How do reports vary by habitat type?
Coyote sightings and encounters in Edmonton are most common in residential areas (n=2244), but reporting density is highest in modified open maintained habitats which include mowed areas such as schoolyards, urban parks and sports fields (Figure 9). The differences in report density across populations were statistically significant for both sightings (X2=1726.5, df=6, p<0.001) and encounters (X2 = 526.3, df=6, p<0.001).
Although the number of coyotes is presumably much higher in natural areas, it is likely that the abundance of cover in addition to the lower levels of human use contributes to lower reporting frequency from these areas. These findings align with those of Poessel et al. (2013), where coyote reports in the Denver Metropolitan area were higher than expected in suburban areas and open space. However, other studies in suburban New York and the city of Atlanta, Georgia have reported more coyote reports near natural areas, which suggests that trends in coyote reports based on habitat type may be city-specific (Mowry et al. 2020, Weckel et al. 2010).
Although the number of coyotes is presumably much higher in natural areas, it is likely that the abundance of cover in addition to the lower levels of human use contributes to lower reporting frequency from these areas. These findings align with those of Poessel et al. (2013), where coyote reports in the Denver Metropolitan area were higher than expected in suburban areas and open space. However, other studies in suburban New York and the city of Atlanta, Georgia have reported more coyote reports near natural areas, which suggests that trends in coyote reports based on habitat type may be city-specific (Mowry et al. 2020, Weckel et al. 2010).
Figure 9. The density of coyote reports across coyote habitat types in the City of Edmonton. Numbers on the top of bars are the total number of reports in each habitat type. Reports were overlayed on habitat type classifications (map on right) extracted from the City of Edmonton uPLVI (Urban Primary Land and Vegetation Inventory) land cover data (City of Edmonton, 2018).
How do reports Vary by neighbourhood?
The frequency of coyote reports is not evenly distributed across Edmonton (Figure 10). Certain neighbourhoods report many more coyote sightings and encounters, primarily those near the abundance of coyote habitat in the North Saskatchewan river valley. In Calgary, Lukasik and Alexander (2011) found a similar trend, with communities near the Bow river recording more human-coyote conflict. Human socioeconomic factors could also have an affect on the distribution of reports; for example, neighbourhoods with a higher average educational attainment or a higher median income could see a higher number of reports simply because people are more likely to identify coyotes, or more likely to have large houses with larger yards that provide good coyote habitat (Murray and St. Clair 2017, Wine et al. 2015). In the future, we will attempt to disentangle these relationships to determine the most important predictors of the reporting frequency of coyotes in various Edmonton neighbourhoods.
Figure 10. The density of coyote reports in different neighbourhoods in Edmonton. Classifications were made using 4 quantiles in ArcGIS.
We also wanted to investigate if report density in neighbourhoods changes over time, or if trends remain relatively constant. To do this we mapped out the report density for four, two-year intervals in ArcGIS, based on the report density (reports per square kilometre) (Figure 12). We used the same quantiles as shown in figure 10 to standardize visualizations across years.
Figure 11. The density of coyote reports in different neighbourhoods in Edmonton between 2012 and 2019, combined into two-year intervals. Classifications were standardized by being based off of those of Figure 10, which were made using 4 quantiles in ArcGIS.