Human presence drives bobcat interactions among the U.S. carnivore guild

Hubbard, Tru; Cove, Michael V.; Green, Austin M.; Iannarilli, Fabiola; Allen, Maximilian L.; LaRose, Summer H.; Nagy, Christopher; Compton, Justin A.; Lafferty, Diana J. R.

doi:10.1007/s10531-022-02445-2

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Coyotes have been found to avoid being active during the day and to shift to nocturnal activity in the presence of human activity [7,16,23,25,32]. Other species, like striped skunk and bobcat have shown to be less flexible in their activity patterns in regard to development or to respond to environmental factors such as temperature rather than humans [7,24,25]. We found only minor changes in the activity patterns of our focal species across the development categories.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 61%

“…We expected that pressure from larger mesocarnivores such as coyote and bobcat would be enough for smaller mesocarnivores like opossum and skunk to change their activity patterns because these species have been documented killing and depredating these species (up to 76% mortality of opossum due to coyote [35,57]. Therefore, we expected that these mesocarnivores should benefit by avoiding when coyotes or bobcat were most active [21,24]. Furthermore, interspecific aggression and killing has been documented between the larger mesocarnivores, including coyote, bobcat, gray fox, and red fox [58,59].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…If co-occurring species respond similarly to humans by shifting to a more nocturnal existence, then the activity overlap between species may necessarily be higher in developed areas than in undeveloped areas [7,20]. However, not all urban-adapted wildlife species respond to human presence in the same manner even within taxa groups such as mesocarnivores (medium-sized mammalian predators [7,24]). Thus, species that are more tolerant of human activity may not switch to a nocturnal existence to avoid humans; thereby reducing interactions with competitors or predators that do so [7,25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does daily activity overlap of seven mesocarnivores vary based on human development?

McTigue,

Lassiter,

Shaw

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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Many species of wildlife alter their daily activity patterns in response to co-occurring species as well as the surrounding environment. Often smaller or subordinate species alter their activity patterns to avoid being active at the same time as larger, dominant species to avoid agonistic interactions. Human development can complicate interspecies interactions, as not all wildlife respond to human activity in the same manner. While some species may change the timing of their activity to avoid being active when humans are, others may be unaffected or may benefit from being active at the same time as humans to reduce predation risk or competition. To further explore these patterns, we used data from a coordinated national camera-trapping program (Snapshot USA) to explore how the activity patterns and temporal activity overlap of a suite of seven widely co-occurring mammalian mesocarnivores varied along a gradient of human development. Our focal species ranged in size from the large and often dominant coyote (Canis latrans) to the much smaller and subordinate Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana). Some species changed their activity based on surrounding human development. Coyotes were most active at night in areas of high and medium human development. Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) were more active at dusk in areas of high development relative to areas of low or medium development. However, because most species were primarily nocturnal regardless of human development, temporal activity overlap was high between all species. Only opossum and raccoon (Procyon lotor) showed changes in activity overlap with high overlap in areas of low development compared to areas of moderate development. Although we found that coyotes and red fox altered their activity patterns in response to human development, our results showed that competitive and predatory pressures between these seven widespread generalist species were insufficient to cause them to substantially alter their activity patterns.

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Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Does daily activity overlap of seven mesocarnivores vary based on human development?

McTigue,

Lassiter,

Shaw

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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“…Additionally, a xed effect was applied to indicate whether the site was located in the NP or the MA to test the second hypothesis. Multispecies occupancy modeling was performed using the community model function in the camtrap package in R (Hubbard et al 2022). The 10 day presence and absence values were divided into 1 bin and the number of iterations, burn-ins, and chains was 1000, 500, and 3, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of the conservation of medium and large-sized mammals in a national park and military area

Kim,

Hong

2023

Preprint

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National parks (NP) and military areas (MA) preserve natural ecosystems. Although both regions have positive and negative effects on animal communities, studies comparing their impacts on conservation are limited. We monitored mammalian communities using 21 sensor cameras in a MA (6 sites) and NP (15 sites) located on Gyeryongsan Mountain, South Korea from May to November 2021 to compare the conservation of medium and large-sized mammals between the two regions. Forty-one environmental variables, including anthropogenic and geographical factors, were extracted from different spatial ranges (50, 500, and 1000 m). A linear model and non-metric multidimensional scaling were used to identify the factors influencing community diversity. We also analyzed species habitat type preferences using a multispecies occupancy model and compared temporal activities in the two regions. Species diversity was similar between the two sites, with most animals preferring habitats with lower slopes located at greater distances from human trails. Only the Korean hare (Lepus coreanus) preferred the NP habitat of the eight species found. Active periods were similar for the species in both regions, except for differences in some carnivore species. Although not all species were affected by human activity, most preferred the MA over the NP. The carnivores were especially able to flexibly alter their active periods and locations in response to human activities, especially in the NP where human activity was more prevalent. Thus, strategies should be implemented to improve NP conservation success, such as spatial and temporal accessible and inaccessible section separation.

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“…In addition to complex changes in the occurrence and relative abundance of mesopredators and their predators in response to development, wildlife often shift their behavior to better persist in urban areas (Gaynor et al., 2018). A common response is a shift in activity patterns toward the night when humans are least active (Hubbard et al., 2022). However, when dominant mesopredators shift to a primarily nocturnal existence, subordinate mesopredators are faced with the pressure of either being active during the day when humans are active or at night when their predators are most active.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of human development and predators on patterns of Virginia opossum occupancy, abundance, and activity

Veon,

Lassiter,

Johansson

et al. 2023

Journal of Zoology

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As human development continues to expand, wildlife must relocate or adapt to survive. Many mammalian mesopredators, such as the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), have adapted to living alongside human development. Furthermore, top‐down predation pressure may be altered in nuanced ways within the human environment. Species such as opossums may be shielded from predation by human development or behavioral changes in predators. Understanding how dominant and subordinate mesopredators co‐exist across natural and developed areas will provide insight into how wildlife communities are structured. Our objective was to evaluate how opossum occupancy, abundance, and activity were associated with human development and the relative abundance of their predators. We used data from a nationwide camera trapping study, Snapshot USA, to estimate opossum occupancy, abundance, and activity. We related these measures to the surrounding landscape and urbanization variables. We found that opossum occupancy was positively associated with anthropogenic sound (a surrogate for human activity). Furthermore, opossums in heavily forested areas were more likely to be detected in locations with higher predicted anthropogenic sounds. In areas with a high density of human housing, opossum relative abundance increased when predator abundance increased. We also found opossums were strictly nocturnal and shifted their activity to earlier in the evening in the presence of high predator abundance. Our results suggest that humans and their urban development can have multidimensional impacts on opossum behavior and occurrence, and could facilitate changes in predator–prey dynamics. Future research should evaluate if the association of opossums with urban areas is due to human‐subsidized resources or caused by reduced mortality from altered predator–prey dynamics.

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Human presence drives bobcat interactions among the U.S. carnivore guild

Cited by 9 publications

References 57 publications

Does daily activity overlap of seven mesocarnivores vary based on human development?

Does daily activity overlap of seven mesocarnivores vary based on human development?

Comparison of the conservation of medium and large-sized mammals in a national park and military area

Influence of human development and predators on patterns of Virginia opossum occupancy, abundance, and activity

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