DOI: 10.5061/dryad.60m1ps0
title: Data from: Mesopredators change temporal activity in response to a recolonizing apex predator

description: Apex predators can influence ecosystems through density and behaviorally
 mediated effects on herbivores and mesopredators. In many parts of the
 world, apex predators live in, or are returning to, landscapes that have
 been modified by people, so it is important to understand their ecological
 role in anthropogenic landscapes. We used motion-activated game cameras to
 compare the activity patterns of humans and two mesopredators, coyotes
 (Canis latrans) and bobcats (Lynx rufus), in areas with and without an
 apex predator, the gray wolf (Canis lupus), in a multi-use landscape of
 the northwestern United States. In areas with wolves there was a
 significant increase in temporal niche overlap between the mesopredators
 owing to higher levels of coyote activity at all time periods of the day.
 Temporal overlap between mesopredators and humans also increased
 significantly in the presence of wolves. Coyotes exposed to wolves
 increased their activity during dawn, day, and dusk hours. The increase in
 coyote activity was greatest during the day, when wolves were least
 active. The direction of change in bobcat activity in areas with wolves
 was opposite to coyotes, suggesting a behaviorally-mediated cascade
 between wolves, coyotes, and bobcats, although these findings would need
 to be confirmed with further research. Our findings suggest that
 mesopredators in human-dominated systems may perceive humans as less
 dangerous than apex predators, that humans may be more likely to encounter
 mesopredators in areas occupied by top predators, and that
 behaviorally-mediated effects of apex predators on mesopredators persist
 in human-dominated landscapes.
description: Shores_2019_code_Figure_4_Table_2_Mesopredators change temporal activity patterns in response to an apex predator_GLMMAnnotated R code to reproduce species activity models with free R statistical software andR package glmmTMBShores_2019_data_Figure_4_Table_2_Mesopredator and apex predator activity records from game cameras_GLMMData of recorded species observations from game cameras. Description of columns in .csv file: Location = unique identifier corresponding to each camera location; study_area: Categorical variable identifying 1 of 4 study areas, N = Nc’icn (wolf area), S = Strawberry (wolf area), B = Bonaparte (non-wolf area), A = Aeneas (non-wolf area); date: unique identifier corresponding to dates starting with 0 = May 1, 2013 and 1095 = April 30, 2016; time_cat: time category of either night, dawn, day or dusk; season: winter or summer; bobcat/coyote/human/wolf_activity: number of photographs of the identified species indexed by time category, date, and camera sampling location; day: fraction of a day represented by each time category. This column is used in the model offset to account for the varying amount of time (10 hours vs. 2 hours) in the different time categories; wolf_presence: yes or no for whether a wolf pack was present in the study area.Shores_2019_code_Figures 2 and 3_Temporal overlap analysisAnnotated R code to reproduce species temporal overlap analysis with free R statistical software and R package Overlap.Shores_2019_data_Figure_2_bobcat_activity_times_temporal_overlap analysisData of times of species observations from game cameras from 5/1/2013 to 4/30/2016. Description of columns in .csv file: standardized clocktime: 24 hour time standardized to account for changes in daylength throughout the year; timed = standardized time in decimal degrees; timerad: standardized time in radians; zone: 1 = study areas with no resident wolf packs, 2 = study areas with resident wolf packs, species: species data contained in .csv file; imagedate = calendar date of the recorded observation, original_clocktime_dd = original clocktime, not standardized to account for changes in daylength over the course of a year, in decimal degrees; site: unique identifier for each camera location. W = study area with resident wolf packs, NW = non-wolf study areasShores_2019_data_Figures_2_and_3_coyote_activity_times_temporal_overlap analysisData of times of species observations from game cameras from 5/1/2013 to 4/30/2016. Description of columns in .csv file: standardized clocktime: 24 hour time standardized to account for changes in daylength throughout the year; timed = standardized time in decimal degrees; timerad: standardized time in radians; zone: 1 = study areas with no resident wolf packs, 2 = study areas with resident wolf packs, species: species data contained in .csv file; imagedate = calendar date of the recorded observation, original_clocktime_dd = original clocktime, not standardized to account for changes in daylength over the course of a year, in decimal degrees; site: unique identifier for each camera location. W = study area with resident wolf packs, NW = non-wolf study areasShores_2019_data_Figures_2_and_3_human_activity_times_temporal_overlap analysisData of times of species observations from game cameras from 5/1/2013 to 4/30/2016. Description of columns in .csv file: standardized clocktime: 24 hour time standardized to account for changes in daylength throughout the year; timed = standardized time in decimal degrees; timerad: standardized time in radians; zone: 1 = study areas with no resident wolf packs, 2 = study areas with resident wolf packs, species: species data contained in .csv file; imagedate = calendar date of the recorded observation, original_clocktime_dd = original clocktime, not standardized to account for changes in daylength over the course of a year, in decimal degrees; site: unique identifier for each camera location. W = study area with resident wolf packs, NW = non-wolf study areasShores_2019_data_Figures_2_and_3_wolf_activity_times_temporal_overlap analysisData of times of species observations from game cameras from 5/1/2013 to 4/30/2016. Description of columns in .csv file: standardized clocktime: 24 hour time standardized to account for changes in daylength throughout the year; timed = standardized time in decimal degrees; timerad: standardized time in radians; zone: 1 = study areas with no resident wolf packs, 2 = study areas with resident wolf packs, species: species data contained in .csv file; imagedate = calendar date of the recorded observation, original_clocktime_dd = original clocktime, not standardized to account for changes in daylength over the course of a year, in decimal degrees; site: unique identifier for each camera location. W = study area with resident wolf packs, NW = non-wolf study areasShores_2019_README_Mesopredators change temporal activity in response to recolonizing apex predatorFile with descriptions of each data file, software and statistical packages used, list and description of all files associated with the paper