Factors affecting elicitation of vocal response from coyotes and population-level response to a pulsed resource event

• Main Author: Petroelje, Tyler Robert
• Other Authors: Jerrold L. Belant, Dean E. Beyer Jr., Bruce D. Leopold, Guiming Wang
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: MSSTATE 2013
• Subjects: Wildlife; Fisheries & Aquaculture; Lone; gray wolf
• Online Access: http://sun.library.msstate.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-05192013-221659/

Long-distance vocalizations by canids play an important role in communication among individuals. I evaluated efficacy of broadcasted coyote ( Canis latrans ) group-yip calls and gray wolf ( C. lupus ) lone howls to elicit vocal responses from 18 GPS-collared coyotes on 144 occasions. I concluded that eliciting coyote vocalizations where wolves are present will not bias responses, and recommend eliciting coyote vocalizations using recorded coyote group-yip howls during JulySeptember to estimate species presence or density. From foraging theory, generalist predators should increase consumption of prey if prey availability increases. I estimated densities for coyotes, adult deer, and fawns, and collected coyote scat to estimate occurrence and biomass of adult and fawn deer consumed by coyotes during 2 periods. I suggest that consumption rates of coyotes was associated positively with increases in fawn density, and fawn consumption by coyotes follows predictions of foraging theory during this pulsed resource event.