Urbanization, Grassland, and Diet Influence Coyote (Canis latrans) Parasitism Structure.

Abstract

Land use change can alter the ecological mechanisms that influence infectious disease exposure in animal populations. However, few studies have empirically integrated the environmental, spatial, and dietary patterns of wildlife epidemiology. We investigate how urbanization, habitat type, and dietary behavior are associated with coyote (Canis latrans) parasitism structure along a gradient of rural to urban land cover using multivariate redundancy analyses. Coyote fecal samples were collected in eight urban and six rural sites in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Parasite and diet components were identified using common flotation procedures and fecal dietary analysis, respectively. Redundancy analysis was used to identify the best land cover, connectivity, and dietary predictors. We tested for significance using multiple permutation tests and ANOVAs. Significant factors affecting enteric parasite prevalence included dietary and land cover factors (R (2) = 0.4130, P < 0.05). Variation in dietary behavior was observed between urban and rural sites (R (2) = 0.4712, P < 0.05), as anthropogenic diet items (i.e., garbage, crabapples) were strongly influenced by urbanization. Our research supports that developed habitat, grassland cover, and dietary choice interact to possibly influence the exposure of coyote hosts to enteric parasites and pioneers future investigation of disease ecology for natural populations in anthropogenic landscapes.