The dynamic nature of territoriality, transience and biding in an exploited coyote population

Abstract

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Home Range and Habitat Use of West Virginia Canis latrans (Coyote)

“…This is likely due to resource dispersion influencing the home-range area of each individual Knowlton 1991, Wilson andShivik 2001). The flatness ratios for all individuals indicated concentrated use of disproportionally small core areas, suggesting resources were clumped and territoriality may be a limiting factor (Morin and Kelly 2017, Windberg 1995, Windberg and Knowlton 1988. While data is preliminary, the space-use patterns observed are consistent with patterns reported previously in low-density Eastern Coyote populations in rural areas (Crête et al 2001, Morin et al 2016, Richer et al 2002.…”

“…Home-range size is dependent on availability and distribution of resources Knowlton 1991, Patterson andMessier 2001), and Coyotes tend to have larger home ranges in areas where resources are sparse and spatially dispersed (Wilson and Shivik 2011). However, home-range size is also limited by the metabolic requirements of defending a territory (McNab 1963), and ideal despotic distribution predicts greater disparity in available resources will result in more intense competition among individual Coyotes for high-value territories (Andren 1990, Morin andKelly 2017). When individuals are unable to establish and defend a territory (i.e., behave as a resident), they may become transients, occupying expansive home-range areas, or biding areas, commonly in suboptimal habitats and in the interstitial spaces between territories (Hinton et al 2015, Kamler andGipson 2000).…”

“…The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources reported an increase in the number of Coyote pelts sold from 1989 to 2017, but no other demographic information on Coyote populations in the state is currently available (R. Rogers, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Romney, WV, 2017 per comm.). Information on eastern Coyote home ranges and habitat use in the central Appalachians is also limited (Crimmins et al 2012, Mastro 2011, Morin and Kelly 2017. We used telemetry data from 8 radio-collared Coyotes monitored across 16 counties to obtain preliminary baseline information on Coyote home-range size and third-order habitat selection in West Virginia.…”

Geographic patterns in morphometric and genetic variation for coyote populations with emphasis on southeastern coyotes

“…regulates population densities (Morin & Kelly, 2017) via compensatory immigration. The probability of surviving transiency and finding suitable habitat and mates in the expansion range may have been greater for larger-bodied coyotes because they had greater movement radii and fasting endurances than did smaller individuals (Lindstedt & Boyce, 1985;McCue, 2010;Millar & Hickling, 1990).…”

“…Therefore, we suggest that increased body sizes observed in eastern coyote populations were induced by hybridization (Kays et al, 2010;Nowak, 1979Nowak, , 2002Power et al, 2015) and larger coyotes were then favored over smaller coyotes in the expansion range because larger coyotes had greater dispersal capabilities that improved immigration among peripheral populations. Coyote populations consist of a significant proportion of transient individuals (Hinton, Manen, & Chamberlain, 2015;Kamler & Gipson, 2000;Morin & Kelly, 2017;Windberg & Knowlton, 1988), and recent research suggests that transiency is an important life-history strategy that facilitates metapopulation dynamics (Hinton et al, 2015) and…”