Unlike their western counterparts, newly arrived coyote populations in the northeastern United States are having a hard time surviving, despite an apparently abundant and healthy diet of rabbits, deer, and plants. Daniel Bogan (New York State Museum) and colleagues found that some 80 percent of these large predators are killed each year, mostly by people in the area. Out of twenty-one coyotes radio-tracked by the researchers, seven were killed by cars, six were shot and one was poisoned. The researchers suggest that because the coyotes are still learning how to adjust to roads and other hazards, their populations are failing to thrive in habitat that otherwise serves their needs quite nicely. Another possibility, say the scientists, is the genetic make-up of these coyotes, which consists partly of wolf. Bogan will present these findings and their implications during Contributed Oral Session 90: Urban Ecology: Management.

Wednesday, August 10, 8 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 524 C, Level 5, Palais des congrs de Montral.

Disturbance from Military Training Exercises supports Endangered Species

Scientists have long appreciated the diversity of plants and animals living on military lands. In the United States, three to nine times as many threatened and endangered species are found on military lands versus other publicly-owned areas, including National Forests and National Parks. In Germany, the picture appears similar: Steven Warren (Colorado State University) and Reiner Buettner (Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, Hemhofen, Germany) found two to three times more threatened and endangered species on the Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels Training areas than in national parks in the region. Warren, Buettner and colleagues believe that military exercises replace, in part, natural disturbances that land managers have reduced or eliminated in other areas. In addition, they say, trai
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Contact: Annie Drinkard
annie@esa.org
Ecological Society of America
10-Aug-2005