Persistence in the Face of Change: Effects of Human Recreation on Coyote (Canis latrans) Habitat Use in an Altered Ecosystem

We investigated the spatiotemporal relationship of Canis latrans Say (Coyote) with environmental and human recreation variables in an altered Eucalyptus ecosystem in California, USA using camera traps and vegetation surveys. We documented Coyotes at eight of nine camera trap sites, and our top a-priori model to explain Coyote spatial use included tree density and abundance of human recreationists as explanatory variables (wAICc = 0.98). We found low temporal overlap between humans and Coyotes (Δ4 = 0.40), with Coyote activity peaking around 4 am when humans were not active. This appears to be a shift in Coyote temporal activity to avoid humans, as Coyotes typically exhibit crepuscular activity cycles. Coyotes appeared able to adjust to the altered ecosystem, and instead their spatial use and temporal activity was most affected by human recreation.