Using Public Sighting Information to Investigate Coyote Use of Urban Habitat

Conventional approaches to studying large mammal habitat selection using radio telemetry may not be feasible in urban environments because of public opposition to trapping, risk of catching nontarget species, restrictions of observer movements, and limited spatial scales. Therefore, I evaluated use of public sightings for determining habitat selection of urban coyotes (Canis latrans) in Seattle, Washington. I used telephone interviews to document coyote sightings from 1988 to 1989. To examine biases in public sightings, I used radio telemetry to investigate habitat selection of coyotes in 1990. Both methods of data collection showed that coyotes were associated (P 0.8) for bootstrap samples of 20, 60, and 108 public sightings, which suggested that small datasets may reveal important habitat associations. Usefulness of public sighting information will depend on identifying sources of bias and research objectives