Coyotes Go “Bridge and Tunnel”: A Narrow Opportunity to Study the Socio-ecological Impacts of Coyote Range Expansion on Long Island, NY Pre- and Post-Arrival
Coyotes Go “Bridge and Tunnel”: A Narrow Opportunity to Study the Socio-ecological Impacts of Coyote Range Expansion on Long Island, NY Pre- and Post-Arrival
American Museum of Natural History 0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3
Daniel A. Bogan 0 1 2 3
Russel L. Burke 0 1 2 3
Christopher Nagy 0 1 2 3
Mianus River Gorge 0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3
Timothy Green 0 1 2 3
William F. Siemer
0 Brookhaven National Laboratory
1 Cornell University
2 Hofstra University
3 This Special Topic Article: Urban Wildlife is brought to you for free and open access by the Biology at Digital Commons @ Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cities and the Environment (CATE) by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. For more information , please contact
Recommended Citation
-
Numi Mitchell
The Conservation Agency,
Coyotes Go “Bridge and Tunnel”: A Narrow Opportunity to Study the
Socio-ecological Impacts of Coyote Range Expansion on Long Island, NY
Pre- and Post-Arrival
Currently, Long Island, NY is without a breeding population of northeastern coyote (Canis latras var.), yet
recent evidence of dispersing individuals on the island, coupled with the “dogged” momentum of coyote
range expansion across North America, suggests a Long Island coyote population is close at hand. We
highlighted the fleeting opportunity to takes advantage of this natural experiment by developing a
multidisciplinary research framework to investigate the ecological and social impacts of the coyote, pre- and
post- range expansion. We reviewed coyote spatial ecology, community ecology, and human dimensions
research and identified three components of future investigation: predicting future occupancy, monitoring
colonization, testing hypotheses of trophic cascades by leveraging and expanding existing ecological data, and
exploring attitudes towards coyotes to better understand and mitigate human-wildlife conflicts. Each
proposed component will integrate for a comprehensive investigation to advance theory and applied
management of northeastern coyotes.
Acknowledgements
Co-authorship order reflects alphabetical sequence and relative contribution to research and writing. Dan
Bogan, Russell Burke, Christopher Nagy, and William Siemer were chiefly responsible for Spatial Ecology,
Community Ecology, Regional Monitoring, and Human Dimensions sections, respectively, with major
contributions by remaining authors. M. Weckel’s postdoctoral fellowship is supported by a grant from the
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for the American Museum of Natural History’s Science Research
Mentoring Program.
This special topic article: urban wildlife is available in Cities and the Environment (CATE): http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cate/
vol8/iss1/5
INTRODUCTION
Over the past two centuries, the coyote (Canis latrans) has undergone an amazing range
expansion. Originally a species of southern Canada, northern Mexico, and the western Great
Plains and Midwestern United States, coyotes are now found from the Atlantic to the Pacific and
from Alaska to Panama
(Gompper 2002a; Laliberte and Ripple 2004; Méndez-Carvajal and
Moreno 2014)
. This expanded distribution parallels a widening niche as coyotes, traditionally
associated with deserts and grasslands, are found across a spectrum of habitat types from high
density urban development to rural agricultural landscapes
(Parker 1995)
. Their rapidly evolving
natural history coupled with this dramatic range expansion has brought a tremendous amount of
interest in understanding coyote ecology and evolutionary biology. On a more practical note,
coyote range expansion also brings new concerns, both real and perceived, as preventing
humancoyote conflict becomes an increasingly important management concern
(Baker and Timm
1998)
, especially in cities and suburbs where familiarity with coyotes is low and the potential for
interaction high.
On Long Island, NY, there is the rare and time-sensitive opportunity to proactively tackle
these issues. Long Island, including parts of New York City (NYC), is one of the last large land
masses in the continental United States without a breeding population of the northeastern coyote
(var.; Fener et al. 2005)
. Coyotes are well established in northern and western suburbs of New
York State (NYS), Connecticut (CT), and New Jersey (NJ) and there have been at least four
independent, confirmed eastern Long Island coyote sightings since 2004 (Toomey et al. 2012; J.
Stiller, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), pers. comm.). A breeding
population on Long Island is inevitable and imminent. While several studies have explored the
diet, spatial ecology, and behavior of coyotes in the eastern U.S.
(see Mastro et al. 2012)
, Long
Island affords a natural experiment by which to better understand the ecological role of coyotes,
as well as spatiotemporal patterns of human-wildlife interaction, by addressing these issues
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