Responses of sympatric canids to human development revealed through citizen science

Measuring wildlife responses to anthropogenic activities often requires long-term, large-scale datasets that are difficult to collect. This is particularly true for rare or cryptic species, which includes many mammalian carnivores. Citizen science, in which members of the public participate in scientific work, can facilitate collection of large datasets while increasing public awareness of wildlife research and conservation. Hunters provide unique benefits for citizen science given their knowledge and interest in outdoor activities. We examined how anthropogenic changes to land cover impacted relative abundance of two sympatric canids, coyote (Canis latrans) and red fox (Vulpes vulpes) at a large spatial scale. In order to assess how land cover affected canids at this scale, we used citizen science data from bow hunter sighting logs collected throughout New York State, USA, during 2004–2017. We found that the two species had contrasting responses to development, with red foxes positivel...探究野生动物对人为活动的响应往往需要长期、大规模的数据集，而此类数据的采集难度颇高。对于珍稀或隐秘物种而言尤为如此——诸多陆生食肉目哺乳动物均属此类。公众科学（Citizen science），即普通民众参与科研工作的研究模式，可助力大规模数据集的采集，同时提升公众对野生动物研究与保护的认知水平。鉴于猎人具备户外活动相关的专业知识与浓厚兴趣，其参与公众科学项目可带来独特优势。本研究探究了大空间尺度下，土地覆盖的人为变化对两种同域分布犬科动物——郊狼（Canis latrans）与赤狐（Vulpes vulpes）相对丰度的影响。为评估该尺度下土地覆盖对犬科动物的影响，我们使用了2004年至2017年间美国纽约州全境收集的弓猎猎人目击记录作为公众科学数据源。研究发现，两种犬科动物对人类开发活动的响应截然相反，赤狐呈现出正向……