DOI: 10.5061/dryad.67sf3
title: Data from: Hunger mediates apex predator's risk avoidance response in wildland-urban interface

description: 1. Conflicts between large mammalian predators and humans present a
 challenge to conservation efforts, as these events drive human attitudes
 and policies concerning predator species. Unfortunately, generalities
 portrayed in many empirical carnivore landscape selection studies do not
 provide an explanation for a predator’s occasional use of residential
 development preceding a carnivore-human conflict event. In some cases,
 predators may perceive residential development as a risk-reward tradeoff.
 2. We examine whether state dependent mortality-risk sensitive foraging
 can explain an apex carnivore’s (Puma concolor) occasional utilization of
 residential areas. We assess whether puma balance the risk and rewards in
 a system characterized by a gradient of housing densities ranging from
 wildland to suburban. Puma GPS location data, characterized as hunting and
 feeding locations, were used to assess landscape variables governing
 hunting success and hunting site selection. Hunting site selection
 behavior was then analyzed conditional on indicators of hunger state. 3.
 Residential development had a high energetic reward for puma, based on
 increases in prey availability and hunting success rates associated with
 increased housing density. Despite a higher energetic reward, hunting site
 selection analysis indicated that pumas generally avoided residential
 development, a landscape type attributed with higher puma mortality risk.
 However, when a puma experienced periods of extended hunger, risk
 avoidance behavior toward housing waned. 4. This study demonstrates that
 an apex carnivore faces a tradeoff between acquiring energetic rewards and
 avoiding risks associated with human housing. Periods of hunger can help
 explain an apex predator’s occasional use of developed landscapes and thus
 the rare conflicts in the wildland-urban interface. Apex carnivore
 movement behaviors in relation to human conflicts are best understood as a
 three-player community level interaction incorporating wild prey
 distribution.
description: HUNTSUCCESS_inputThis is the input file used in the Hunting Success analysis and contains appropriate covariate fields. This processed version has all geographic coordinate information removed to protect the precise locations of the subject pumas. Fields identified by ‘Animal_ID’, ‘ikid’, and ‘FEEDING’ are used as random effect, strata, and response terms in the model. Landscape predictor covariates follow the naming convention and accompanying description presented in Table S1.1 of the publication. Mule deer prey availability covariate is identified as ‘Util.muledeer’.SSF_inputThis is the input file used in the patch-selection (Step Selection Function) analysis and contains appropriate covariate fields. This processed version has all geographic coordinate information removed to protect the precise locations of the subject pumas. Fields identified by ‘Animal_ID’, ‘ClusterID_8day’, and ‘SSF.used’ are used as random effect, strata, and response terms in the model. Landscape predictor covariates follow the naming convention and accompanying description presented in Table S1.1 of the publication. Mule deer prey availability covariate is identified as ‘Util.muledeer’.