Effects of urbanization and habitat fragmentation on bobcats and coyotes

This study examined how bobcats and coyotes responded to urban development and habitat fragmentation across the Santa Monica Mountains region near Los Angeles. Using radio-telemetry, the authors found that both carnivores persisted in fragmented habitat but altered home-range placement and movement to avoid the most developed areas, with bobcats more sensitive to urban edges. The work illuminated how mesopredators negotiate a patchwork of natural and built land, foreshadowing later findings on roads as barriers and rodenticides as toxic threats. It provided an early, rigorous baseline for the long-term southern California carnivore research program that followed.