Date of Award
8-2-2025
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Department
Biological Sciences
First Advisor
Timothy Mousseau
Abstract
Predator-prey interactions are a fundamental ecological process that drives evolutionary change. In this study, we investigated the spatiotemporal relationship between coyotes and white-tailed deer in South Carolina. Using camera trap data, we analyzed fawn occupancy and the activity patterns of nursery groups, non-reproductive does, and coyotes to better understand this relationship. Our results suggest that deer select fawning sites with higher vegetation cover, increased distance to water, and higher doe abundance. Additionally, nursery groups exhibit a shift towards diurnal activity during the fawning season. This shift in temporal behavior, coupled with fawn site-selection, suggests that dams in our site utilize spatial and temporal avoidance to decrease fawn predation. We also explored the relative abundance trends of deer and coyotes over time and the factors that may influence relative abundance. We constructed relative abundance indices and used N-mixture models to investigate any abundance trends. We found that deer relative abundance increased over time, while coyote abundance decreased over the study period. Results of our N-mixture models differed between sites and species but indicate the distance a camera site is to the road may be an important predictor of abundance. However, the overall support for these models was weak. Further research is needed to identify the key factors driving population dynamics in these species.
Rights
© 2025, Caitlyn Mettetal
Recommended Citation
Mettetal, C.(2025). Bambi and the Beast: Evaluating the Ecological Interactions of Coyotes and White-Tailed Deer in South Carolina. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/8589