Spatiotemporal Patterns of San Joaquin Kit Foxes and an Urban Canid Guild

Abstract

The federally endangered and California State–threatened San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica) forms an ecological guild with coyotes (Canis latrans), red foxes (V. vulpes), gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), and domestic dogs (C. familiaris) in the city of Bakersfield, California, USA. Where these species are sympatric in natural environments, interference competition occurs, resulting in spatiotemporal avoidance or changes in behavior to avoid conflict. We analyzed camera survey data from 2015 to 2019 from 111 1-km2 grid cells throughout Bakersfield to investigate spatial associations between San Joaquin kit foxes and canid competitors, as well as differences in temporal activity of kit foxes in the presence of a canid competitor. We found that kit foxes typically did not occur with other canids on a daily, yearly, or 5-year scale. In cells where other canids were immediately present, kit foxes altered their temporal activity to avoid other canids by appearing 3 h later and exhibited less variance in the amount of time spent at a camera trap. Thus, although kit foxes share the urban habitat with multiple larger competitors, they likely use spatial and temporal partitioning to reduce risk and facilitate coexistence.