DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d7wm37q9j
title: Data from: Home range and core area characteristics of urban and rural coyotes and red foxes in southern Wisconsin

description: Second-order habitat selection is influenced by a variety of factors,
 including individual- and species-specific traits and resource
 requirements, as well as landscape characteristics. By comparing home
 range characteristics across individuals, species, and landscapes, we can
 draw conclusions regarding whether and how different factors influence
 home range selection. Our objectives were to quantify home range
 characteristics of VHF- and GPS-collared coyotes and red foxes in urban
 and rural areas of southern Wisconsin, including home range size and
 shape, home range stability, and inter- and intraspecific overlap. On
 average, urban coyotes had smaller home ranges with apparently greater
 intraspecific overlap between neighboring individuals than rural coyotes.
 Similarly, urban red foxes had smaller home ranges with apparently greater
 intraspecific overlap between neighboring individuals than urban coyotes.
 We found no difference in home range boundary complexity or stability
 between urban coyotes and red foxes or between urban and rural coyotes. We
 did identify greater interspecific overlap between urban coyotes and red
 foxes than has been previously reported. Our results provide further
 evidence that intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as species
 characteristics, resource predictability, and availability as well as the
 physical environment, influence home range selection of coyotes and red
 foxes.
description: <em>Data collection – Urban study
 area  </em> We captured
 and placed Very High Frequency (VHF) or Global Positioning System (GPS)
 collars on urban coyotes and red foxes beginning with a pilot study in
 2014 as part of the University of Wisconsin Urban Canid Project (UCP). We
 captured coyotes and red foxes in our urban study area annually between
 October and March using cable restraints while following trapping best
 management practices.   We
 selected trap sites based on landscape characteristics such as greenspace
 and sightings reported to the project’s iNaturalist page (“UW Urban Canid
 Project iNaturalist Project”), and we used bait including carcasses of
 road-killed deer for coyotes and nuisance-trapped beavers for red foxes to
 attract canids to a site, especially when there was minimal snow cover. We
 chemically immobilized captured canids with an intramuscular injection of
 4-10 mg/kg ketamine and 2-4 mg/kg xylazine based on estimated weight of
 the individual. We then determined weight and physical condition,
 collected biological samples, and fitted the animal with either a VHF
 radio collar (2014 and 2015 capture seasons; Advanced Telemetry Systems,
 Isanti, MN; Model M1950 for red fox and M2220B for coyote) or a Lotek
 LiteTrack Iridium GPS collar (2016 through 2022 capture seasons; Model
 #360 for coyotes and #150 for red foxes). After handling, we reversed the
 immobilization with an intramuscular injection of either yohimbine (0.1
 mg/kg) or antisedan (0.6-0.7 mg/kg). We then released the animal at the
 capture site.  Location
 schedules varied with collar type (VHF or GPS). For individuals with VHF
 collars, we located each radio-collared individual weekly using a
 five-hour bout, with a triangulated location recorded once every hour,
 during each bout, for as long as the VHF collar was active and the
 individual was alive. We rotated tracking bouts across the entire diel
 cycle to capture variation in temporal activity. For individuals with GPS
 collars, we programmed each collar to collect GPS fixes every hour only
 between 9pm and 4am for coyotes and 1am and 4am for red foxes.
 Species-specific time periods were selected to maximize locations during
 periods of high activity in urban areas and optimize battery life of the
 telemetry collars. Individuals were tracked until death or the end of the
 collar’s battery life.   
 <em>Data collection – Rural study
 area</em>  The Wisconsin
 Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) collected GPS data from coyotes
 captured in Iowa County as part of an independent research project on deer
 and their predators. The WDNR started this project in fall of 2016.
 Coyotes were captured using cable restraints or foothold traps either
 through collaboration with trappers and landowners who would voluntarily
 report a captured coyote or through traps set by WDNR staff. Captured
 coyotes were anesthetized via an injection of
 ketamine-dexmedetomidine-butorphanol (4 mg/kg ketamine, 0.2 mg/kg
 dexmedetomidine, and 0.4 mg/kg butorphanol) based on estimated weight.
 Staff then weighed and fitted each animal with a Lotek LiteTrack GPS
 collar (Model #360) which they programmed to collect a GPS fix every three
 hours throughout the 24-hour diel cycle. Individuals were tracked until
 death or the end of the collar’s battery life.  
 <em>Home range delineation</em>
 Using radio-location data from both study sites, we calculated
 home range (95%) size for individual coyotes and red foxes using Minimum
 convex polygons (MCP) and Fixed kernel density estimators (KDE) with the
 amt R package. We chose to retain all locations for each individual rather
 than thinning data to standardize the tracking schedules between urban and
 rural individuals and VHF-collared and GPS-collared individuals. There
 were several individuals in the dataset with relatively few location
 points (n ≤ 50), so we used area-observation curves to determine whether
 each individual had sufficient data to reach an asymptote, and excluded
 individuals with too few locations. Similarly, to ensure that dispersing
 individuals and transients did not artificially inflate average home range
 sizes, we excluded individuals with large data sets whose home range area
 also failed to reach a stable asymptote as determined by area-observation
 curves. 
description: # Home range and core area characteristics of urban and rural coyotes and
 red foxes in southern Wisconsin
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d7wm37q9j](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d7wm37q9j) ## Description of the data and file structure Our objectives were to quantify home range characteristics of VHF- and GPS-collared coyotes and red foxes in urban and rural areas of southern Wisconsin, including home range size and shape, home range stability, and inter- and intraspecific overlap. We captured and placed Very High Frequency (VHF) or Global Positioning System (GPS) collars on urban coyotes and red foxes beginning with a pilot study in 2014 as part of the University of Wisconsin Urban Canid Project (UCP). Location schedules varied with collar type (VHF or GPS). We fitted each individual with either a VHF radio collar (2014 and 2015 capture seasons; Advanced Telemetry Systems, Isanti, MN; Model M1950 for red fox and M2220B for coyote) or a Lotek LiteTrack Iridium GPS collar (2016 through 2022 capture seasons; Model #360 for coyotes and #150 for red foxes) For individuals with VHF collars, we located each radio-collared individual weekly using a five-hour bout, with a triangulated location recorded once every hour, during each bout, for as long as the VHF collar was active and the individual was alive. We rotated tracking bouts across the entire diel cycle to capture variation in temporal activity. For individuals with GPS collars, we programmed each collar to collect GPS fixes every hour only between 9pm and 4am for coyotes and 1am and 4am for red foxes. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) collected GPS data from coyotes captured in Iowa County as part of an independent research project on deer and their predators started in the fall of 2016. Staff fitted each animal with a Lotek LiteTrack GPS collar (Model #360) which they programmed to collect a GPS fix every three hours throughout the 24-hour diel cycle. All individuals were tracked until death or the end of the collar’s battery life. ### Files and variables #### File: HomeRangeShapefiles.zip **Description:** The HomeRangeShapefiles.zip contains a folder called HRShapefiles which holds two sets of shapefiles. The AllKDE shapefile contains all individual 95% fixed kernel density home range estimators for coyotes and red foxes included in this manuscript. The AllMCP shapefile contains all individual 95% minimum convex polygon home ranges for coyotes and red foxes included in this manuscript. Variables in the attribute table are as follows: * FID: a unique row ID appended by ArcPro * Shape: the vector type  * level: specifies the level of the home range estimator (e.g., 0.95 indicates 95%) * what: identifies rows as estimates of home ranges * area: area in square kilometers of the home range polygon * id: number used to identify individual animals * n: number of locations used in the home range estimation  * Perimeter: distance of the polygon boundary in kilometers * PARatio: the perimeter area ratio  ## Code/software The data is in a shapefile format used by ArcPro and other ArcGIS software. GIS software is needed to view or convert the files. QGIS is a free alternative.