As a generalist carnivore, coyotes (Canis latrans) prey on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and various small mammals, birds, and vegetation. While resource selection by coyotes has been well documented at the home-range scale (3^rd-order selection), little is known about their foraging behavior, which is an important factor in understanding influences of coyotes on prey and sympatric carnivores. We assessed 4^th-order resource selection, the use of areas for food resources, of coyotes at sites across Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina during 2015–2016. Using GPS collars, we tracked 41 resident coyotes across 4 calendar seasons and identified suspected foraging areas using recursive analysis where individuals repeatedly returned to locations.

Coyotes (Canis latrans) colonized the eastern United States over the last century and formed a 3-species predator guild with bobcat (Lynx rufus) and gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Diets among the three species vary along with respective impacts on game species such as white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo). We assessed diets of these predators during spring, coinciding with white-tailed deer fawning and wild turkey nesting/brood rearing. We sampled across three sites along the Savannah River in South Carolina from mid-May through mid-June of 2020. We collected 125 scat samples along 184 miles (44.2 – 76.1 miles/site) of unpaved secondary roads and used DNA metabarcoding to determine diet items.

Translocations are a common management practice to restore or augment populations. Understanding the genetic consequences of translocation efforts is important for the long-term health of restored populations. The restoration of elk (Cervus canadensis) to Kentucky, USA, included source stocks from 6 western states, which were released at 8 sites in southeastern Kentucky during 1997–2002. We assessed genetic diversity in restored herds and compared genetic similarity to source stocks based on 15 microsatellite DNA loci. Genetic variation in the restored populations was comparable to source stocks. Genetic differentiation among all source and restored populations ranged from 0.000 to 0.065 for pairwise F_ST and 0.034 to 0.161 for pairwise Nei’s D_A. Pairwise genetic differentiation and Bayesian clustering revealed that stocks from Utah and North Dakota, USA, contributed most to restored populations. Other western stocks appeared less successful and were not detected with our data, though our sampling was not exhaustive. We also inferred natural movements of elk among release sites by the presence of multiple genetic stocks. The success of the elk restoration effort in Kentucky may be due, in part, to the large number of elk (n = 1,548), repeated releases, and use of diverse source stocks. Future restoration efforts for elk in the eastern United States should consider the use of multiple stock sources and a large number of individuals. In addition, preservation of genetic samples of founder stock will enable detailed monitoring in the future. © 2020 The Authors. The Journal of Wildlife Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Wildlife Society. Read the full article here.

Population genetics of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have been influenced through human actions including the translocation of deer from across the United States in the 1900s and, recently, the creation of the captive-cervid industry, which uses animal husbandry to manipulate genetic variation. To assess the effects of these actions, I studied the genetic variation of free-range and captive populations of deer across the southcentral U.S. using a 14 microsatellite panel.