2.1 | Study area
We investigated raccoon temporal dynamics across differing levels of
coyote activity at four sites across the state of Michigan, USA (Figure
2) which represent an urban-rural gradient.
1) The Huron Mountain Club (HMC) is a privately-owned property along the
southern shore of Lake Superior, encompassing around 6,900 hectares in
Marquette County, Michigan, USA. This site has a wide variety of
habitats including beech-sugar maple hardwood forests, aspen dominated
stands, and coniferous boreal forests. Sympatric large predators
include: gray wolves, black bears (Ursus americanus ), and
coyotes. Anthropogenic pressures are limited to a small, seasonally
occupied area of human habitation near the north central part of the
property. Hunting and fishing occur on the property, and the intensity
is presumably low due to restrictive public access.
2) The University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS), a
~4,000 hectare research station and forest in Pellston
County, Michigan, USA served as one of our intermediate disturbance
sites. With repeated logging and fire disturbance until 1923, the
secondary forest is a mix of transitional hardwood and boreal forests.
Douglas and Burt lakes along the north and south, and the town of
Pellston and a major highway along west and east, respectively border
this study area. Large co-occurring predators include: black bears,
coyotes, and coyote-wolf hybrids. We were able to distinguish the few
known coyote-wolf hybrids in the area due to them having collars from a
different study, which were visible in the camera trap images (Wheeldon
et al. 2012). Human pressures resulted from regulated research
infrastructures for climate monitoring and housing facilities with low
levels concentrated seasonally during the summer.
3) The Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) is a 9,870 hectare
wildlife refuge managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The refuge
is comprised of forested hardwood wetlands and lakeplain prairie. The
city of Saginaw abuts the northern edge of the refuge and is surrounded
by agricultural land for crop farming. The only large native predator
present is the coyote. Anthropogenic pressures, in addition to the urban
and ex-urban nature of the boundaries, are in the form of recreational
visitors. Public hunting for deer and waterfowl, and furbearer trapping
are permissible on the refuge in accordance with lawful seasons.
4) The Detroit Metro Parks (DMP) is a collection of greenspaces
interspersed throughout southeast Michigan that is managed by the
Detroit Parks and Recreation Department. We chose twenty-five of these
parks that varied in size from ~1.6-480 hectares, tree
cover, human visitation, and degree of disturbance. Roads, buildings, or
a riverine edge bound all parks. The only large native predator present
is the coyote. Strong anthropogenic pressures are present in the form of
the surrounding urban matrix, as well as the associated presence of
humans and domestic pets across parks