Supplementation of seasonal natural resources with year-round anthropogenic resources by coyotes in natural fragments within a high-density urban area

Abstract

Coyotes Canis latrans in urban landscapes provide important food web functions and ecological services but can also trigger human-wildlife conflict when their diet includes anthropogenic resources or domestic pets. As adaptable omnivores, coyotes adjust their diet to their environment, routinely switching among food items to accommodate spatial and seasonal differences in availability. To evaluate the coyote's potential impacts within the food web of urban Long Beach, California where human-wildlife conflict involving coyotes may occur, we analyzed 115 scat samples collected once every two weeks from four open space fragments inside the urban matrix. We hypothesized that differences in scat composition would correlate with seasonal and site differences, with greater use of anthropogenic resources during the dry season supplementing lower prey availability, and with greater consumption of wild mammal prey during the wet season when fruiting plants are less abundant. We found coyote diet was predominately composed of natural prey and vegetation year-round, with seasonal variation. Mammals made up more of coyote diet in the wet season than the dry, while invertebrates and vegetation were more prevalent in dry season scats. Coyotes relied on rabbits as their main prey year-round across all sites. Domestic cats Felis catus were the third most common individual prey species found in coyote scats, occurring in 14% of scat samples in both seasons. Coyotes also supplemented seasonally available natural food sources with anthropogenic resources, which occurred in 13% of coyote scats overall with no significant seasonal variation. While rabbits appeared in scat from all sites, the occurrence of invertebrates, small mammals, and vegetation in scats varied between sites. While there is a potential for human-wildlife conflict in coyote's consumption of feral or domestic cats, coyotes may also be providing an ecological service by reducing cats in natural habitat fragments.