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Humans and urban development mediate the sympatry of competing carnivores

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Abstract

Humans can profoundly shape animal community dynamics, but such effects have rarely been evaluated for terrestrial carnivores. Humans affect carnivores in both spatial and temporal dimensions via the chance of human encounter and alteration of the landscape through urban development. We investigated three hypotheses regarding how humans mediate the sympatry of larger, dominant carnivores with their smaller, subordinate counterparts. We tested these hypotheses by examining the spatio-temporal dynamics of a dominant carnivore (coyote Canis latrans) and its subordinate competitor (red fox Vulpes vulpes) across an extensive urban park system. We found that dominant and subordinate carnivores exhibited strong and often opposing spatio-temporal responses to the probability of human encounter and urban development. Spatially, coyotes visited more highly developed sites less frequently while red foxes exhibited an opposing response. Temporally, both species avoided humans via nocturnal activity. Spatio-temporally, red foxes avoided coyotes at all sites and avoided humans at highly developed sites, whereas coyotes showed a positive association with humans at such sites. Our analysis indicates that areas with higher urban development might act as spatial refugia for some subordinate carnivores against interference from larger, dominant carnivores (a “human shield” effect). Our findings also reveal that broad-scale spatial avoidance is likely a crucial component of coexistence between larger, dominant carnivores and humans, whereas finer-scale spatio-temporal avoidance is likely a key feature of coexistence between humans and smaller, subordinate carnivores. Overall, our study underscores the complex and pervasive nature of human influence over the sympatry of competing carnivores inhabiting urban systems.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Cleveland Metroparks and Michigan State University staff, students, and volunteers who contributed to field work and data preparation, especially E. Clingman, T. Krynak, J. Krock, T. Kraft, G. Woodard, W. Ortiz, C. Lepard, and members of the RECaP laboratory. R.J.M. was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. We thank the associate editor and two anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, 480 Wilson Road, Room 13 Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Remington J. Moll & Robert A. Montgomery

  2. Natural Resources, Cleveland Metroparks, 9485 Eastland Road, Strongsville, OH, 44149, USA

    Jonathon D. Cepek

  3. Natural Resources, Cleveland Metroparks, 2277 West Ridgewood Drive, Parma, OH, 44134, USA

    Patrick D. Lorch & Terry Robison

  4. Conservation and Science, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, 3900 Wildlife Way, Cleveland, OH, 44109, USA

    Patricia M. Dennis

  5. Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Ohio State University, 1920 Coffey Rd, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Patricia M. Dennis

  6. Wildlife Biology Program, W. A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA

    Joshua J. Millspaugh

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  1. Remington J. Moll
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Moll, R.J., Cepek, J.D., Lorch, P.D. et al. Humans and urban development mediate the sympatry of competing carnivores. Urban Ecosyst 21, 765–778 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-018-0758-6

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