Associations of coyotes with other carnivores in the western United States


Category:  Fisheries and Wildlife
Linked Publication
Language: English
Author(s): MIchael C. Rowell
Description: This study addressed the question of how coyote abundance affects the abundances of other carnivores. The objectives of this study were to determine if associations exist between the occurrences and abundances of coyotes and other mammalian predators. Data collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a ten-year survey of predator abundance in the western U.S. were used to test for associations between coyotes and 14 other carnivores. A descriptive study of the predator community of Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota was also conducted. Ubiquitous negative associations between coyotes and four other carnivores were revealed over a large spatial scale and over the ten years of the Predator Abundance Survey. Results from this study suggest that as coyote abundance increases, carnivore species diversity decreases.