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The Effect of Coyote Removal in Texas . Emilie Lothet and Reshma Patel. Background of Coyotes. Coyotes are territorial Live in small groups Consume mammals, fruits, and insects Adapt to human control Acute senses Keystone species
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The Effect of Coyote Removal in Texas Emilie Lothet and Reshma Patel
Background of Coyotes • Coyotes are territorial • Live in small groups • Consume mammals, fruits, and insects • Adapt to human control • Acute senses • Keystone species • Live almost everywhere in North America—predominantly southwest regions • Type 1 population • Valued for hunting/fur trade
Coyote Adaptation to Human Interaction • Able to avoid human control in general • Learn to be less active during the day than the night -humans can find coyotes easily during the day • Lethal measures must be taken against coyotes because they adapt to the nonlethal measures (frightening devices) • Have the tendency to repopulate areas in which coyotes were once removed, so control of areas must be taken quickly • Learn to avoid control techniques • Maintain numbers by learning to avoid traps and bait
Problem 1: Removal of Coyotes • If coyotes are removed, then, being a keystone species, other species in the ecosystem will be affected • Coyotes’ prey will overpopulate (ex: sheep/goat, deer) • Overpopulation of prey can cause inter-species competition loss of resources (ex: overgrazing, loss of plants) • Ecosystem will not be balanced
Solution 1: Introduction of Coyotes/Wolves etc • By re-introducing a keystone species such as coyotes or wolves, the ecosystem can be brought back into order • The population of prey species will be reduced, as long as there is a proportionate amount of predators in the area • Resources can be replenished • Species that had similar diets to coyote prey are able to flourish again because their resources are no longer reduced
Problem 2: Introduction of Coyotes • In an ecosystem where coyotes are a keystone species, and reproduce at a rate disproportional to their prey, the coyotes can pose a problem • If there are too many coyotes, they will consume more prey, lowering the population of their prey. • By doing this, coyotes will compete and have the potential to exterminate the species of prey from the area • Other predators in Texas, such as cougars, are also affected because they feed on the same prey as coyotes
Solution 2: Removal of Coyotes • What seems logical is the introduction of gray wolves, which prey on coyotes; however this is not effective because the grey wolves would simply produce the same problem that the coyotes did (they have the same diet) • So, humans use scare techniques to scare the coyotes away; however, eventually they become ineffective as the coyotes adapt to these techniques • Lethal control: shooting is popularly used to limit the coyote population, as there is no simple, natural way in doing so
Coyote Issue Opinion Poll What do YOU think?
Things to Consider: • Is it morally wrong to shoot coyotes when removing them? Is there a better way to remove coyotes from an ecosystem? • Should ranchers have a say in the debate over the reintroduction of coyotes in certain areas? The removal? (they are biased) • Because coyotes pose such a threat to the balance of ecosystems when they are overpopulated, would killing coyotes for fur/meat be an appropriate solution?
Sources • http://texnat.tamu.edu/symposia/coyote/p2.htm • http://www.city-data.com/forum/phoenix-area/129113-coyote-controversy.html • http://www.canids.org/species/Coyote.pdf