Human land-use effects on mammalian mesopredator occupancy of a northeastern Connecticut landscape.

Mammalian mesopredators-mid-sized carnivores-are ecologically, economically, and socially important. With their adaptability to a variety of habitats and diets, loss of apex predators, and forest regrowth, many of these species are increasing in number throughout the northeastern United States. However, currently the region is seeing extensive landscape alterations, with an increase in residential and industrial development, especially at the expense of existing forest and small-scale farmland. We sought to understand how important an existing mosaic of working lands (timberland and farmland) in a forested landscape is to mesopredator species. We did this by studying mesopredator occupancy across three land uses (or habitat types): forest reserve (protected), timber harvest (shelterwood cuts), and field (both crop yielding and fallow) in and around a 3200-ha forest in northeastern Connecticut. We examined coyote (

Informations de copyright

© 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare no conflict of interest.