to-preferred prey mass ratio of 1:2. We also found that coyotes avoided preying on other small mammals, including carnivorans and arboreal species. There was strong concordance between the traditional and IPA method on scats, but this pattern was weakened when biomass was considered. General linear models revealed that coyotes preferred to prey upon larger species that were riskier to hunt, reflecting their ability to hunt in groups, and were least likely to hunt solitary species. Coyotes increasingly selected Mule Deer ( O. hemionus ) and Snowshoe Hare ( Lepus americanus ) at higher latitudes, whereas Black-tailed Jackrabbit ( L. californicus ) were increasingly selected toward the tropics. Mule Deer were increasingly selected at higher coyote densities, while Black-tailed Jackrabbit were increasingly avoided at higher coyote densities. Coyote predation could constrain the realized niche of prey species at the distributional limits of the predator through their increased efficiency of predation reflected in increased prey selection values. These results are integral to improved understandings of Coyote ecology and can inform predictive analyses allowing for spatial variation, which ultimately will lead to better understandings about the ecological role of the coyote across different ecosystems. Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Mammalogists.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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