DNA METABARCODING IDENTIFIES URBAN DIETARY PATTERNS OF COYOTES IN SAN FRANCISCO

Tali Caspi; Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit, UC Davis; tcaspi@ucdavis.edu; Monica G. Serrano, Stevi L. Vanderzwan, Benjamin N. Sacks

Carnivores are increasingly establishing in urban environments where they were previously absent. Cities are novel ecosystems with greater heterogeneity in habitat and food availability and different prey assemblages compared to nonurban areas. Coyotes (Canis latrans) recolonized and established a breeding population in San Francisco in the early 2000s. In this study, we used non-invasive sampling and fecal DNA metabarcoding to quantify the diet composition of coyote scats collected from several green spaces throughout San Francisco. We found that urban coyotes consumed a variety of animals and plants and that most scats contained evidence of anthropogenic foods. Pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae), raccoons (Procyon lotor), berries (Rubus spp.), and cherry plums (Prunus spp.) were the most frequently consumed natural diet items. Domestic chicken (Gallus gallus), pig (Sus scrofa), and soybean (Glycine max) were the most consumed anthropogenic diet items. Future work will investigate the physiological consequences of variation in diet by linking measurements of fecal hormone metabolites in these scats (glucocorticoids and thyroid hormones) to their dietary profiles.

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