Coyote Ecology and Management Strategies

Coyotes (Canis latrans) exhibit remarkable ecological plasticity, thriving across landscapes from remote wilderness to densely populated urban areas. As generalist predators and opportunistic omnivores, individuals adjust diet and space use to local resource availability and environmental conditions. Home‐range dynamics are shaped by a balance between resource defence by resident breeders and movements of transients that facilitate dispersal and population resilience. Coyotes influence trophic interactions through predation, scavenging and competition, with diet breadth extending from small mammals and ground‐nesting birds to fruit and anthropogenic subsidies. Rapid expansion of range reflects their adaptability, raising complex management challenges. Control measures have ranged from lethal removal and reproductive sterilisation to habitat modification and deterrence, yet compensatory immigration and reproduction often mitigate population reductions. Contemporary strategies increasingly emphasise adaptive management and landscape‐scale planning, integrating ecological insights on dietary flexibility, territorial behaviour and resource pulses to predict coyote responses to interventions. Such approaches aim to balance conservation objectives, mitigate human–coyote conflict and maintain ecosystem function across the coyote’s extensive range.

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Coyote Ecology and Management Strategies publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in coyote ecology and management strategies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Home range: The area habitually used by an animal for feeding, mating and shelter, reflecting its spatial requirements.

Resource pulse: A temporary increase in food availability, such as seasonal fruit mast or prey neonates, that influences predator foraging behaviour.

Dietary diversity: The variety of food items consumed by an animal, indicating its trophic flexibility.

Fertility control: Management technique using sterilisation to reduce reproduction and population growth in wildlife.

Transience: Movement behaviour of non‐territorial individuals that roam across multiple territories, facilitating dispersal and rapid colonisation.

References

1. Coyote diet in North America: geographic and ecological patterns during range expansion. Mammal Review (2022).
2. Home range size, vegetation density, and season influences prey use by coyotes (Canis latrans). PLOS ONE (2018).
3. The dynamic nature of territoriality, transience and biding in an exploited coyote population. Wildlife Biology (2017).
4. Diet selection in the Coyote Canis latrans. Journal of Mammalogy (2023).
5. Resource pulses shape seasonal and individual variation in the diet of an omnivorous carnivore. Ecology and Evolution (2024).
6. Evidence of reduced abundance, density, and survival of coyotes under federal management for red wolf recovery. Ecosphere (2022).