Coyote removal in texas

This case study examines the effects of the coyote removal from a plains habitats in Texas. This exercise also discusses the concept of a keystone species in an ecosystem.follow the week8 file finish 4 page assignment.The Effects of Coyote Removal in Texas: A Case Study in Conservation Biology by Margaret Carroll Department of Biology Framingham State College Part I - Introduction The Plains of West Texas are part of a semi-arid ecosystem dominated by a mixture of shortgrass prairies and chaparral. The primary producers in the prairies include various species of grasses and other herbaceous flowering plants (forbs). The chaparral is dominated by a variety of shrubs including mesquite and yucca intermixed with grasses and forbs. The low-level predators, scavengers, and herbivores in this system include jackrabbits, cottontails, ground squirrels, and rodents (three species of rats, and seven species of mice). The mammalian mesopredators in this system are badgers, bobcats, skunks, and grey fox. The top-level predator is the coyote. Humans often eliminate coyotes and other top predators from natural communities. Removal is generally aimed at increasing game populations, and protecting livestock, pets, and small children. Previous studies indicate that the effect of removing coyotes varies depending on the type of community from which they have been removed. You have received a request for proposals from The Nature Conservancy. The Conservancy wants to determine the effects of coyote removal in West Texas. Questions 1. What specific question do you intend to answer? 2. What type of experimental treatment and control will you use? 3. What variables do you intend to monitor? Part II - Experimental Design Congratulations! Your proposal has been funded. Your final experimental design includes four 5,000hectare (ha) sites — two control and two treatment (Figure 1). The communities in the control sites are similar to those in the treatment sites. All coyotes will be removed from the treatment sites and from a 5kilometer (km) border around the sites. There will be no experimental manipulation in the control sites. You will monitor the animal community on all sites for one year prior to treatment and two years following coyote removal. 2 Figure 1. Location of experimental sites in West Texas. Sites 1 and 2 were the control sites. Coyotes were removed from sites 3 and 4 and from a 5-km border (figure from Henke and Bryant 1999, used with permission). Question 4. Make two predictions concerning the effects of coyote removal on the fauna of West Texas. Part III - Mesopredators After monitoring the mesopredator populations for three years, you plotted the total abundance of badgers, bobcats, skunk, and fox found on treatment and control sites each year (Figure 2). Use these data to interpret the impact of coyote removal on the community of small mammalian predators. Figure 2.