An omnivore's options: Altered predator behavior during periods of overlapping resource pulses

Abstract Resource pulses are ecologically important events that occur in most ecosystems, yet most of our previous knowledge about their effects comes from relatively simple single pulse systems. In reality, many consumers likely attempt to track multiple, sometimes overlapping, resource pulses through space and time. Indeed, pulses of food resources at lower trophic levels have been shown to decouple the response of large omnivorous predators to pulses of vertebrate prey, with implications for predator–prey interactions more broadly. However, to date, the impact of these alternative food pulses on large herbivore predation by large carnivores remains unknown. To test this alternative pulse hypothesis (APH), we tracked coyote diet and movement behavior during two overlapping resource pulses (white‐tailed deer fawns followed by blackberries) over three summers in South Carolina, USA. We found that coyote diets tracked the shape of both pulses closely, and in support of APH, an eruptive pulse of blackberry availability during the period of declining fawn availability better explained fawn consumption than fawn availability alone. We estimated that the irruption of blackberries led to an 8% decrease in the weighted occurrence of fawn consumption. Movement data genetically linked to scat samples partially supported a shift in foraging, where coyotes selected habitat differently but did not move differently while consuming fawns or blackberries. Collectively, our findings provide quantitative evidence in support of how naturally occurring alternative foods can influence large carnivore behavior and potentially the consumption of large herbivores. Given many carnivores across the globe have omnivorous diets, our results open a new line of inquiry into how carnivores make decisions when resource pulses overlap, with implications for the management of apex carnivores and their herbivore prey.