Print PageMid-sized mammalian generalists, who exploit a variety of food resources, occupy a pivotal role in ecosystems by preying on a variety of small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds as well as being prey for larger carnivores such as coyotes, owls and raptors. The Oak Openings Region of northwest Ohio is a mosaic of rare habitats which support a diverse array of species which are vulnerable to impacts from mesopredators. Focal species for this study are three locally common mesopredators, the (Procyon lotor) raccoon, (Didelphis virginiana) Virginia opossum and (Mephitis mephitis) the skunk. Our questions concern the spatial and temporal distribution of our three focal mesopredator species in three Metroparks within the Oak Openings Region. We used vegetation surveys, road kill surveys and night surveys to answer these questions. Vegetation surveys were transect based and monitored monthly. Variables measured were vegetation density, canopy cover by two different methods and litter depth. Road kill surveys included weekly driving of roads within and adjacent to the parks and recording location and species for each carcass found. Night surveys involved walking tracks within the parks from sunset onward recording location, species and group size for each animal sighted using flashlights and a handheld spotlight.
Results/Conclusions
Parks were significantly different for all vegetation variables in all months except for vegetation density in August and canopy cover using the densiometer in July. This indicates that there was much habitat heterogeneity within and between parks. The road kill surveys yielded 292 sightings of deceased animals. Of these, 68% were focal species. Oak Openings accounted for the highest proportion of the road kills both in focal and non-focal species. Parks differed in proportion of non-focal versus focal species killed. There appeared to be several areas of clustering on the roads around each park. The night surveys yielded 530 sightings of animals. Of these 34% were of focal species. A large fraction (48%) of non-focal species sightings were of deer. Parks and trails within parks did not significantly differ in focal species /km sighted. Parks and trails within parks did significantly differ in non-focal species / km sighted (p<0.05). Overall, the largest park accounted for the most sightings (411) and the intermediate size park the least (37) sightings. There appeared to be different seasonal peaks in sightings for focal and non-focal species and possibly several areas of clustering within each of the parks.
