Urbanization drives patterns of resource partitioning among coyotes

Résumé fourni par la source

1. Niche partitioning and resource specialization can lead to spatial heterogeneity in trophic dynamics, but little is known about how these dynamics may change across landscapes of varying complexity. 2. Urban ecosystems are characterized by a wider array of both natural and anthropogenic food sources, which can increase predator densities compared to exurban and wildland areas. Urbanization could thus intensify intraspecific competition and facilitate individual specialization, or relax intraspecific competition if resources are not limited, leading to more generalized diets. 3. To investigate how urbanization affects dietary niche breadth and individual specialization, we used fecal metabarcoding to analyze diets of 50 coyotes (Canis latrans) across three landscapes in Washington, USA: the Seattle metropolitan area, Bainbridge Island, and two wildland study sites. 4. Population level dietary richness was similar between urban and island coyotes (x̄=56 and 52 taxa, respectively), but considerably lower for wildland coyotes (x̄=35 taxa). Despite variation in population-level richness, the diversity of individual diets was surprisingly consistent across regions. Urban coyotes had limited individual specialization, whereas wildland coyotes exhibited the highest individual specialization. 5. Specialization and dietary diversity may be constrained by home range size and the diversity of prey types available to an individual coyote, highlighting the importance of landscape and prey heterogeneity in urban landscapes. These findings suggest that urbanization can relax intraspecific competition among predators, whereas individual dietary specialization may have a greater influence on predator-prey dynamics and human-wildlife conflict in more natural ecosystems with less diverse resources.

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