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Abstract

Diverse carnivore communities are important for maintaining top-down controls and protecting ecosystem function. It is important to understand what factors influence carnivore movement and behavior in order to effectively conserve predator communities. Both human activities and interspecific competition or predation by other carnivore species can impact habitat use and activity patterns of carnivores, and sometimes result in spatial or temporal avoidance of dominant carnivores. Previous research at the carnivore guild level in Colorado has been limited, and no previous carnivore studies exist for the Manitou Experimental Forest (MEF) in central Colorado. I used camera trapping to understand carnivore community composition and investigate the following research questions: (1) does human disturbance from developments or roads impact carnivore habitat use, and (2) do subordinate carnivore species spatially or temporally avoid dominant carnivores? To address these questions, I deployed 30 motion-triggered infrared cameras in the MEF for a period of approximately 86 days for a total trapping effort of 2,580 days. This trapping effort resulted in the detection of a total of 10 carnivore species, including 9 of the 11 species previously reported in the MEF and one new carnivore, the spotted skunk (Spilogale gracilis). Overall, human road disturbance did not negatively impact carnivore habitat use, although there was a trend of lower puma habitat use at high road disturbance sites. Fox species showed opposite patterns with human residential disturbance: gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) habitat use was negatively related to residential disturbance while red fox (Vulpes vulpes) habitat use was significantly positively related to residential disturbance. There was generally little evidence of interspecific avoidance among carnivore species except among canines, as gray foxes appeared to wait longer before using a site after a coyote and there may have been temporal segregation between the more nocturnal foxes and more diurnal coyote. I did find some preliminary evidence of mesocarnivores avoiding pumas (Puma concolor) at the seasonal scale, but more research is necessary to investigate this potential behavior. Positive associations among carnivores were more common, with spatial association between coyote (Canis latrans) and bobcat (Lynx rufus) and between striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) and several larger mesocarnivores. I also found evidence that red fox may have followed pumas, likely in order to scavenge from puma prey carcasses. My research suggests that carnivore temporal and spatial coexistence is high within the MEF, which may be facilitated through dietary partitioning or more fine scale spatial or temporal segregation that I was unable to detect. The relatively low levels of human disturbance in the forest do not appear to disrupt habitat use patterns for most species, consistent with the hypothesis that low-density exurban development can represent suitable habitat for many carnivores. Future research should examine carnivore community interactions across a larger landscape and a broader gradient of human disturbance in order to better understand habitat use patterns in the carnivore guild of the Pikes Peak region of Colorado.

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