Urban Coyote Spatiotemporal Overlap with Humans is Associated with Environmental Characteristics Not Human Sociodemographics

The tendency of wildlife to associate with humans spatially and temporally, i.e., to overlap with humans, is a key factor mediating human-wildlife coexistence in cities. While direct human influence (e.g., food subsidies) is recognized as a mechanism of wildlife overlap with humans, the role of broader urban ecosystem characteristics (e.g., habitat availability, human sociodemographics) in shaping this behavior is a burgeoning area of research. We analyzed the relationship between environmental and societal characteristics and overlap with humans in coyotes, a species of management concern due to emerging human-coyote conflicts in cities across North America. Using high-resolution GPS data from coyotes in the Chicago metropolitan area, we estimated overlap by quantifying coyotes’ spatial selection for human population density during periods of temporal overlap, i.e., periods when coyotes and humans were active. On average, coyotes exhibited high overlap, evidenced by their selection for areas of high human population density during periods of temporal overlap, but with substantial individual variation in this selection. Importantly, the mean level of overlap depended on environmental characteristics. Selection for human population density was negatively associated with the level of impervious surface cover and positively associated with the presence of land uses containing natural habitat features (e.g., parks, golf courses, vacant lots). Coyote selection for human population density was not significantly associated with median income or the proportion of white residents. Our results suggest that natural habitat features in densely populated areas may be hotspots for human-coyote interactions. Efforts to manage human-coyote interactions should focus on these areas and identify individual traits that heighten coyote overlap with humans.