Journal
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
Volume 97, Issue 2, Pages 165-171Publisher
CANADIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING
DOI: 10.1139/cjz-2018-0150
Keywords
Canis latrans; coyote; longleaf pine; Pinus palustris; prescribed fire; resource selection
Categories
Funding
- United States Department of Defense
- Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program at North Carolina State University
- United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Wildlife Services
- Fort Bragg Wildlife Branch
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Prescribed fire is used to restore and maintain fire-dependent forest communities. Because fire affects food and cover resources, fire-mediated resource selection has been documented for many wildlife species. The first step in understanding these interactions is to understand resource selection of the predators in a fire-maintained system. We attached GPS radio collars to 27 coyotes (Canis latrans Say, 1823) and examined resource selection relative to fire-maintained vegetation types, years since fire, anthropogenic features that facilitate prescribed burning, and other landscape features likely to affect coyote resource selection. Coyote home ranges were characterized by more open vegetation types and more recently burned forest (i.e., burned 0-1 year prior) than available on the study area. Within their home ranges, coyotes avoided areas close to densely vegetated drainages and paved roads. Coyote selection of more recently burned forest likely was in response to greater prey density or increased ability to detect prey soon after vegetation cover was reduced by fires; similarly, coyotes likely avoided drainages due to decreased hunting efficiency. Coyote resource selection was linked to prescribed fire, suggesting the interaction between fire and coyotes may influence ecosystem function in fire-dependent forests.
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