McTigue, L. and B.A. DeGregorio. 2023. Effects of Landcover on Mesocarnivore Density Along an Urban to Rural Gradient. Global Ecology and Conservation.
|
Abstract
|
Download
|
November 2023
|
Human development has major implications for wildlife populations with urban-exploiters benefiting from human subsidized resources whereas urban-avoiders can vanish from the wildlife communities in highly developed areas. Therefore, understanding how the density of different species varies in response to landcover associated with human development can provide important insight into how wildlife communities are likely to change and provide a starting point for predicting the consequences of those changes. Here, we use estimated the population density of five common mesocarnivore species (coyote (<i>Canis latrans</i>), bobcat (<i>Lynx rufus</i>), red fox (<i>Vulpes vulpes</i>), raccoon (<i>Procyon lotor</i>), and Virginia opossum (<i>Didelphis virginiana)</i>) along an urban to rural gradient in a rapidly developing area of the United States. At each study site, we applied the random encounter model to data from motion-triggered cameras to calculate the density of our five focal species. We then evaluated variation in density for each species based on natural and anthropogenic landcover variables. Coyotes and raccoons occurred in the greatest densities in areas with high estimated anthropogenic noise, suggesting that both species are synanthropic and able to co-exist in areas of high human activity. High densities of these species in proximity to human activity has potential repercussions for wildlife-human conflict. Alternatively, Virginia opossum and red fox attained the greatest densities in open, developed areas (lawns, golf courses, cemeteries, and parks) and were absent (red fox) or rare (opossum) in natural areas. Opossum and red fox were capable of living alongside humans but did so by an association with these novel, human-created and maintained environments. We found no evidence that bobcat density varied along the urban to rural gradient studied but suggest that this may have been confounded by the small spatial scale of many of our sites in relation to this wide-ranging species. The density estimates we report here based on game camera data of unmarked animals were consistent with reports from the literature for these same species. Furthermore, our results show that several mesopredators attain very high densities in close proximity to humans which certainly has implications for increased conflict with humans and our pets, their role as predators in human-dominated environments, and the risk of disease transmission in and around people. Finally, our results show that the novel environments that spread with the human footprint support large numbers of mesopredators that may be absent or occur in low densities in undeveloped areas.
|
Johansson, E.P., and B.A. DeGregorio. 2023. The Effects of Landscape and Yard Features on Mammal Diversity in Residential Yards. Urban Ecosystems.
|
Abstract
|
Download
|
October 2023
|
The human footprint is rapidly expanding, and wildlife habitat is continuously being converted to human residential properties. Most wildlife residing in developing areas are displaced to nearby undeveloped areas. However, some animals can co-exist with humans and acquire the necessary resources (food, water, shelter) within the human environment. This may be particularly true when development is low intensity, as in residential suburban yards. Yards are individually managed “greenspaces” that can provide a range of food (e.g., bird feeders, compost, gardens), water (bird baths and garden ponds), and shelter (e.g., brush-piles, outbuildings) resources and are surrounded by varying landscape cover. To evaluate which landscape and yard features influence the richness and diversity of the herbivores and mesopredators within residential yards in a rapidly developing region; we deployed wildlife game cameras in 46 residential yards in summer 2021 and 96 yards in summer 2022. We found that mesopredator diversity was negatively impacted by fences and positively influenced by the number of bird feeders present in a yard. Mesopredator richness increased with the amount of forest within 400m of the camera. Herbivore diversity and richness were positively influenced by the area of forest within 400m of the yard and by the area of garden space within the yard, respectively. Our results suggest that while landscape does play a role in the presence of wildlife in a residential area, homeowners also have agency over the richness and diversity of mammals using their yards based on the features they create or maintain on their properties.
|
Johansson, E.P. and DeGregorio, B.A. (2024). Mesocarnivores in residential yards: influence of yard features on the occupancy, relative abundance, and overlap of coyotes, grey fox, and red fox. Wildlife Research, [online] 51(10). doi:https://doi.org/10.1071/wr23065.
|
Abstract
|
Download
|
September 2024
|
Mammalian predators have historically been persecuted and struggle to persist in areas of human development. Our study aimed to find if predators were utilizing residential yards, how certain features influenced their occupancy, detection rates, and temporal activity overlap with each other. We found that predator occupancy of residential yards was influenced by yard level features as opposed to surrounding landscape composition. This means that homeowners have some agency to attract or deter predators from their yards primarily through the use of fences to deter coyote and maybe other predators. As residential lawns become a more prominent landcover type worldwide, managers could benefit from understanding how these lawns provide resources that benefit predators and other wildlife existing in suburban settings and how yard features can create hot spots of conflict with these species of wildlife.
|
Johansson, E.P. and DeGregorio, B.A. (2024). Mesocarnivores in residential yards: influence of yard features on the occupancy, relative abundance, and overlap of coyotes, grey fox, and red fox. Wildlife Research, [online] 51(10). doi:https://doi.org/10.1071/wr23065.
|
Abstract
|
Download
|
September 2024
|
Mammalian predators have historically been persecuted and struggle to persist in areas of human development. Our study aimed to find if predators were utilizing residential yards, how certain features influenced their occupancy, detection rates, and temporal activity overlap with each other. We found that predator occupancy of residential yards was influenced by yard level features as opposed to surrounding landscape composition. This means that homeowners have some agency to attract or deter predators from their yards primarily through the use of fences to deter coyote and maybe other predators. As residential lawns become a more prominent landcover type worldwide, managers could benefit from understanding how these lawns provide resources that benefit predators and other wildlife existing in suburban settings and how yard features can create hot spots of conflict with these species of wildlife.
|
DeGregorio, B.A., Veon, J.T. and Massey, A.. 2022. Wildlife associates of nine‐banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) burrows in Arkansas. Ecology and Evolution, 12(5), 8858.
|
Download
|
June 2022
|
|
DeGregorio, B.A., M. McElroy, and E.P. Johansson. 2023. Occupancy and Activity Patterns of Nine-Banded Armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) in a Suburban Environment. Diversity 15: https://doi.org/10.3390/d15080907.
|
Download
|
July 2023
|
|
DeGregorio, B.A., C. Gale, E. Lassiter, A. Massey, C. Roberts, and J. Veon. 2021. Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasyrus novemcinctus) Activity Patterns are Influenced by Human Activity. Ecology and Evolution: 0-8.
|
Abstract
|
Download
|
November 2021
|
As the human footprint upon the planet expands, wildlife seeking to avoid human contact are losing the option of altering their spatial distribution and instead are shifting their daily activity patterns to be active at different times than humans. In this study, we used game cameras to evaluate how human development and activity was related to the daily activity patterns of the nine-banded armadillo (<i>Dasyrus novemcinctus)</i> along an urban to rural gradient in Arkansas, USA during the winter of 2020-2021. We found that armadillos had substantial behavioral plasticity in regard to the timing of their activity patterns; >95% of armadillo activity was nocturnal at six of the study sites whereas between 30 and 60% of activity occurred during the day at 3 other sites. Distance to downtown Fayetteville (the nearest population center) and estimated ambient sound level (both indices of human activity) best explained the likelihood of diurnal armadillo activity with armadillos being most active during the day at quiet sites far from Fayetteville. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this activity shift may be in response to not only human activity but the presence of domestic dogs. Our results provide further evidence that human activity has subtle nonlethal impacts on even common, widespread wildlife species. Because armadillos have low body temperatures and basal metabolism, being active during cold winter nights likely has measurable fitness costs. Nature reserves near human population centers may not serve as safe harbors for wildlife as we intend, and managers should benefit from considering these nonlethal responses in how they manage recreation and visitation in these natural areas.
|