Habitat selection of a large carnivore, the red wolf, in a human-altered landscape

Large carnivores, with their expansive home range and resource requirements, are a good model for understanding how animal populations alter habitat selection and use as human densities and development increase. We examined the habitat selection of red wolves (Canis rufus) in North Carolina, USA, where the population of red wolves resides in a mosaic of naturally occurring and human-associated land cover. We used locations from 20 GPS-collared red wolves, monitored over 3 years, to develop resource selection functions at the landscape level. Red wolves selected for human-associated land-cover over other land-cover types. Red wolves also selected areas near secondary roads. However, red wolves avoided areas with high human density, and avoidance of natural land-cover types decreased as human density increased; this interaction was strong enough that red wolves selected for natural land-cover types over human-associated land-cover types at relatively high human density. Similarly, avoidance of natural land-cover types decreased when they were near secondary roads. These results suggest that red wolves will use human-associated landscapes, but modify their habitat selection patterns with increased human presence. Such findings suggest that large carnivores such as the red wolf may not strictly require habitats devoid of humans. In a world with rapid human-alteration of habitat, understanding how increasing human density and development impact habitat selection is vital to managing for population persistence of large carnivores and maintaining top-down ecological processes.

► We examined factors influencing habitat selection in critically endangered red wolves.
► We demonstrated that red wolves are influenced by spatial variation in human density and development.
► There were human density thresholds beyond which red wolves shifted the habitats they most readily selected for.
► Red wolves used areas of human activity but modified habitat selection in response to increasing human activity.
► Large carnivores like red wolves may not strictly require habitats devoid of humans.