Snow tracking and GIS: Taking advantage of new technology to evaluate habitat selection in coyotes in RCFS

Background/Question/Methods

I examine the habitat use of the coyote (Canis latrans) in Rice Creek Field Station, which is 130 hectares with varied habitats at 2.4 km south of Lake Ontario. The study was conducted in snow conditions between the months of February and March of 2011. I used snow tracking and GIS as an inexpensive and non invasive method for analyzing habitat use. Coyote tracks were identified and georeferenced on a GPS as I walked the trails at RCFS, and then overlaid on a satellite image of RCFS through GIS software (ArcMap 10). With the map I calculated the total study area and how much of it contained forested and open habitat types.

Results/Conclusions

 I used a G test and determined that coyotes were selecting forest habitat among the available habitat, which contained 90% of coyote tracks (G =216.56, P < 0.05, with d.f. =1). I found that coyotes selected for forested habitat types over open areas.