Human land-use effects on mammalian mesopredator occupancy of a northeastern Connecticut landscape

Mammalian mesopredators—mid-sized carnivores—are ecologically,
economically and socially important. With their adaptability to a variety
of habitats and diets, loss of apex predators and forest regrowth, many of
these species are increasing in number throughout the northeastern USA.
However, currently the region is seeing extensive landscape alterations,
with an increase in residential and industrial development especially at
the expense of existing forest and small-scale farmland. We sought to
understand how important an existing mosaic of working lands (timberland
and farmland) in a forested landscape is to mesopredator species. We did
this through studying mesopredator occupancy across three land uses (or
habitat types): forest reserve (protected), timber harvest (shelterwood
cuts) and field (both crop yielding and fallow) in and around a 3200-ha
forest in northeastern Connecticut. We examined coyote (Canis latrans),
bobcat (Lynx rufus), fisher (Pekania pennanti), and raccoon (Procyon
lotor) occupancy using paired camera traps across juxtaposed reserve,
shelterwood and field units from April 2018 to March 2019. We created a
priori habitat variable models for each species and season, as well as
analyzed the impact of habitat types on each species. Throughout the year
bobcats positively associated with foliage height diversity, and had the
highest use of shelterwoods and lowest of fields. Land use utilization
varied seasonally for coyotes and raccoons, with higher use of fields than
reserves and shelterwoods for half the year and no difference between land
uses the other half. Both species were not strongly associated with any
particular habitat variables. Reserve forest was moderately to highly used
by all species for at least half the year, and highly use year-round by
fisher. Our findings reveal that a mosaic of intact forest and working
lands, timber harvest and agriculture can support mesopredator diversity.