Distribution and Relative Abundance of Small and Medium-sized Carnivores in Mature and Successional Forests in Hueston Woods State Park, SW Ohio

This study seeks to understand the habitat use of small to medium-sized carnivores and their prey in Hueston Woods State Park, Southwest Ohio by comparing their photographic encounter rate from remotely triggered cameras set in successional and mature forests. All small to medium-sized carnivores thought to occur in the study area will be targeted for study, including Canis latrans (coyotes); Vulpes vulpes (red fox); Urocyon cinereoargenteus (gray fox); Procyon lotor (raccoon); Taxidea taxus (American badger) and Mephitis mephitis (striped skunk). Previous studies have shown that sympatric species tend to show differing activity patterns and habitat use (Chen et al. 2009), an assumption that will be tested within the old-growth and successional forests of Hueston Woods. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) have not been officially documented in Southwestern Ohio for over 100 years, but there have been several recent reports of sightings by visitors in Hueston Woods. Determining the presence-absence of this species is an additional research goal of this project. Physical conditions, management history, old-field succession and disturbance combine to create a unique set of conditions at each sample site. Simple linear regression will be used to test for correlations between vegetation structure and photographic capture of small to medium carnivores and their prey.